All You Need To Know About Baby Allergies: Types, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Allergies occur when infants react to the substances in their environment or the food or medicine they take that are typically harmless to most people. These substances can be anything ranging from peanuts to pollen.

As a first-time parent, it’s easy to get worried and panic. But be sure to practice mindful breathing and until you calm your nerves. Continue reading about allergies in babies and tick off the checkboxes of symptoms your child may have.

What Causes Allergies in Infants?

Just like adults and older children, infants can get allergies, too. However, when your infants have symptoms, usually the tell-tale signs of diseases, it can be challenging to pinpoint what’s wrong. Infants can get different allergies, but they can usually be divided into one of the following three categories:

Seasonal

Have you noticed that your child’s symptoms worsen during certain seasons? If so, it may be seasonal allergies, e.g., hay fever or allergic rhinitis¹. Symptoms occur when some weeds, trees, and grasses are in bloom. Pollen from plants and trees are the most common triggers of seasonal allergies in your children. Observe the following seasonal allergy symptoms:

• Sneezing
• Stuffy nose
• Runny, itchy nose
• Watery nose
• Sniffling

You must stock up on allergy medications with your child’s healthcare provider. For example, Dr. Talbot’s Allergy Medicine for Infants – Gentle Relief for Little Ones is great for alleviating the symptoms of seasonal allergies². It temporarily relieves hay fever and most of the symptoms of seasonal allergies.

Food and Medicine

Typically, when a baby is allergic to a food or medicine, the symptoms appear within a few minutes, an hour or two. Medicine allergy³ signs are typically rashes. However, they may not appear not until several days. Observe your child and look for the most common signs of food and medicine allergies:

• Itching
• Hives or rashes
• Shortness of breath or wheezing
• Coughing
• Diarrhea
• Belly Pain

Food and medicine allergies can happen to anyone. The most common food that triggers food allergies in children is the following:

• Peanuts
• Cow’s Milk
• Eggs
• Shellfish
• Fish
• Soy
• Wheat
• Nuts from trees (walnuts, almonds, and cashews)

Food allergies can cause life-threatening severe symptoms all of a sudden. They can have trouble breathing and a sharp drop in their blood pressure, causing shock to the body. In an emergency, the healthcare provider may prescribe you epinephrine (adrenaline), which you use at the first signs of the symptoms.

Environmental

Environmental allergies⁴ may be uncommon in babies, but it can still affect some babies. Dust, pollen, pets, mold, insect stings, and any other environmental elements can trigger the following allergy symptoms among babies:

• Red and itchy eyes
• Runny nose
• Sneezing
• Coughing
• Chest tightness
• Wheezing

When exposed to allergens, your infant can develop a rash, hives⁵, or itchy bumps, which can be sensitive to a child.

How Are Allergies Diagnosed in Babies?

Your physician may perform an allergy test or a combination of tests on your baby. The following are standard tests conducted by your healthcare provider:

• Skin test: A speck of a specific allergen is placed under the skin with a needle. The site where an allergen is placed will be observed for 15 minutes.
• Blood test: It’s suitable for younger babies or when a skin test isn’t appropriate.

Image Alt Text- Dr. Talbot’s Allergy Medicine for Infants⁶ – Gentle Relief for Little Ones

Landing Page- https://drtalbots.com/products/infant-daily-allergy-relief

Treating Allergies in Babies and Toddlers

As you’ve read above, you can treat allergies with epinephrine ⁷or an allergy medicine that can treat hay fever. As you can see, the treatment would depend on the type of allergy. In addition to the medications mentioned above, the following treatment is recommended to help with the symptoms:

• Antihistamines to ease runny nose or skin rashes that come in liquids or pills
• Administering EpiPen for emergency treatment in a life-threatening action

When To Seek Help 

Have you noticed any mild symptoms? If it went by quickly, it would benefit you to note what symptoms occurred and what caused it. Typically, these mild symptoms are temporary and don’t require a doctor’s visit since it’s temporary. However, they’re worth remembering and communicating with your physician on your next doctor’s visit. It’s also helpful if you notice the signs again.

When these symptoms don’t subside within a day or worsen, it would be a great time to seek help and call the pediatrician’s office. Explain what you’ve observed to them and ask what you should do to relieve your baby of their symptoms. Don’t hesitate when you notice any symptoms since some allergies can be life-threatening.

Final Thoughts

Before speculating and buying your child cough medicine or ointment for their rash, it would be much better to consult your child’s healthcare physician first. Getting a professional’s diagnosis and opinion on what medicine to purchase is better than assuming on your own. After all, all a parent wants is for the child’s safety.

1. Bousquet, Jean, et al. “Next-generation Allergic Rhinitis and Its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) guidelines for allergic rhinitis based on Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) and real-world evidence.” Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 145.1 (2020): 70-80. ↩︎
2. Di Fraia, Marco, et al. “Adherence to prescribed E-diary recording by patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis: observational study.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 22.3 (2020): e16642. ↩︎
3. Ahmed, Bilal, and Aatiqa Ali. “Usage of traditional Chinese medicine, western medicine and integrated Chinese-western medicine for the treatment of allergic rhinitis.” Official Journal of the Zhende Research Group 1.1 (2020): 1-9. ↩︎
4. Renz, Harald, and Chrysanthi Skevaki. “Early life microbial exposures and allergy risks: opportunities for prevention.” Nature Reviews Immunology 21.3 (2021): 177-191. ↩︎
5. Middlehurst, Matthew, et al. “HIVE-COTE 2.0: a new meta ensemble for time series classification.” Machine Learning 110.11-12 (2021): 3211-3243. ↩︎
6. Halken, Susanne, et al. “EAACI guideline: Preventing the development of food allergy in infants and young children (2020 update).” Pediatric Allergy and Immunology 32.5 (2021): 843-858. ↩︎
7. Patel, Nandinee, et al. “Use of multiple epinephrine doses in anaphylaxis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 148.5 (2021): 1307-1315. ↩︎

Last Updated on January 18, 2024 by Suchi