Cow’s Milk Allergy And Babies
Charlene J. Nuble
Allergy to cow’s milk is the most prevalent form of food
allergy that primarily affects children. Most infants and
babies fortunately outgrow cow’s milk allergy during their
second to third year of formula milk intake.
Like most allergies, cow’s milk allergies is not curable, but
rather, they are treatable. In that sense, people and children
born with it should live with dairy-free diets all their lives
to avoid cow’s milk allergies.
A close look at cow’s milk
Regular cow’s milk is composed of carbohydrates or sugar,
vitamins, water, minerals, fat and proteins. It is the protein
in cow’s milk that brings about or serves as allergens that
cause cow’s milk allergy.
Parents should also learn that breastfeeding infants is not an
assurance that the baby would not develop the allergy. However,
studies found that breastfed kids are less likely to form food
allergies of any kind.
Mothers pass along cow’s milk proteins to their kids through
breastfeeding. Thus, it would be more appropriate to say that
it is not the mother’s milk that incur reaction, but the
proteins that are mixed through the mom’s milk, which is
attributed to the mother’s diet.
In some cases, some infants develop immunity to cow’s milk
allergy during their breastfeeding years, but surprisingly
develop cow’s milk allergy when they stop taking in mom’s milk
for formula milk.
Symptoms of cow’s milk allergy
It would be easy to tell when an infant or a kid has developed
cow’s milk allergy. Parents should be very observant of their
children’s conditions so they could immediately seek
professional and medical help at the onset of the allergy.
Babies with cow’s milk allergy exhibit skin rashes or eczema.
Most cases, the babies experience diarrhea, vomiting and
abdominal cramps or abdominal pains.
Because babies could not talk or complain about how they are
feeling, parents should heed to their infants’ cries and
discomfort. Constant and regular visits to the kid’s
pediatrician would be really helpful.
However, it should also be noted that it is not only cow’s milk
allergy that causes rashes, eczema, diarrhea and abdominal pain.
In that regard, consultation to the pediatrician is needed so
the parents would know the real disease discomforting the baby.
Early detection of cow’s milk allergy would be very helpful
because early modification and elimination of dairies in the
kid’s diet would be very beneficial and necessary over time.
Treatment and prevention of cow’s milk allergy
Severe symptom of cow’s milk allergy would need special
prescription medications from the doctor. Usually, to treat
such cases, antihistamines and epinephrine are administered to
the patient.
Parents of children with cow’s milk allergy should also keep
supplies of those drugs in their medicine cabinets because they
would be necessary if ever the children would accidentally take
in cow’s milk.
Infants and babies will be switched to hydrolystate or
soy-based milk formulas from milk-based formulas. Remember, it
is the protein contained in cow’s milk that cause the allergy
so switching to another formula milk brand would not be
helpful.
Mothers who breast-feed infants and babies diagnosed with cow’s
milk should instead cut intakes or eliminate dairy products in
their diet so the cow’s milk protein would not be passed on to
the infants.
As general prevention measure, all formula milk based on cow’s
milk should be eliminated on the baby’s diet.
About The Author: Charlene J. Nuble 2006. For answers to All
your frequently asked questions about cow's milk allergy,
please go to: http://cows-milk-allergy.allergyanswers.net/ or
go to: http://allergyanswers.net/
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