Food Allergies among Children

Dealing with an adult or even an older child with food allergies is not hard, but have you ever tried telling a two-year child that he cannot have a certain food because it will make him sick? Ryan (not his real name) was almost two years old when he discovered he was allergic to most of the things he liked the most - milk, cheese, ice cream, and apple juice.

From the time he was born, Ryan had not been able to sleep through the night. His mom knew something was wrong, but the pediatrician did not agree with her, claimed he was lactose intolerant, and told her to keep him away from dairy products. Ryan still woke up continually during the night, and his mom knew something was not right with her son. He had constant diarrhea, diarrhea that was so bad it would leave red blotches on his bottom. He would cry when his mom used baby wipes to clean him so she learned to use a plain wet washcloth. He would pass gas; sometimes his gas was so severe he would cry as he passed it. Other family members thought Ryan was a colicky baby, but, again, his mom's instinct told her that wasn't his problem.

One and a half years later, Ryan was tested for food allergies. Sure enough, just as his mom thought, Ryan was allergic to casein, which is a milk protein, egg whites, apples, oat and peanut. Ryan's mom used the avoidance diet. She took away all of the foods he ate and gradually put him back on one food for two or three days to see if he reacted to that particular food. If he did react, then he would have to avoid that food. If he did not react, then he was free to eat that food as he normally would.

As it turned out, Ryan was not able to eat any dairy products and any products with apple so his mom bought soy products and avoided anything with apple as an ingredient. She was constantly reading labels because she discovered casein was not only in dairy products but in such items as Ranch Doritos and sausage. She also had to make sure that anyone - daycare, school and other caregivers -, who fed Ryan anything, knew of his food allergies as well. His main reaction was more of a digestive one - stomach aches, gas, and diarrhea - than of a respiratory one. Once the foods were eliminated, Ryan was finally able to sleep through the night, and he no longer had diarrhea and redness on his bottom.

After nearly five years of sticking to that avoidance diet, Ryan is now finally able to eat like a regular child. By avoiding the foods to which he reacted, Ryan outgrew the allergies and is happily able to enjoy the foods he longed to eat.

How food affects your children’s mood

Behavior is always a form of communication. A child's behavior is not always deliberate, but it is always telling us something about how they are experiencing their environment. They may, however, be years away from being able to self-identify the causes of their behavior. In the meantime, we adults often over-estimate their ability to verbalize what the trouble is. So we see "behavior" and we assume it is willful.
We assume too much, and in doing so, we neglect the more difficult search for the source of our children's behavior and moods. That search frequently leads to food.
Food allergies & Food Sensitivities
These are sometimes used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. An allergy is a disordered immune-system response. Even a trace amount of the allergen will trigger an allergic response. Food allergies affect far fewer people than food sensitivities, but they are more serious (up to and including fatal reaction). Some common food allergy triggers are eggs, nuts, dairy products, wheat, corn, soy, fish, strawberries.
Food sensitivity is a drug-like reaction to a substance, usually based on the amount or degree of exposure to the offending substance. Two red jelly beans may incite hyperactive or aggressive behavior in one child, whereas another may be able to tolerate a handful. Some common food sensitivity triggers are food dyes, preservatives and additives such as MSG (monosodium glutamate), dairy products, processed carbohydrates such as white flour and white sugar, citrus fruits, chocolate, eggs.
Poor Overall Nutrition
A child may be eating a lot, but if it is of low nutritive value, his brain may be literally starving, acutely affecting his behavior.
The link between nutrition and behavior has been increasingly tested over the past few decades as more and more processed 'food products' have replaced actual food in its original form. In the provocative documentary Supersize Me, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock visits a so-called behavioral high school in Appleton, Wisconsin whose staff saw problem behaviors decline dramatically after converting their school lunch program from processed foods to whole, fresh foods. Further result was an increase in attendance and academic achievement.
An easy way to improve nutrition is to become conscious of eating foods closer to their original form, with as little processing as possible-whole grains rather than refined flours and cereals, whole fresh fruits and vegetables rather than products processed with large amounts of salt and sugar, natural, unprocessed meats that aren't cured with salts and nitrites, or "enhanced" with "basting solutions."
Running on Empty
If your child's behavior is deteriorating early in the day, skipping breakfast could be the culprit. Children's brains are hungry in the morning, whether they recognize it or not; there is overwhelming evidence that children who eat breakfast do significantly better in school than those who do not. The re-fueling of the brain after the long night's fast enhances energy and focus, reduces irritability and anxiety, and has been shown to improve children's overall food choices during the rest of the day.
Thirst
Without adequate hydration, a child can become lethargic, cranky and unable to focus. But fluid consumption should not come at cross-purposes: soda and artificially flavored drinks composed mainly of sugar and food dye may address one problem while creating another. Glucose slows the speed at which the stomach empties its contents, so sugared drinks can actually contribute to thirst by delaying the movement and absorption of fluid into the intestine.
Plain old water is without comparison a hydrator and thirst quencher. Kids may consider water 'boring,' so as with food, change habits slowly. If your child is drinking soda every day, start by eliminating one serving per day and work your way down to where it's a special-occasion treat.
Voicing Pain through Behavior
Don't overestimate your child's ability to communicate gastrointestinal problems. Children aren't born with the ability to identify cause and effect; it develops gradually over childhood. Your child may be voicing physical pain through extreme behavior. Acid reflux (heartburn) can cause esophageal or abdominal pain and create sleep disruption. Constipation, diarrhea, chronic flatulence, ear infections, tooth and mouth pain can all be brought on by certain foods. More serious illnesses such as Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) require ongoing medical supervision.
As spell-checking, error-detecting computers developed over the years, the term GIGO faded from use. But in its place came an equally dangerous reiteration: GIGO meaning garbage in, gospel out. It's an acerbic warning that we should not accept our computer's output at face value as truth. The same goes for your child's behavior. The truth may be, quite literally, in the pudding.