Is it Possible to Outgrow Childhood Allergies?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if your child's allergies would just disappear? For some, with time, it might be so, but outgrowing child allergies is never a guaranteed thing. Sometimes, allergy symptoms and reactions in children do seemingly disappear-and not with immunotherapy. There are a few of reasons why this happens. In some cases of outgrown child allergies the allergy is not really gone. What seems like an outgrown child allergy may just be a change in circumstance or environment. This follows the classic avoidance of exposure to allergens, but in this case the avoidance isn't necessarily intentional.

For example, as a child with a dust mite allergy ages, he or she may just tend to keep their rooms cleaner or stocked with fewer dust-collecting toys and belongings; maybe he or she has opted to stop sleeping next to that old, dingy stuffed animal that had to go everywhere for the past 10 years. Anything that peripherally causes a reduction in allergen exposure can result in fewer allergic reactions. Climate changes or a move to a less environmentally allergenic area may also result in what seems like outgrowing child allergies. For example, ocean and beach areas with fewer trees and less vegetation produce less pollen. Also, outdoor allergies can range in severity from year to year with the production of plant allergens, and weather changes can impact how and where pollutants and pollen allergens go-i.e. affect exposure.

There is also the possibility that the child did not outgrow child allergy symptoms or reactions, but that the symptoms have changed; for example, in early childhood, eczema is a common allergy reaction, but it is much less so in older childhood and adulthood. Instead, the allergy may present with more conventional skin or nasal allergy symptoms, or more elusive symptoms like stomach upset and gastrointestinal distress. A change to gastrointestinal symptoms is particularly common with food allergies.

Moreover, one allergy may disappear, only to be replaced by another. This, too, is common with child food allergies. Children tend to be more food allergic in childhood, and less so as adults. Unfortunately, those children who suffered with child food allergies often trade their new-found allergy freedom for new-found seasonal or environmental allergies. Nevertheless, it is possible for an allergic child to outgrow childhood allergies. This happens as the child's immune system matures and realizes that the substance it viewed as so dangerous really is not a problem at all; with each exposure, child allergy symptoms are lessened until the allergen stops producing an allergic reaction.

It appears that children with food allergies have the best chance to outgrow their childhood allergy. About 85% of children with a food allergy to milk, soy, eggs, or wheat will outgrow the childhood allergy. Up to 20% of children with a peanut allergy will outgrow this childhood allergy. If it does appear that a child has outgrown a child food allergy, a medically supervised food challenge may be issued to determine the presence or disappearance of an allergy; since food allergy symptoms can be severe, such a challenge should only be done if ordered and supervised by a qualified physician.