Allergenic foods during weaning: when and how to offer them to your baby
Introduction
Can we give allergenic foods during weaning? Should we take special precautions?
If, at least once, this question has been part of your daily life as a new parent, the article in the following lines is designed for you.
Preceded by an index, inserted to give you the opportunity to delve deeper into the various facets of a fascinating and complex theme by clicking directly on the titles of the paragraphs that interest you, it is based on the precious advice of Doctor Federica Dell'Oro, nutrition biologist and author of the video course "Practical, easy and stress-free self-weaning", which you can find at the end of the paragraph .
For more information on how to best take care of your little one's well-being in the first 1000 golden days, you can find me on Instagram at @drsilva.com_official .
Food Allergies: What Are They?
Before getting into the heart of the management of allergenic foods during weaning , it is important to try to understand what we are talking about when we mention food allergies.
A food allergy is a condition in which the immune system reacts abnormally to the consumption of a certain food .
The body, mistakenly perceiving it as harmful to the organism, starts the production of specific antibodies, namely immunoglobulin E, with the aim of neutralizing the substances contained in it .
Symptoms of food allergies , which are due to the release of the chemical mediator histamine by cells in the body involved in the immune and inflammatory response, range from digestive problems to hives to the onset of swelling on the skin.
Respiratory symptoms should also not be overlooked, which may affect the lower airways , red eyes , and a blocked or runny nose like when you have a cold.
Food allergies are different from intolerances.
The latter, in fact, can be defined as adverse reactions to food, manifest their symptoms up to 48 - 72 hours after ingestion, and do not involve the immune system.
