If your child has a food allergy, they’re certainly not alone. About 8% of children in the United States have a food allergy. That number has grown significantly in the last 30 years, though experts don’t know exactly why.

With a food allergy, your child’s body mistakenly identifies a food as a threat, and their immune system responds to that perceived threat. This can cause an allergic reaction whenever they eat the food they’re allergic to.

With the support of a healthcare provider, you can make careful lifestyle changes to help manage your child’s food allergies.

The food that triggers an allergic reaction can vary from child to child. The nine foods that most commonly trigger an allergic reaction are:

• Milk
• Eggs
• Peanuts
• Wheat
• Soybeans
• Sesame
• Fish, such as cod, flounder, or bass
• Shellfish, such as shrimp, crab, or lobster
• Tree nuts, such as walnuts, pecans, or almonds

Food allergy symptoms can occur within minutes to two hours after your child eats a trigger food. These symptoms may include:

• Hives, flushed (reddened or discolored) skin, or a rash
• Itchiness or tingling in their mouth
• Swelling in their face, tongue, throat, or lips
• Digestive issues, including vomiting, diarrhea, or stomach cramps
• Coughing, wheezing, or trouble breathing
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Anaphylaxis

Depending on their age, a child experiencing allergy symptoms may not be able to vocalize or put it into the right words. Instead, they may give signs that they’re having an allergic reaction by mentioning a strange, itchy, full, or tingling feeling on their tongue or in their mouth.

If your child mentions any of the above symptoms after eating a particular food, it’s important to contact their healthcare provider for follow-up testing.

Some kids are more likely to have food allergies than others. Factors that increase the likelihood of developing a food allergy include having:

• Eczema, a disease that causes red, inflamed skin, which can be related to your immune system
• Asthma
• Seasonal allergies
• Family history of food allergies, asthma, seasonal allergies, or eczema 

If you think your child may have a food allergy, contact their pediatrician or another healthcare provider. The provider will likely ask about their symptoms, medical history, and family health history, and perform a physical exam.

They may also recommend food allergy testing. There are a few kinds of food allergy testing, including:

• Skin prick test: Your provider will prick your child’s skin and expose it to a liquid containing allergens to see if your child has a reaction.
• Blood testing: Your healthcare provider may take a blood sample and see if IgE antibodies (which can occur when there’s an allergy) form in response to specific foods. IgE antibodies can sometimes form for foods your child can tolerate. It’s important for an allergist to interpret the test results.
• Oral food challenge testing: With this test, your child eats the suspected allergen under medical supervision.

People with life-threatening food allergies usually need to avoid the food they are allergic to entirely, even trace amounts.

The most important medication for someone with food allergies is epinephrine, commonly referred to as an EpiPen. It can treat anaphylaxis.

If your child begins to have an anaphylactic reaction to a food allergy, it’s important to follow your healthcare provider’s instructions to inject them with epinephrine. This can help stop their body from going into life-threatening shock.

It’s crucial that you carry epinephrine with you and provide it to any school, daycare provider, or after-school program caring for your child. It’s also important that everyone who cares for your child knows how to give epinephrine. As your child gets older, you can teach them how to give it to themselves.

If your child’s healthcare provider has not told you otherwise, plan to go to the emergency room after using an epinephrine auto-injector that is prescribed for them. This ensures your child receives any additional medication or care they may need if symptoms return or worsen.

How To Support Your Child

You can support your child with a food allergy while they attend school, daycare, or camp and navigate eating outside the home and traveling.

When it comes to dining out:

• Consider restaurants that may be safer for allergies, such as those recommended by an allergist or those with menus that list their ingredients
• Avoid premade foods that don’t allow you to modify or leave out ingredients
• Try to go to restaurants during less busy hours and communicate clearly with the staff about your child’s allergies
• Avoid fried foods, which are more likely to be cross-contaminated during preparation

Other ways to support your child include:

• Get them a medical alert bracelet that lists their allergy
• Ask your child’s healthcare provider for a care plan that you can share with others; this plan can include a list of your child’s allergies, steps to avoid the food, and an action plan in case of any allergic reactions
• Make sure to pack all of your child’s allergy medications for all trips, whether they’re close to home or across the world

Not all allergies are preventable. That said, research suggests some steps may lower (but not eliminate) your child’s chances of a food allergy.

These include introducing your child to a wide range of foods at an early age. For example, some research suggests that eating peanut protein as an infant may reduce your baby’s chances of having a peanut allergy later.

Some people have suggested that breastfeeding can reduce food allergies, but current research doesn’t fully support those claims.

It’s possible for kids to grow out of their food allergy. This may be more common among kids with milk, eggs, soy, or wheat allergies. Some children outgrow those allergies by age 3, and most outgrow them by age 10. 

However, some children never outgrow their allergy. This is common for children with peanut, tree nut, fish, and shellfish allergies.

Allergies to certain foods, such as milk, peanuts, and shellfish, are common among children.

You can help manage your child’s food allergy with careful planning and support from a healthcare provider.

You can also help keep your child safe from allergic reactions by carrying medication, having them wear a medical alert bracelet, and providing a care plan to school and childcare providers.