One of the five children has allergies. If I had done these things, maybe my baby would not be allergic.

Today is an important milestone in Su Bao\’s two-year-old life. She can eat rice. Our two-year battle with allergies is finally over. Su Bao developed severe allergic symptoms after eating rice cereal for 7 months, and later developed allergies to several other common foods. The symptoms were projectile vomiting, and in severe cases, dehydration and shock. Vomiting usually occurs after she falls asleep. She is so young that she can\’t help herself to stand. She wakes up crying with vomit all over her face. Looking back now, I still feel scared. Today, my children learned what white rice, the most traditional and common food in Chinese diet, tastes like for the first time. Really mixed feelings. Half of the information in today\’s article comes from Su Bao\’s popular science of American pediatricians, and half comes from personal practice. The risk of allergies is everywhere, and if I had read this article two years ago, maybe my kids wouldn’t have allergies. I hope that after reading this article, you can avoid the pitfalls written in the article. What is an allergy? Allergy is a phenomenon in which the human body\’s immune system is abnormal and reacts to normal and harmless substances in the natural environment. These harmless substances are also called allergens. Common allergens include pollen, milk, nuts, etc. Allergies are more common than we think. The World Health Organization discovered more than ten years ago that about 20% of the world\’s population has allergic symptoms. There are now more than 40 million children in the United States with food allergies, and 1 in every 5 children has allergies. And the data keeps growing. If your baby has eaten a certain food or been exposed to certain substances and develops symptoms such as eczema, rhinitis, asthma, sneezing, swelling, abdominal pain, vomiting, etc., it may be an allergy and requires prompt medical diagnosis. Although scientists have not yet fully understood the causes of allergies, research shows that if you do these things, you can reduce your baby\’s risk of allergies: Do not introduce complementary foods too early. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that it is best to wait until 6 months to introduce complementary foods to your baby. hour. Adding complementary foods too early will not only increase the risk of allergies, but may also increase the risk of obesity and diabetes. There are some foods that are very easy to cause allergies. It is best to try them after the baby is one year old. Many mothers are concerned about when their babies can drink milk. The digestive and gastrointestinal development of babies under 1 year old is not yet complete, and the digestive system cannot easily absorb milk protein. Pediatricians usually recommend trying milk after 1 year old. Adding complementary foods should be done step by step, and do not interrupt the baby\’s intake of complementary foods before eating only liquids (breast milk, formula milk). Therefore, accepting complementary foods is a step-by-step process for their gastrointestinal tract. These foods are not suitable as the first complementary food because of their high risk of allergies: milk, tofu, eggs, shelled fish (such as shrimp, crab, scallops). For your baby\’s first complementary food, you can choose rice cereal, pumpkin puree, carrot puree, or avocado puree. But be sure to follow the steps from thin to thick, from less to more, from single to rich. Regarding the age and specific steps for introducing complementary foods, we have been strictly following the recommendations of the AAP. But there is one point that many parents tend to overlook, that is, after adding a certain food, if it is not allergic, it should be kept in the baby\’s diet without interruption. When Su Bao was 6 months old, he had no allergic symptoms after trying rice cereal for several days. Later, because she went out, she didn\’t eat rice cereal for two or three weeks, but otherFood, when I ate rice cereal again, I developed an allergy. Pediatricians tell us that after babies add certain complementary foods, they should eat them at least once a week to reduce the risk of allergies. Don’t take care of your baby too cleanly. Maybe every new mother will become a Virgo for a period of time. I remember when Su Bao could crawl, I wanted to disinfect the floor at home every day, and I was also afraid that she would scratch the flowers in the flower pot. For things like dirt, if a stranger touches my hands, I will wash her hands quickly. Later I discovered that I might have brought the baby too \”cleanly\”. The proportion of children with allergies has been increasing in both China and the United States in recent years, but in countries with poor public health conditions, allergies are less common. The hygiene hypothesis that Western scientists have been studying has found that the fetus lives in a sterile environment in the mother\’s body and is gradually exposed to various bacteria after birth in order to build its own immune system. If the baby\’s living environment is too \”clean\”, Not being exposed to enough bacteria may increase your baby\’s risk of allergies to the living environment (such as pollen). The recommendation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is that if your baby goes to public places such as shopping malls and amusement parks, they should wash their hands frequently to reduce the risk of contracting the virus. The home should also be cleaned and ventilated frequently to keep it clean, but it is not necessary to disinfect with disinfectants frequently, which will destroy the balance of normal flora in the baby\’s living environment. At the same time, encourage children to participate in more outdoor activities and get in touch with nature. Even if they play a little \”dirty\”, it doesn\’t matter. This can help them build a complete immune system as soon as possible. Although Su Bao\’s pediatrician has told me that her allergies may have nothing to do with her parents\’ parenting style, but just a special constitution. The causes and treatments for allergies in infants and young children are still not 100% clear by scientists. However, these knowledge points mentioned in the article can indeed effectively reduce the risk of allergies. I hope that after reading this article, you can avoid these pitfalls that may cause allergies. Prevention is the best protection.