Our little food experience. Allergy to cow's milk proteins. 1 year and 2 months

Edited by an expert:

Nadezhda Primochkina, nutritionist - 06.06.2020

The causes of allergies in a newborn are usually traditional:

Heredity.
Consequences of taking antibiotics.
Disturbed diet of a nursing mother.
Vaccination.
Delayed breastfeeding.
Changes in feeding pattern.

How to feed a little allergy sufferer?

Can a baby be allergic to formula - selecting the food

If an allergy to milk proteins is detected in a formula-fed/mixed-fed baby, it is necessary to completely replace the usual formulas (cow's milk) with special dairy-free formulas .

About 15 years ago it was extremely difficult to create a therapeutic diet for a child with allergies, but today there are no problems with such products - the range of hypoallergenic products (in particular mixtures) is very wide.

Dairy-free formula for an allergic baby can be therapeutic, treatment-and-prophylactic, or prophylactic.

When choosing a formula for an infant, focus on:

Diagnosis of food allergy
For symptoms
For baby's age
On the severity and duration of the disease
For the presence of other diseases

In case of allergies to soy protein, the baby is “prescribed” a medicinal mixture with hydrolyzed protein . The choice of mixture is made after consultation with a pediatrician, who will be able, if necessary, to select a different medicinal mixture if the chosen one is not suitable for the baby

The most popular mixtures for toddlers with allergies:

Soy-based , containing proteins (Nutrilak, Nutricia, Humana, etc.) for babies from 5 months
Hypoallergenic , with partially hydrolyzed milk protein and lactose (Nestlé, Unimilk, Nutricia, etc.)
Medicinal , based on highly hydrolyzed proteins (Nutritek, Frisopep, etc.)

How to feed a baby with food allergies

Picky eating habits for small children have nothing to do with not feeding children with allergies. The big problem is that parents do not know what to feed their baby with a food allergy in order to prevent future reactions and not live with constant worry about the health of their child. Get to know the most dangerous and safe foods for feeding newborns and babies with allergies while breastfed and bottle-fed, as well as during the period of introducing complementary foods. Explanations are given by Alla Anatolyevna Shcherbakova, candidate of medical sciences, doctor of the highest category, pediatrician and deputy head of the children's hospital on Savelovskaya.

— Alla Anatolyevna, you observe healthy children and treat sick ones. Please tell us what food allergies are in a newborn and why they appear in children even when breastfed?

— Food allergy is an excessive reaction of the body to allergenic substances. In young children, food allergens are more common. Recently, the number of children with food allergies has increased significantly, and this problem is acute in all countries of the world, including Russia. But why is still unclear. There are different theories about the origin of food allergies.

Nutritional theory:
a large population of people was fed not with breast milk, but with dry adapted milk formulas based on cow's milk proteins. Cow protein is considered one of the causes of food allergies.
Hygiene theory:
the best “vaccination” against allergies is a little dirt. If a person grows up in sterile conditions - brushes his teeth with an antibiotic paste, washes clothes only with antiseptics, treats his hands with antibacterial gel - this leads to allergic reactions in him and his children.

— What are the main symptoms that indicate that a child has a food allergy?

— There are several symptoms, as well as forms of food allergies. For example, some researchers consider colic in infants to be its manifestation.

It is quite difficult for a mother to distinguish food allergies from other diseases. It happens that this is difficult to do even for a specialist with extensive experience. In any case, if the child has skin rashes and anxiety, it is better to show him to a doctor.

Form of food allergy	Symptoms and signs	What problem can be confused with
Skin (atopic dermatitis)	inflammation of the skin localized to the cheeks, elbows, knees general skin background is dry, atopic, irritated, inflamed	acne of newborns - “blooming” of the skin, which manifests itself only as rashes on the face skin diseases - scabies, contact dermatitis
Gastrointestinal	inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract regurgitation, poor weight gain, mucus and blood streaked stools	surgical pathologies - pyloric stenosis, pylorospasm, intussusception, pathology of the large or small intestine
Mixed	allergies affect both the skin and the gastrointestinal tract

How early can food allergy symptoms appear?

“Children begin to suffer from food allergies at an early age, but no one knows why this happens. The onset of food allergies in the lion's share of cases is observed in the first weeks and first month of a child's life. However, if the baby reaches 6 months without developing allergies, the risk of allergies in the future is low.

The peculiarity of food allergies in children is that they manifest themselves after some time, that is, they have a cumulative nature. In adults, hypersensitivity is usually of an immediate type (for example, you entered a room where there was a cat, and an allergic runny nose immediately appeared).

— What substances and foods do children react to more often?

— The most common cause of childhood food allergies is intolerance to cow's milk proteins (confirmed in nine out of ten infants, in children of the first months of life - in 100%), followed by wheat.

In infancy, any substance can cause an allergy. Allergic reactions are most often caused by milk, wheat, eggs, fish, seafood, soy, peanuts and tree nuts. At the same time, a food allergy to milk may go away over time, but to fish or seafood it may persist for life. And if the baby shows hypersensitivity to some product (Quincke's edema, anaphylactic shock), then the likelihood of repetition of such strong reactions is also high.

— Alla Anatolyevna, does the risk of developing food allergies depend on heredity?

— The hereditary factor undoubtedly increases the risk of developing allergic reactions, but even if the parents are not allergic, it is not a fact that the child will be born without allergies. If at least one of the parents has a food allergy, then the risk of its occurrence in the child’s life is very high. If both parents have food allergies, then with a 100th probability the baby will have food intolerance.

— Is it possible to understand in advance by any signs that a child will later develop an allergy?

— The development of food allergies is not only associated with heredity. The risk of developing allergic reactions increases:

feeding with dry milk formula;
treatment with antibiotics at an early age;
past viral infections;
hospital stay with artificial ventilation.

— How are food allergies treated? Should I give my child medications?

— The treatment of food allergies is based on prescribing to the child a special medicinal mixture - hydrolyzate or amino acid mixture with the exception of cow's milk proteins. If the baby is breastfed, then a dairy-free diet is recommended for the mother. The child may also be prescribed emollients to moisturize and nourish dry skin, anti-inflammatory drugs, steroid hormones, antihistamines, phages and even some probiotics. Treatment is individual and determined by the doctor.

— Is it possible to cure food allergies solely with diet and special nutrition?

— Food allergy to cow's milk protein in the form of atopic dermatitis or gastrointestinal form, as a rule, goes away by 1-1.5 years. But it should be understood that if a child has atopic dermatitis in the first month of life, then this is the debut of the “atopic march” - a general inflammatory allergic reaction that will not go away with age and, with constant irritation of the immune system, will later acquire other forms. The skin rash may end, but hay fever, intolerance to animal hair and plant pollen, dust allergy or bronchial asthma will appear. Special therapeutic milk nutrition reduces the risk of atopic disease in adulthood.

— What is a food diary for allergies and how to keep it?

— A food diary for the mother of a child with allergies is an indispensable notebook where it is written down what and how much the child ate during the day by the hour, where unwanted reactions, daily weight gain, stool patterns, and cases of enuresis are indicated. The minimum period for keeping a diary is a week. Based on the records, the doctor can draw conclusions and substantiate the proposed diagnosis.

— What preventative measures should mothers take to prevent acute manifestations of allergies if the baby is predisposed to it?

- If the child is healthy - there are no complaints, he eats well and gains weight, but his sister or brother, mother or father has allergies, then parents should be on guard: food allergies are possible. A nursing mother should limit the consumption of cow's milk and products made from it in her diet. A formula-fed baby may be prescribed a goat milk-based formula (for example, MAMAKO® Premium formula) or a partial hydrolyzate labeled GA.

— Alla Anatolyevna, what are the nutritional features for allergies while breastfeeding?

— If allergies occur in a breastfed baby, the mother should temporarily adhere to a dairy-free diet. This means that you need to completely stop consuming a number of products made from cow's milk, the protein of which most often causes allergies. The following products will be prohibited:

milk,
milk porridges,
kefir, yogurt, fermented baked milk, yogurt, Varenets, cottage cheese,
cheese,
butter,
whey powder,
dry milk protein.

This also includes veal and beef, since cow meat can cross-cause food allergies. You can eat everything else - lean pork, fish, eggs, cereals, vegetables and fruits, sugar and other products.

— Is it possible to leave a child breastfed if he has an allergy, or should he be switched to a medicinal formula and alternate it with breast milk?

- If the mother follows a dairy-free diet, then she should continue to breastfeed the baby, since breast milk is the best nutrition for the baby. But each case is individual.

Indications for the medicinal mixture: if after 1-1.5 months of following the diet, the child still has skin rashes, dryness, atopic background, regurgitation, poor weight gain, blood and mucus in the stool.

But even when introducing formula, the mother needs to continue to follow a dairy-free diet, express and freeze milk. After two weeks, if the dynamics are positive and there are no complaints from the baby, you can try feeding him breast milk again. In general, of course, what and how to do is discussed at a doctor’s appointment.

— What diet should a child with allergies have?

— A breastfed allergic child lives a normal life, like children without food allergies, and feeds on demand. If, while the mother is following the diet, after a month or a month and a half, the child’s complaints persist and a decision is made to prescribe therapeutic nutrition, then the child receives the formula by the hour, just like healthy bottle-fed babies.

— What to feed a child with food allergies on mixed and artificial feeding? How are formulas for children with food allergies different from regular formula?

— When formula-fed, the treatment for food allergies is to exclude formula milk and feed the child a dairy-free medicinal hydrolyzed formula or an amino acid mixture. A stepwise approach is used in treatment.

In 90% of cases, hydrolyzate helps children with food allergies, and the complaints go away.
If the hydrolyzate is not suitable, the child is fed a formula based on amino acids.
If complaints persist with the amino acid mixture, then “mixtures of choice” are prescribed - for example, soy.

With mixed feeding, the mother adheres to a dairy-free diet, and the baby, in addition to breast milk, is supplemented with a formula based on hydrolysates or amino acids. This includes treating food allergies and reducing the risk.

A child without food allergies, skin and stomach problems can receive mixed feeding. In this case, the mother does not need to adhere to a special diet, and the child can be given a regular formula, for example, to prevent allergies - a mixture with goat milk MAMAKO® Premium.

— Is it true that a child with food allergies and poor weight gain should be switched to complementary foods earlier?

“In such a situation, the doctor first deals with food allergies and ensures that the baby gains weight well, and only then complementary foods are introduced. WHO recommends the introduction of complementary foods starting at 6 months of age. Complementary feeding is a transition to solid foods for healthy children and therefore cannot be considered a treatment for food allergies.

— Are there special complementary foods for food allergies? What can and cannot be eaten if you have allergies?

— There are no special complementary foods. A child who has been diagnosed with a food allergy must be given the correct basic nutrition - infant formula or breast milk (and the mother must have a correctly determined diet). Complementary feeding for a child with allergies is introduced at the same time as for healthy children. But if the mixture is not introduced or is not suitable and weight is not gained, then complementary feeding can be postponed until therapeutic nutrition is selected and the complaints and manifestations of atopic dermatitis end. Therefore, it is more correct to introduce complementary foods to a child with food allergies not earlier, but later than the accepted dates.

— What foods are there practically no allergies to, and what can you safely give to your child?

— There are no such products, with the exception of sugar and water. An allergy can be to any product that contains proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

— How to introduce new foods to a child with food allergies, if the list of his allergens includes most of the products that are recommended for his age?

“Unfortunately, there is no way to diversify the menu, and some young patients eat a very limited range of products. In this situation, sometimes tolerance training helps, when the child is given a little taste of the “forbidden” product. For example, if a mother suspects that her child is allergic to pear (his cheeks were already turning red), then there is no need to give him the whole fruit: you can let him lick it and observe the reaction. But this does not apply to cow's milk. If a food allergy to his proteins occurred in the first weeks of life, then most likely the child will not eat dairy products until he is one year old.

— Does a child with food allergies need additional vitamin supplements?

— According to WHO recommendations, all children are prescribed vitamin D for prevention. If the baby is compensated for food allergies (the formula is correctly selected for him), then he will receive all the vitamins, micro- and macroelements, and nutrients from the split mixture in the required volume for growth and development.

If a child is not compensated for food allergies, giving vitamin-mineral complexes is useless, because he will not absorb them. Therefore, it is necessary to initially understand food allergies, and then, if necessary, prescribe vitamins under the supervision of a specialist.

The most common cause of food allergies in young children is intolerance to cow's milk proteins. When treating it with artificial feeding, a special split formula is prescribed; while breastfeeding, the nursing mother is prescribed a dairy-free diet. With a properly selected diet, complaints and manifestations of allergies will go away, and therefore, with the introduction of complementary foods, a child with food allergies will be no different from his peers in growth and development.

Pediatrician Alla Anatolyevna Shcherbakova

*The ideal food for an infant is mother's milk. WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months. MAMAKO® supports this recommendation. Before introducing new foods into your baby’s diet, consult a specialist.

Complementary foods for an infant with allergies - a list of foods that cause allergies

For a baby, any product can cause an allergic reaction.

The most “popular” allergens are divided into 3 groups:

Highly allergenic : seafood, any meat broth, eggs with fish, tomatoes and carrots, strawberries, caviar.
Moderate allergenicity : whole milk, beef and chicken, certain dairy products, blackcurrants and cranberries, beans and peas, potatoes and rice, cherries, beets, and bananas and peaches.
Low allergenicity : red/white currants, zucchini and squash, turkey meat, green varieties of apples/pears, fermented milk products.

Most often, allergies in infants occur to:

Whole milk. The most serious allergen for babies
Chicken eggs. Often, such an allergy eventually develops into intolerance to chicken meat/broths
Cereals. More often - wheat and rye, less often - buckwheat, oats and rice (they do not contain gluten)
Soybeans
Sea fish. Allergens are not destroyed even after heat treatment
“Adult” yoghurts and fruit juices
Vegetables (potatoes and cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkin, carrots with broccoli, celery and sauerkraut, eggplant, red pepper and sorrel)
Dairy products (kefir, cheese, cottage cheese)
Poultry/meat (chicken, pork)
Porridge and bread
Semi-finished products and by-products
Marinades and pickles
Sweets (chocolate, honey and sugar)
Sauces and hot seasonings
Fruits (apples with bananas, prunes, pears and persimmons, pineapples with melons, plums, grapes and all citrus fruits)
Smoked meats
Berries (raspberries and strawberries, blueberries and strawberries, sea buckthorn with blackberries), all berries are red
Any mushrooms and nuts
Soda and fruit lemonades
Any canned food or foods with preservatives

Vegetables and fruits

As in the case of the diet of a mother whose child is allergic, doctors advise eating “green” vegetables and fruits.

These can be the following vegetables :

Greens – spinach, parsley, dill, lettuce;
Potato;
Cabbage of all varieties;
Zucchini;
Cucumbers;
Squash.

And fruits :

Apples of “green” varieties;
Plum or sloe;
Prunes;
Pears.

Pediatricians call zucchini the most hypoallergenic of vegetables. Therefore, it is with this that you need to start giving the baby complementary foods in the form of purees. In general, doctors recommend not mixing several types of vegetable purees with each other. If your toddler eats zucchini puree well, you don’t need to add broccoli puree, because he won’t eat it in its pure form.

From fruit purees, it is better to start with apple or pear purees, because they are “green” and an allergic reaction to them is least likely. Kids also like plum and banana.

If you are allergic to cow protein, potatoes are readily included in the menu. After all, you can prepare many dishes from it - cook soup, bake pies, serve it as a side dish. Many mothers advise before directly preparing a potato dish to soak it in water for 30-40 minutes.

Recipes for children's dietary dishes from vegetables

Cabbage and apple salad

Chop the white cabbage very finely, grate the apple and mix these ingredients. Sprinkle with apple juice and stir. You can add prunes, cut into thin strips, to the salad. Serve with hot potato stew or porridge.

Cauliflower and Kohlrabi Soup

Both younger and older family members will love this delicious soup. It is very easy to prepare, the color is fresh, and the taste is delicate.

For the soup we will need the following vegetables:

cauliflower – 3-4 inflorescences,
kohlrabi cabbage - half a spherical stem,
parsley root - a small piece,
oatmeal – 2 tbsp.,
parsley and dill - to taste.
a little butter and sour cream for dressing.

Preparation

Cut the peeled parsley root and turnip-shaped kohlrabi stalk into thin strips and lower them slightly in a saucepan with heated butter.

Place a saucepan with 1 liter of meat or vegetable broth on the fire (you can also use plain water). Place cauliflower, disassembled into small inflorescences, into the boiling broth, add flakes and add parsley root and kohlrabi, lowered in a saucepan.

Cook until the vegetables are soft. If desired, you can add a couple of sliced potatoes.

Serve with sour cream, adding a little salt to the soup right in the plate.

Zucchini stuffed in a steamer

Ingredients

Zucchini – 2 fruits
Lean veal – 400 g
Onion – 1 onion
Salt - a little
Parsley - a few sprigs
Sour cream – 2 tbsp.

Preparation

First, prepare the minced meat: wash the meat and onions, cut into pieces and grind twice in a meat grinder.
Wash the zucchini, cut off the ends and cut across the fruit into pieces 5-6 cm long. From each “barrel” we select the pulp with a spoon, forming a void for stuffing it with meat. Finely chop the pulp without seeds and add to the prepared minced meat.
Mix the ground meat with onions with zucchini pulp, chopped parsley (leaves only!), add some salt and add half the sour cream. Fill the voids of the zucchini with the filling, place in the steamer basket and cook for 50 minutes.
Serve topped with sour cream.

From zucchini and squash you can make green caviar, oatmeal pancakes without eggs, baked with cottage cheese in the oven and many other interesting dishes. The main thing is to turn on your imagination!

Potatoes with cottage cheese baked in foil

This is a very tasty but simple dish that children love. It's very easy to prepare.

Peel and cut medium-sized potato tubers (2 pieces) into 5 mm thick slices, soak for an hour in cold water.

While the potatoes are soaking, prepare the minced curd: grind 200 g of cottage cheese through a sieve, add dill (a little), add some salt and mix with sour cream (2 tbsp).

Grease the central part of the foil square with olive oil. Now we cover each potato circle with minced curd, just like we prepare a sandwich, lay out our “sandwiches” in layers in a checkerboard pattern in the center of the foil and add about a quarter glass of water.

We wrap the free edges of the foil and carefully pinch them to lock in moisture. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Serve directly in foil (children will really like this serving!) with sour cream or baby kefir.

Desserts for children with allergies

Unfortunately, sweetening desserts is not recommended for young children with allergies. And honey, unfortunately, is not allowed. Therefore, dried fruits (allowed) and fresh fruits can serve as sweeteners: apple, green pear, banana, kiwi.

The best hypoallergenic desserts are prepared using baby kefir or cottage cheese. The main thing is that both cottage cheese and kefir are not sour. In this case, adding a banana or sweet pear solves the sweetness problem of the dessert.

Banana oatmeal cookies

These delicious cookies will be a real joy for your baby, and you will be happy to try a few of them!

For dietary cookies we will need:

1 glass of rolled oats (flakes),
2 bananas (ripe)
a handful of light raisins and a handful of dried fruits (apples and pears),
olive oil for greasing the mold.

Making these cookies is a real pleasure! Mash the bananas with a fork, add rolled oats and dried fruits (cut large pieces into tiny cubes), mix and form cookies. Place on a baking sheet, pre-oiled with olive oil, and bake in a very hot oven for 15 minutes.

For drinks, it is allowed to prepare a decoction of dried fruits from apples and pears, or from fresh fruits. A delicious drink and green tea with the herb stevia, which contains glycosides that sweeten the drink. It is not only a natural sweetener, but also a very valuable medicinal herb.

Dear mothers! We hope that our simple tips will help you create a children's diet menu for allergy sufferers, which you can easily implement by preparing dishes to suit your child's taste preferences. We hope that as your baby grows up, he will get stronger, his metabolism will normalize, and together you will begin to cook everything that was previously prohibited!

The potential allergic hazard of certain products can be reduced if you follow simple rules during their preparation. And in some cases, pre-treatment will be required.

The potatoes need to be finely chopped and then soaked in cold filtered water for up to 12 hours. At the same time, change the water periodically. This helps remove nitrates and starch from root crops.
The remaining vegetables must be soaked for 2–3 hours before cooking. To remove toxic chemicals that may have been used to treat the cereal, it should also be soaked in cold water for about 2 hours before cooking the porridge.
To reduce allergenicity, meat is frozen, and during cooking, the broth must be drained at least once.
Remember that heat treatment of fruits, whether boiling or baking, does not reduce their allergenicity.
Also keep in mind that despite the low allergenicity of our delicious recipes for allergy sufferers
, you can use them on the menu of an allergic child only after consultation with your doctor.

Recipes for children with allergies: potato balls (from 2 years old)

2 medium sized potatoes
1 tbsp. l. olive oil
salt on the tip of a knife
1 tbsp. l ground corn flakes

Preparation:

Pour a glass of boiling water over the soaked potatoes and cook covered.
Drain the water and puree the potatoes in a blender, add olive oil and salt.
Make balls from the resulting mass, roll in crushed flakes and bake on a greased baking sheet at 200°C.

In what cases is a hypoallergenic diet prescribed to children?

A specific diet is prescribed exclusively by an allergist based on the results of an examination of the patient. For food allergies, it may differ depending on the type of provoking allergen (milk, nuts, animal protein, etc.).

However, there is the concept of a “hypoallergenic diet” (HA), which is prescribed for any immune reactions of the body. This is an extensive basic diet that excludes all foods with high allergic activity (which most often provoke a reaction). That is, such a diet implies the complete exclusion of all allergenic foods.

Its main task is to reduce the allergic load on the body (reduce the influence of irritating factors). In addition, a comprehensive diet allows you to avoid cross-allergic reactions.

Special nutrition is prescribed for:

food allergies;
hay fever (reaction to pollen);
hypersensitivity to insect bites, some plants, materials and household chemicals (manifests on the skin);
allergies to medications;
at the initial stages of a medical examination (in case of an acute reaction of the body until the causative protein is accurately determined).

Sample menu for a child

Menu No. 1. For breakfast, it will be useful to prepare pearl barley porridge and minced turkey meatballs. Brew your child weak green tea. A weak, thrice-drained rabbit broth with vegetables is perfect. A small portion of fresh cabbage salad wouldn't hurt. For an afternoon snack, give your child fresh green apples or one pear. Dinner should be light. Oatmeal will do.
Menu No. 2. For breakfast, buckwheat porridge, 2 boiled egg yolks and a steamed cutlet. For lunch, pea and turkey soup, vegetable pancakes and fresh juice would be good. For a snack, weak tea and biscuits are suitable. For dinner, a piece of boiled fish (tuna), carrot and cabbage salad, tea.

It is necessary to remember that breakfast should start at 8 am, lunch at 12:00, and dinner no later than 19:00. Try to feed your baby at the same time every day.

Meat recipes for children with allergies

If goose and duck meat causes allergies, then beef (veal), turkey and rabbit are dietary products. Meat should definitely be included in the child’s menu, as it is rich in iron and complete proteins.

Turkey cutlets with zucchini

Ingredients

Turkey meat – 400 g
Zucchini – half a fruit or about 150 g
Rice flour – 2 tbsp.
Salt - a little

Preparation

Grind pieces of turkey and zucchini meat in a meat grinder, add flour, add salt and mix thoroughly. We beat the minced meat against the walls of the dish and then form small cutlets from it. Place them in a steamer bowl, which we grease with olive oil, and steam for about 50 minutes. Serve with sour cream and any side dish.

These cutlets can also be cooked in a saucepan. Place the formed cutlets in a pan, the bottom of which is also greased with olive oil, add 1 glass of water and simmer for about 40-50 minutes.

Dietary meat dishes for allergy sufferers are as diverse as those for healthy people. The only things missing from their recipe are carrots and spices. Therefore, you can cook cabbage rolls, stuffed green peppers, meat rolls, meatballs, stew, and even create delicious pilaf!

Children's hypoallergenic cereals

The children's diet menu contains a lot of cereals both as a side dish and as a dessert. From permitted cereals we can prepare rice, oatmeal, corn and buckwheat porridge. But it also happens that this list can be either wider or narrower.

Milk porridges are cooked with milk obtained from dry milk mixtures, or with soy, rice milk, or water. Porridge cooked in water is not necessarily tasteless. If you offer your baby dessert porridge, then its taste can be enriched with a grated apple, banana, juicy pear or a couple of plums.

If you are preparing porridge with meat or vegetables, then prepare a salad of cucumbers and cabbage, zucchini pancakes, stew white cabbage or serve boiled broccoli with sour cream.