baby food allergy fever

Immediately stop feeding all suspected allergenic foods that have been added within 72 hours. When the temperature is below 38.5℃, give priority to physical cooling by wiping the body with warm water and reducing the need to wear a covering. When the temperature is above 38.5℃, take acetaminophen according to the body weight to reduce fever. As long as there is no shortness of breath, large wheals, frequent vomiting and diarrhea, there is no need to rush to the emergency room. If the fever does not relieve within 24 hours or is accompanied by the above abnormal symptoms, seek medical attention immediately. Do not give antibiotics or common cold medicine by yourself, which may worsen the symptoms if they are not correct.

Last week, my best friend’s 11-month-old little Chengzi just stepped into this pit. She was fed half a spoonful of mango puree for the first time. In the afternoon, her face was as red as a small apple. Her temperature was measured at 37.8°C. At first, she thought she had caught a cold from the air conditioner. She put on the anti-pyretic patch and ignored it. It turned out that it was too late. Shangba started to scratch his neck vigorously, and a dense wheal developed. His body temperature also jumped to 38.7°C. He rushed to the emergency room and found out that the fever was caused by mango allergy. He didn't even prescribe cold medicine. He stopped mango and prescribed some cetirizine for children, and everything was fine the next day.

Many parents are confused when encountering this situation for the first time: Don’t allergies cause rashes and diarrhea? Why is it still burning? In fact, to put it bluntly, the immune system recognizes the wrong person and regards the allergens entering the body as the invading "enemy". It releases inflammatory factors to "fight back". Not only will the skin and gastrointestinal tract react, but it will also disrupt the hypothalamus's temperature regulation center. Wouldn't it cause a fever? To put it bluntly, it is an oolong caused by the immune system's "over-defense".

As for whether to give your baby anti-allergic drugs at this time, there is actually no unified opinion in the pediatric community. I have talked with an allergist at Beijing Children's Hospital before. His view is that as long as the baby is in good spirits, can play and eat, the immune system can metabolize the allergens on its own without the need for additional medication. However, medication may put a burden on the liver and kidneys. ； There are also many grassroots pediatricians who believe that if there are obvious signs of allergies such as rashes and rubbing eyes and noses, giving children's dosages of cetirizine or loratadine can save the baby from suffering. Both opinions are reasonable. The key point is to look at the condition of the baby. If you are not sure, ask your regular pediatrician in advance and don't give the medicine blindly.

The most common pitfall is mistaking the fever caused by allergies for a bacterial infection and blindly feeding antibiotics. Last month, I met a grandmother in a community hospital. Her 2-year-old child was allergic to crabs and her fever reached 38.3°C. The grandmother first fed her half a bag of cephalosporins at home. When the baby came in, her lips were swollen and she said, "Fever is inflammation, and taking cephalosporins will relieve the inflammation quickly." In fact, inflammation caused by allergies is sterile, and antibiotics are not even worth half a dime. On the contrary, they can easily cause drug allergies, which is adding insult to injury.

Many parents say that I can’t tell whether it’s an allergy fever or a cold fever? In fact, it doesn’t need to be so complicated. Let’s go back to the 72-hour diet. Have you added anything that you haven’t touched before? For example, eating mango or kiwi for the first time, or noodles with peanut butter, or even a new brand of cheese sticks? If the fever is accompanied by rubbing your eyes and nose, rash on the body, diarrhea, and redness around the mouth, it is most likely due to allergies. ； If you still have a runny nose, cough, and a red and swollen throat, it is most likely that you have just encountered a respiratory infection. If you are really not sure, you can go to the hospital and get a fingertip blood prick. Generally, the white blood cells of fever caused by allergies are normal, but the eosinophils will be elevated, which can be distinguished from the indicators of bacterial infection at a glance.

I have been doing parenting science for more than 4 years, and have received at least 200 cases of food allergy and fever. To be honest, 90% of them are not a big deal. After many children stop eating allergenic foods, their body temperature will slowly drop in three or four hours, without even taking medicine. A mother told me before that her baby had a fever of 38.1°C after eating jackfruit for the first time. She gave the baby more warm boiled water and wore less coat as she said before. In the afternoon, she ran around with toys in her arms and the rash disappeared. She didn’t have to mess around at all.

By the way, don’t think that you will never be allergic to the food you have eaten before. I met a mother last week who said that her baby had eaten eggs ten times before and was fine. This time she had a cold and just fed some egg custard. The temperature reached 38.5°C and she developed a rash. In fact, Allergy attacks are related to the immunity at the time and the amount of intake. Especially when the baby has just recovered from illness and has low immunity, foods that were not allergic to before may also trigger reactions. When adding new foods, try a small amount and observe the rule for 3 days. Don’t be too troublesome.

To put it bluntly, don’t panic when encountering this situation. Stop suspicious foods first, check your condition, reduce fever appropriately, and step on the red line of “poor mental state, abnormal breathing, and fever that does not subside within 24 hours” to seek medical attention. Basically, there will be no major problems.