Children with nut allergies

Health |

18 million people in Britain are estimated to have an allergy and children are particularly effected with as many as 40,000 born each year developing an allergy of some sort.

At least 1 in 50 of all children are allergic to nuts, that’s according to the website Kids Aware - set up by two Mums who have children with nut allergies.

Kay Knight who runs the site said she wants to try and promote awareness of nut allergies.

“I have a daughter who is older and she didn’t have any allergies at all but my son reacted when he was in his highchair eating finger food and he had part of her sandwich which had peanut butter on it and he reacted instantly. His face went into a rash and started swelling, he started crying and was obviously very uncomfortable.

It was confirmed that he had a nut allergy.”

In some cases nut allergies can prove fatal.

Food allergies are most common in the first three years of life and there is a link between children who suffer and a family history of asthma, eczema, hayfever and allergies.

In Kay Knight’s case, her husband has asthma. She admits that dealing with a child who suffers from a nut allergy can be difficult but things have got better.

“He’s 10 now…..when he was younger I was constantly going back and forth telling people what he could and couldn’t have and ringing them up to say that he couldn’t eat nuts.  As he got older he became much more cautious himself. The difficulty for him is that so many foods say ‘may contain traces of nuts’.

He has to make sure that he carries his medicines with him. He needs to carry piraton, if he was have to have a severe reaction then he carries two epipens with him.

We’ve had a couple of incidents where well meaning Grandparents have given him sweets which have had nuts in them and he didn’t know.

You just have to manage it around their lifestyle, be sensible and not exclude them from certain events,” she said.

For those who do suffer from severe nut allergies pre-loaded injection kits are available on prescription.

For further information speak to your health advisor ro GP. To find out more details about living with nut allergies go to the website Kids Aware.