Finding out whether your child has an allergy usually starts with a detailed history of their symptoms. This is often supported by tests like skin prick or blood tests. These can be very helpful, but sometimes they don’t give the full picture. For example, a child with eczema might have slightly raised results for peanuts even if they’ve never eaten them. In other cases, like suspected medication allergies, blood and skin tests have limited value — especially if more than one medicine is involved. That’s where a carefully supervised food challenge can be so valuable.
Most food allergies appear in early childhood, but many children will outgrow them as they get older. There are two main types of food allergy:
- IgE-mediated allergies: Symptoms usually appear quickly, within minutes to two hours after eating.
- Non-IgE-mediated allergies: Symptoms are delayed and may take several hours or even days to appear.
It’s also important to know the difference between a food allergy and a food intolerance. Intolerances happen when the body struggles to digest certain foods, leading to issues like bloating, loose stools, nausea and tiredness. Allergies, on the other hand, involve the immune system and can cause reactions like hives, itching, throat tightness, vomiting, tummy pain and more.
One of the most common allergies in babies and young children is cow’s milk allergy, also called cow’s milk protein allergy (CMPA). This happens when the immune system treats milk proteins as a threat, which can lead to a wide range of allergic symptoms.
If you are concerned about your child, please get in touch with Paediatric Gut Investigation Clinic today.
Paediatric food allergy testing is available at our private clinic in West Sussex. This makes us easily accessible to see children from all nearby areas, including Chichester, Banstead, Dorking, Epsom, Guildford, Redhill, Southampton, Portsmouth, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone, North and South Kensington, Hammersmith, Twickenham, Camden Town, Wandsworth, and all nearby towns and villages.