Do infants and children have problems with food allergy?
Most allergies to foods begin in the first or second year of life. While some of these reactions may resolve over time (such as allergies to cow’s milk or eggs), other food allergies acquired in infancy (such as allergies to nuts or shellfish) typically persist throughout life. Allergies to milk or soy formula (a milk substitute made from soybeans) sometimes occur in infants and young children. These early allergies sometimes do not involve the usual hives or asthma but rather can cause symptoms resembling infantile colic, and perhaps blood in the stool, or poor growth. The clinical picture of infantile colic, which usually starts within one month of birth, is that of a crying child who sleeps poorly at night. The cause of colic is uncertain. A variety of psychosocial and dietary factors have been implicated, however, and allergy to milk or soy has been proposed as a cause of colic in a minority of infants with colic. In infants, food allergy is usually diagnosed by observing the effec
