Guest
Post
by
Ashley M. Jones
March 20, 2010
Ashley M. Jones recently wrote 5 Tips to Manage Food Allergies in Your Child : an outline with useful advice for children, parents, teachers and caregivers.
Here is the complete article by Ashley M. Jones for the Pharmacy Technician Certification.
5 Tips to Manage Food Allergies in Your Child
It's no big deal to those who don't suffer from food allergies; but for those have children who're plagued by this condition, it's necessary to know how to cope with it because it could so easily be the difference between life and death. Unlike food intolerance, an allergy to a certain kind of protein or any other component of food affects your immune system and causes you to suffer symptoms ranging from itchy skin and hives to difficulty in breathing and even anaphylactic shock. So unless you know how to manage your child's allergies and are also able to teach them how to handle the condition, you could end up jeopardizing their health and even their life:
• Talk to your kids : You must talk to your kids from the time they are old enough to understand and tell them why they need to stay away from certain foods. Unless you make it very clear to them that they will fall ill, they're not going to take what you say seriously. So use every opportunity to educate them about their condition without scaring them too much.
• Choose their school carefully : If your child is severely allergic to nuts, choose a school that has a nut-free policy (where nuts or food that has nuts as ingredients are not allowed on campus). This protects them from eating foods that contain allergens inadvertently, either from the cafeteria or from the other kids' lunch bags.
• Educate their teachers/caregivers : It's very important that you talk to your child's teacher, school nurse and other caregivers (bus drivers and cafeteria staff) and tell them of your child's allergy. They need to know whom to contact in case your child suffers adverse reactions and the kind of emergency treatment to provide.
• Ensure that their medication is available : If the school does not stock the emergency medication your child needs, get them to do so. If your child is old enough to handle drugs responsibly, ask the school for permission to send it along with them to school where it could be handed over to a teacher or the school nurse.
• Take extra effort in preparing their food : And finally, ensure that you prepare your child's food carefully. You need to make the extra effort to include special treats when the school has a picnic or a classmate has a birthday because your child may not be able to share the food commonly prepared for the whole class.
Food allergies are dangerous if not taken seriously, so if your child suffers from this condition, ensure that you teach them how to take every precaution to avoid foods that cause them to have adverse reactions. Until they can read labels, don't let them.
This guest post is contributed by Ashley M. Jones, who writes on the topic of Pharmacy Technician Certification. She welcomes your comments at her email id: ashleym.jones643@gmail.com.
If you like this article, you can also read another of her great post related to food allergies Protecting Your Child from Food Allergies on their blog. The Pharmacy Technician Certification Website publishes articles on different health issues which highlight interesting blogs, resources, tips and information.
Source:
www.pharmacytechniciancertification.net