Recommendations for Children with Allergies

As we've been sharing all week - some recommendations have changes to help parents avoid their children developing food allergies, the recommendations for children with allergies haven’t changed much. Here’s what you need to know:

• Continue to build a healthy immune system by eating an anti-oxidant rich diet
• If you are breastfeeding, avoid eating the food causing the allergy
• Don’t let the child eat the food or any foods containing the allergenic ingredients.
• Work with your child’s doctor if you want to try cooked versions of the allergenic food. In many – but not all! – cases, cooking changes the food so it no longer causes an allergic reaction.
• Roasting peanuts increases allergenicity
• Cooking fruits and vegetables decreases allergenicity – except for celery
• Kids usually don’t outgrow peanut or tree nut allergies, but it is possible. They will often outgrow other food allergies by their teen years.

To learn what to do to try to avoid a food allergies visit our website.


This article is part one of a three-part series this week to highligh Food Allergy Awareness Week 2010.

About our expert Rachel Riddiford, MS, RD, LD.
Rachel has been an employee of Dayton Children's since 2004. She is currently the Manager of Clinical Dietetics and works as an eating disorder specialist in the Nutrition Clinic. Rachel completed her BS in Dietetics at Western Michigan University, Master's degree at University of Dayton, and dietetic internship at Indiana University/Purdue University. She has also completed an American Dietetic Association Pediatric and Adolescent Weight Management Certificate.