Breastfeeding and the Dangers of Food Allergies

Food allergies have been known to affect more than 12 million Americans and range anywhere from strawberries to peanuts, to shellfish, and even certain spices such as cinnamon. Hundreds of food allergy cases are documented each year that end with death due to the adverse immune response to the food. The most common food allergies are wheat, shellfish, soy, peanut, tree nut, milk, and egg. Eating foods that contain these ingredients can cause symptoms ranging from face, lips, and tongue swelling to hives, nausea, stomach cramps, and even death.

As adults, we grow to deal with and work our daily food intake omitting the foods that cause us allergy problems, but what about infants? How do you know what they are allergic to or even if they are allergic? If you're allergic to something will that carry over onto your child? And most importantly, if you are breastfeeding your baby, could you be harming your child?

When breastfeeding babies, your milk contains antibodies that help protect the baby from infection and whatever you eat is taken in account to create the breast milk that you are feeding your baby. Hence whether you want or not, your baby is getting a little bit of everything. A recent Canadian study states that by monitoring their diets, mothers that breastfeed can prevent them from getting such food allergies. However, other physicians have stated that avoiding such foods in a mother's diet when breastfeeding does not guarantee that when the child grows up that it will not develop a food allergy. Common sense only determines that if not diagnosed with a specific food allergy that the child is going to eat that food later in life and may find that they have an allergic reaction to it.

Normally, many doctors suggest not feeding children products that contain peanuts in them until they are around three years old, due to the fact that peanut allergy is the number one death causing allergy. It's a little troubling to know that many manufacturers of goodies such as ice cream, candy, and cakes fail to list all the egg and peanut ingredients which take in part to the number of deaths each year based on food allergies. Even though the Food and Drug Administration sends out recalls, many times it's too late.

Many mothers that breastfeed have found that besides the normal threat of milk products, soy, wheat, eggs, and peanuts, their children have followed in family members footsteps by being allergic to something that a family member is allergic to. Another suspect food could be any food that the mother recently ate a large amount of or the mother craves. On a personal note, a few friends of mine have found that their babies have found a problem with a food that the mother doesn't like but is eating it while breastfeeding thinking that it will be good for the baby. On many occasions, a lot of new foods can cause problems; especially if you notice that right after eating a new food you notice the baby is developing new or first time symptoms.

A lot of times, there is a possibility that the baby is not allergic to the food, but may just be sensitive to it or just have a temporary irritation with it. The most common of this scenario is veggies such as broccoli, peppers, and onions. There types of veggies tend to cause a baby to be gassy. You can also face the possibility that if it's a milk product, there may not be an allergy to it; it could just be lactose intolerance.

On the occasion that your baby does become allergic to a specific food, sometimes it can take as long as three weeks to pass through the baby's body. Of course you need to consult your child's doctor and remove that suspected food from the baby's diet. Sometimes after the problem is determined, because the baby's immune system is still growing, some pediatricians suggest reintroducing the foods in small amounts in order to discover if it is a food irritation or an allergy.

Many doctors feel that the longer you breastfeed your child, the less chance your child has at developing eczema and asthma that are considered to be allergic diseases. Of course like everything revolving around allergies, it may take a few minutes, a few hours, or even a few days to develop and or even longer to determine the root of the issue. One thing that you have to remember is that no matter what food your child may be allergic too, it will not interfere with the growth of your child. Yes, many foods have a bigger or better amount of one mineral or another that they can't get that large amount from another food, but the reality is that they can get that same type of nutrition for many other foods.

Age is a huge factor when it comes to allergies. Kids seem to grow out of everything, including food allergies. This statement can also work in reverse, kids that don't have any food allergies can grow into having them later in life, even in adulthood. As for a personal experience, I was never allergic to any type of food or spice as a child, now here I am at 26 years old and as a huge fan of McDonald's McChicken Sandwich, I have discovered that a specific spice within that sandwich tends to make my tongue swell for a day or two and this never happened before until about a year ago.

All and all, when determining what is best for your child, it can sometimes be a two way street because in order to determine if your child has a food allergy, they have to consume that type of food and suffer the symptoms, and that is something that no mother is willing to do when they know how bad the symptoms can be. So take it one step at a time and always consult your baby's pediatrician for information and advice on how this process can be done in the easiest way possible.