Catering for a child with food allergies can be such a challenging thing to do for parents. Weaning and feeding kids is hard enough, without throwing food allergies into the mix.
I’ve written about kids and food allergies in the past before, but largely focusing on weaning and introducing allergens during weaning as well as what to do if your baby has had an allergic reaction during weaning and whether or not you should wait three days before introducing new foods during weaning. I also have a separate blog, Is my baby’s rash a food allergy?
But today I wanted to go beyond the information/diagnosis stage when it comes to allergies and instead focus on catering for a child with food allergies once they have been diagnosed.
Getting your child’s food allergy diagnosed
First of all, if you’re worried about your little one having an allergy, it’s super important that you get it checked out and officially diagnosed first, where possible. Eliminating foods for no reason can be costly, inconvenient at best and can potentially lead to allergies developing in the future. So, if you can, push your GP to refer you for a formal diagnosis from an NHS allergy specialist.
There are some amazing specialists out there who can also provide support privately if this is accessible to you, including:
Dr Adam Fox – Professor of Paediatric Allergy
Dr Helen – GP and Allergy Specialist
Lucy Upton – Allergy Specialist Dietitian
Lydia Collins-Hussey – Allergy Specialist Dietitian
There is also a difference between a food allergy and an intolerance which might be essential to know.
A food allergy is the immune system reacting to a specific food. There are different types of food allergy, but they all involve the immune system. A food allergy can be diagnosed using a variety of tests including a skin prick test, blood tests, oral food challenges and elimination diets.
A food intolerance is when someone experiences adverse symptoms in reaction to certain foods. It does not involve the immune system and can be much harder to diagnose, as there are no specific tests for a food intolerance. A food and symptom diary, along with specialist guidance from a healthcare professional is usually the best way to diagnose and manage a food intolerance.
Food shopping & understanding allergen labelling
Under UK law, food businesses must inform you if they use any of the 14 allergens as ingredients in the food and drink they sell.
These are:
- celery;
- cereals containing gluten ;
- crustaceans;
- eggs;
- fish;
- lupin;
- milk;
- molluscs;
- mustard;
- peanuts;
- sesame;
- soybeans;
- sulphur dioxide and sulphites
- and tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts).
By law, any of these allergens must be shown on an ingredients list in BOLD so it’s easy for you to spot if one of these is included in a food product. If your child is allergic to ingredients not included in these 14 allergens, you should always check the label or ask staff for information regarding their specific food allergy.
Some products might simply say “contains traces of”, which can be confusing for parents. Allergy UK has a brilliant resource on decoding allergen labelling, which may be helpful for parents.
The document explains that there are more than 20 alternative phrases for ‘may contain,’ but that there is “no difference in the associated risk,” so they should all be interpreted in the same way from an allergy perspective. These phrases include:
- May contain
- May contain traces of
- Packed in an environment where … may be present
- Made in a facility that also processes…
- Produced in a factory which handles…
- Produced on shared equipment which also processes…
- Made on the same production line as…
- Made in a production area that also uses…
- Not suitable for… allergy sufferers
- Due to manufacturing methods products may occasionally contain…
- May be present
Whether or not you are able to offer these to your child is something that you should discuss with your child’s healthcare team.
‘Free-from’ products are made without allergens. So if a product contains the label “free-from milk,” it means that rigorous controls have taken place to ensure the food is safe for anyone with an allergy to milk.
Some apps help you check at the point of sale if a product contains allergens by scanning its barcode on your smartphone. For example, Coeliac UK offers a scanner for those with this autoimmune condition who must avoid all gluten in their diet. Other apps are available, including Fig and Soosee, although it’s unclear how accurate or reliable they may be.
Setting up your kitchen for a child with a food allergy
Being told that your child has a food allergy can be overwhelming and if you have a fussy eater, you may worry that the diagnosis could aggravate this. I have lots of resources to help support you. It can be helpful to review the building blocks of a balanced diet for babies, toddlers and young children, as well as which vitamins and minerals your child needs and when to worry about fussy eating.
Post-diagnosis, follow my top 5 tips for feeding a child with a food allergy:
- Eliminating the allergen? Decide if you will completely eliminate the allergen from your home. This will facilitate cooking as you know that everything in your kitchen is safe, but it will also depend on other members of the household and how easily you find you can adapt your meals.
- Have allergen free areas. If you do decide to keep allergens in the home, have a shelf in the fridge and a cupboard that is dedicated to just the allergy-friendly foods and ingredients. Invest in Tupperware or other sealed containers to keep foods entirely separate and safe. Cook allergy-friendly dishes first to avoid risk of cross-contamination.
- Get your labels out! Label foods properly with stickers or a sharpie and ensure that anything that you’ve cooked, opened or bought is clearly labelled as an allergen/allergen-free, especially anything you add to the freezer as over time it’s easy to forget whats what at the bottom of the freezer drawer.
- Teach the kids. Educate your whole family on how to protect your food-allergic child from their allergen and prepare food safely. Put up some kitchen rules (eg. on the fridge) so that everyone knows how to avoid cross-contamination at all times. Have an allergy plan for anyone who cares for your child, including grandparents, school or nursery and ensure you keep allergy kits to hand at all times.
- Practise good hygiene. Stress the importance of hygiene around mealtimes and put plans in place to avoid cross-contamination. You may need separate plates and utensils for your allergic child. Always ensure you know exactly whose portion is whose.
My 5-point plan for cooking for a child with allergies
As you begin to find your stride with catering for your allergic child, these tips will also help:
- Learn about substitutions you can use in cookery, such as gluten-free pastas, chia seed eggs or egg replacers, fortified plant milks or dairy-free spreads. Unfortunately, the free-from aisle at the supermarket is often much more expensive but there are ‘accidentally free-from’ options too which will save you money. Learning to cook your own food at home from scratch will likely save money over buying costly free-from packaged meals. You can read more tips for saving money on your food shop in my blog.
- Batch cook some staple allergy-free meals for the freezer when you have the time to dedicate to it. That way you always have options on hand for emergencies. Learn one or two allergy-safe meals that you can make very quickly via a dash to the supermarket or a sweep round your kitchen cupboards, so that you are never left in a panic not knowing what to feed your child.
- Build a supply of portable free-from snacks that your child can take on trips to the playground or to a friend’s house. Be prepared so that you don’t need to improvise or rely on whatever you can find in a panic at the last-minute. Taking your own snacks outside of the house also means you are in control and not concerned about cross-contamination. My free-from blueberry muffins can be frozen and then defrosted as a portable snack as needed.
- As soon as your child is old enough, educate them about the allergy and teach them to always say no to foods they’ve been given unless they’ve checked with an adult that they’re safe. Cooking allergy-safe recipes with them as they grow is a good way to teach them about their allergy and introduce them to some delicious free-from meal options. It can also help normalise their allergy and reduce any associated anxiety. You can read more about the further benefits of cooking with kids in my separate blog.
- Find your community online for friendly support and advice for you and your child. There are so many blogs, cookery books and social media profiles out there dedicated to free-from food. For little children there are also picture books to help teach them about their allergy in language they can understand. Living with a food allergy as a parent or child can be tough at times and knowing that you are not alone can make all the difference in managing mealtimes and finding your feet.
If you’re looking for some allergy-friendly recipes for your little one, some of these from my recipe blog may be helpful:
I hope you’ve found the information in this blog helpful. Below is a list of further resources to help you and your family navigate the tricky world of food allergies.
Further resources – Get help with your child’s food allergy
There is no doubt that catering for a child or children with an allergy can be challenging and it will make meal planning and preparation for your family more difficult – but there are organisations out there that can support you.
Allergy UK offers a wealth of information and help for parents of a child with an allergy, including specific plans to support children of primary school age. Their parent hub also includes invaluable advice on communicating with your child’s school to set up an allergy management plan. Allergy UK also has an excellent and in-depth booklet on weaning your food allergic baby. You may also like to view their directory of approved products for households with allergies.
The Allergy Team also has resources for families, schools, business and healthcare professionals so do check those out as well.
There are many other organisations and charities that can support you and your child if you are living with a food allergy, intolerance or coeliac disease (an autoimmune condition, not an allergy), including Coeliac UK, Anaphylaxis UK and Natasha Allergy Research Foundation.
Set-up communications for your allergic child
Another important step is to set-up a free Food Standards Agency allergy alert so that you are immediately notified as parents if a product needs to be withdrawn or recalled from a UK supermarket due to an allergy risk to consumers. You can also set up the same allergy alert via Allergy UK and the charity has both a live chat on its site and a helpline to support parents with any questions in real-time. If you have any concerns at any stage, always speak to your healthcare professional, too.
Organisations like Medic Alert sell school safety allergy bundles containing different ways to highlight your child’s allergy, like wallet cards and zipper tags for your child’s coat and school or nursery bag. Medic Alert also sell allergy ID bracelets designed for kids. Allergy Pen Pals have child-friendly illustrated badges, keyrings, lunchbox stickers, allergy ID tags and personalised medical cards for your child’s epipen case or medication bag, all for sale in their shop. The Gluten-Free Kitchen Shop sells gluten-free stickers for lunchboxes and groceries. You can read more detail at the Food Standards Agency’s allergen information and labelling guide which includes advice on shopping for pre-packed and loose groceries as well as ordering allergy safe food from either a restaurant or takeaway for your allergic child.