Food allergies. So food allergies definitely do come up with studying solids because there are higher incidence of food allergies in babies and infants versus adults. So there is 7% of infants and children diagnosed with allergies versus adults are 70%. So there is definitely hope that a lot of allergies can be outgrown. When babies get older, even less developed that food allergy now, there are a couple ways that we can help reduce the risk of food allergies. Number one is to keep breastfeeding as small as possible and up to two years of age if that works for you and baby.

Number two is introducing these high elegent foods early on right around six months when baby starts. Because early exposure is especially peanuts, and eggs are research to effective to prevent or reduce the risk of food allergies. So there are 10 top allergens in Canada. Wheat, soy, milk, or dairy products, fish, seafood chain, peanuts, sesame, mustard, and sulfate. So those are 10 top allergens in Canada, and we do recommend introducing them early on to your baby. Especially if you eat these foods in your family.

So, for example, if you are a vegetarian and you've never eat fish or seafood, don't worry about introducing it to your baby because that's not something that's feasible and practical for you. So I would encourage you to start off with Your family food, to introduce to maybe to reduce those out. Once you have successfully introduced these high allergen foods to your baby's diet, it is recommended to maintain it in his or her diet regularly, regularly meetings at least once a week. If that is the food that your family eats, often to prevent future development of food allergies. There are a subpopulation of infants that are at high risk for food allergies. These babies are have family history of allergies, so if mom or dad or sibling have food allergies, they might be at high risk if your baby also encima that can make them more prone to allergies.

Now encima is my common infant. So if it's well controlled on the like dry spots here, there is not such a big issue. But if it's like open all the time, and it's poorly controlled And I will speak to your doctor about that because getting that encima in good control can actually reduce the baby's chance of getting allergies. The theory is that through protein pass through your skin before there gets so that they're exposed to those allergens through their skin first, which can cause a food allergy. If mom and dad or sibling have a fever, asthma can also mean that baby is at higher risk for food allergies. But there's really no way to tell until you introduce these foods to the baby and see.

There are a bunch of food allergy testing out there. Natural paths to doctors skin prick test, none of them are percent accurate. especially ones that are testing for foods. That baby hasn't been exposed to the best way to be able to tell is to introduce it to your baby and see if there's a reaction. If, for example, there is an elephant otic reaction in your family and your work to introduce these foods to your baby, talk to your doctor, chances are that you can introduce these foods at your doctor's clinic to make you feel more comfortable and confident. I've known moms that have drove to a hospital parking lot to introduce the peanut butter because they're so concerned but usually there's no need to do that.

So let's talk about some signs and symptoms of food allergies, how can you tell if maybe is a food allergen. When the baby Institute for example, a usually the reaction will come up immediately. So within 30 minutes to an hour and you can see rash hives Paint any any part of their body. So we're not talking about that in SEMA, although absolute allergens can make the encima words. Usually you'll see it coming on right away after eating the food, and then it will disappear after two to three hours. After the baby has another sign, the baby's reacting to the food is vomiting.

So vomiting can be immediate or can be delayed. So up to four hours after eating that food. It is only happens in a special condition. So it's not a very common reaction for food allergies, body stores, so that's a pretty common one call allergic particle with dairy and sometimes soy as well. They have in their store or three new consumers Oops. And those can be delayed reaction as well.

So if you see blood in store, or like your baby's poop is turning really mucousy definitely talk to your doctor about that. There are obviously severe reactions to food allergens. So things to watch out for is any swelling with the lips, or tongue, and each trouble breathing so the baby start coughing a lot, that might mean that they're short of breath, any pale blue color, meaning that they're not getting enough oxygen passing out are not responding to you, not acting like themselves. Those can be emergency symptoms, and it's important for you to call 911 free only. If baby has a reaction to a food allergen. It is recommended to avoid that food for now, even if you're not sure, and it's good to speak to your doctor because a second reaction Or a third reaction can become more serious and more severe.

So it is important to get it clarified if baby's reacting to a food or not. If baby hat does have a food allergy reintroduction phase is usually guided my pediatric neurologists. So if your baby so if your baby has food allergy, the best person to help you with that will be a pediatric neurologist. There's a misconception out there babies to know for allergy testing or too young to see an allergist. That is not true. So when you do see your doctor walk in clinic, you want to ask for a referral to a pediatric allergist.

And they will see baby at any age, dairy allergy is quite common. For instance, in the case that baby is reacting to milk. We need to start thinking About milk alternatives, what kind of milk alternatives can they have to get enough nutrition. So we talked about most of the new milk alternatives not appropriate for babies under two years old. So the first recommendation will be a hypoallergenic formula, the trauma gene or element, two brands in Canada, and 90% of reacting to milk protein will tolerate those formula for over one year old, how we can consider using fortified milk with added factors because the soil obviously doesn't have as much fat as the hormone milk. So we need to add extra plant to baby diet to make sure that he's getting enough fat for his brain development.

Other animal like goat sheep course. They are not suitable for babies. With cow's milk protein allergy, because the protein is quite similar and baby can also react to these other animals. So that's it for allergies. I won't go into too much details because there are too much variability in different conditions. Allergies, there is so much different from allergy conditions out there.

It's crazy. I recently became an allergy dietician for my workplace, and I'm learning all kinds of different reactions to all kinds of foods. So if your baby does develop a flu reaction or allergy, please feel free to reach out with your question, and I'll try my best to help you individually because it's just too broad to cover in a video.