Nut Allergy

When you have a healthy new born baby the last thing you expect could happen is that in a few years time they will develop the symptoms of an allergy.

The truth is, 18 million people in Britain are estimated to have an allergy and children are particularly effected with as many as 40,000 babies born each year with an allergy of some sort.

It's a staggering fact but at least 1 in 50 of all children are allergic to nuts, on our weekly radio show we spoke to a particular mum who wants to raise awareness of nut allergies and not just to people who suffer from it.

She said: "I have a daughter who is older now and she didn't have any allergies at all but my son reacted when he was in his highchair eating finger food and he had part of her sandwich which had peanut butter on it and he reacted instantly. His face went into a rash and started swelling, he started crying and was obviously very uncomfortable. I then had it confirmed that he had a nut allergy."

In some cases nut allergies can prove fatal. Food allergies are most common in the first three years of life and there is a link between children who suffer and a family history of asthma, eczema, hayfever and allergies in general.

In our mum's case, her husband has asthma. She admits that dealing with a child who suffers from a nut allergy can be difficult but things have got better.

She said, "He's 10 now but when he was younger I was constantly going back and forth telling people about him and ringing them up to say that he couldn't eat this and couldn't eat that. As he got older he became much more cautious himself. The difficulty for him is that so many foods say 'may contain traces of nuts'. He has to make sure that he carries his medicines with him. He needs to carry piraton, if he was to have a severe reaction then he carries two epipens with him. We've had a couple of incidents where well meaning Grandparents have given him sweets which have had nuts in them and he didn't know.

You just have to manage it around their lifestyle, be sensible and not exclude them from certain events."

For those who do suffer from nut allergies you can get injection kits on prescription. So, it would be a good idea to see your health advisor or local GP if you have any serious concerns.