An Overview of Children's Food Allergy Products

Over the Counter Child Allergy Products

The medicinal remedies available for curing child allergy symptoms are Over-the-counter (OTC) medications and prescription medications. OTC medicines can be bought from the medical shops without tendering the doctor’s prescription. They can either be used for regular maintenance of child allergy symptoms or for occasional use.

Most of OTC medicines are of low-dose concentrations as compared to the prescription version of the same medicines. This does not mean that the user can increase the dosage by taking more quantity of such a medicine. You should always follow the label on the medicine bottle or consult doctor for increasing dosage. The most popular OTC child allergy medications are antihistamines and decongestants; these can be procured as pills, tablets, chewables, liquids, syrups, and nasal sprays for children of different ages. Topically applied steroids used to relieve certain skin rashes and skin allergies are also available over-the-counter.

The OTC medicines should be properly used and not misused. The dosage of this medicine is calculated on the basis of the child’s age and weight, weight being more important than age. The dosage and its schedule should strictly follow the instructions on product labeling or by the child’s doctor/ pharmacist. The child’s parents should consult the doctor prior to the need for using OTC products and the proper dose for each child.

Prescription Medications

As compared to OTC medications, prescription child allergy medications offer a large number of items for managing children's allergies, including food allergies. These products are steroids, antihistamines, decongestants and injectable epinephrine. However, these require doctor’s prescriptions and should be taken as per the direction of the physician.

The OTC medicines are relatively milder and in case of need for a stronger medication prescription child allergy medications are preferred. In case of non-availability of OTC medicines one has to go for prescription medicines. There are instances wherein the side effects such as drowsiness, fatigue etc. of OTC medicines is high and in such cases the prescription child allergy medicine is a better alternative.

Child allergy medications that are commonly prescribed are:

	Steroids are useful for treating skin conditions and asthma symptoms; they also cure airway inflammation related allergies not diagnosed as asthma. They are topical, oral or inhaled. Topical ones are applied to skin whereas oral ones are in the form of liquid, pill or tablet taken through mouth.
	Chemical blockers are allergy medications that block the blood chemicals which cause allergic reactions in children. These are antihistamines and anti leukotrienes.
	Decongestants narrow the blood vessels and help in clearing nasal congestion; decongestants are available in liquid and tablet form or in drops and nasal sprays
	Emergency medications are injectable epinephrine useful for prescribing to children with severe, life-threatening allergies; injectable epinephrine is taken at the point of contact to maintain function and breathing until the child can reach medical help.

Normally the doctors recommend taking an OTC version of a medication first and if it is not effective replace it with a prescription child allergy product. However, this depends on the child’s condition, doctor and the allergy history. Prescription products are useful both for occasional or regular maintenance.

Home Products

Prevention is better than cure. The best way to manage child allergy is to prevent allergy than curing it. To facilitate this, a number of child allergy products are available in the market that is useful in reducing the child allergy attacks. Some of them are as follows.

	Air cleaners are useful in removing allergens from the rooms at home
	Dust covers are to be provided for bedding and pillows to minimize the growth of dust mites and keeps dust, molds and other allergens from becoming trapped in mattresses
	Use of filters/filtered vacuums and appliances cleans the air during household cleaning, traps mites, molds, and child allergens
	Steam cleaners are efficient at killing dust mites, molds, and allergens and at cleaning animal dander
	Humidifiers and dehumidifiers are useful in increasing humidity in air and relieve breathing or to decrease humidity and limit mold growth

Foods & Formulas

A number of commercial child food allergy products have been developed to help children with food allergies. The allergenic foods and infant formulas have been replaced by supplements. These supplements are specially made for children with specified food allergies by replacing the allergy producing substance by a safe alternative or by formulating a totally different recipe without using allergenic ingredients. 

The child allergy food supplements for children having allergy to nuts, peanuts, wheat, gluten, soy and milk/dairy products etc. are available online or through pharmacies/ grocery stores. These include breads, milk replacements, snacks and meal products. Parents of children susceptible for severe food allergies prefer usage of child food allergy products since they are sure that the products are not contaminated. Any allergen in the food product of such children could be detrimental to the children and the safe versions of food products will help the children eat normally.

Nowadays it is relatively simpler for parents to manage child allergies with the availability of a large number of child allergy products and medications. One has to find a correct balance of products and medications to manage the child allergy; this will make an enormous difference in the life of an allergic child thereby improving its ability to live and play well all the time.