Caring for Your Child with Severe Food Allergies

Book excerpt: Understanding and Learning to Live Well with Food Allergies Considering that severe allergic reactions can be life-threatening, parents often find that protecting children can be a daunting task-trying to make sure they are safe, while still creating a sense of normalcy as they grow up. But it can be done. Sorting the truth from the myths and misunderstandings, Caring for Your Child with Severe Food Allergies presents not only pertinent facts but, more important, it helps families cope with the emotional aspects of raising a child at risk for severe food reactions. With compassion and insight, Lisa Cipriano Collins blends her own experiences raising a child with severe peanut and tree-nut allergies with practical observations, interviews with parents, and data from recent medical studies. By learning how to reduce risks while promoting a child's normal emotional development, parents can address the needs of their allergic child and his or her siblings, as well as their own needs-and work toward a happy, healthy family. Caring for Your Child with Severe Food Allergies covers: * Identifying allergies * Working with schools * Restaurant and travel concerns * Encouraging independence * Finding treatment * Safety risks and solutions * Helping your child help himself * Identifying ingredients * Making an emergency kit * Finding support * Developing community awareness