Pollen, pets, and peanut butter: A parent's guide to allergies

If your child has allergies, you might constantly feel like you’re on high alert, trying to help them avoid their triggers. You might wonder if they should skip spring field day at school or if you will ever be able to get a family dog or relax when they’re at a friend’s house where they might be exposed to peanuts.

An allergic reaction is an immune system response to triggers, like certain foods, pollen, and pet dander. Allergens can get in the body through the skin, breathing them in, or eating them. 

Some people are more prone to allergies than others. Different allergens can also have different effects. On the mild end, you might experience tingling lips, sneezing, skin irritation, or itchy eyes. Severe allergic reactions could include extreme swelling and life-threatening anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a systemic reaction that can include a drop in blood pressure and narrowing of the airways in response to allergen exposure – usually to foods or bee stings. Even mild allergic reactions can affect quality of life.

We asked Ryan Nelson, MD, PhD, a pediatric allergist/immunologist with M Health Fairview Pediatrics and an assistant professor with the University of Minnesota Medical School, to answer frequently asked allergy questions.

Can children outgrow food allergies?

Yes. It’s common for kids to outgrow some food allergies. The most common food allergies are milk, eggs, peanut, soy, wheat, tree nuts, shellfish, fish, and sesame. 

Kids with allergies to milk, egg, soy, and wheat are most likely to outgrow their allergy by school age. 

“But why people outgrow allergies to those foods and not to other foods like peanuts and tree nuts – which are much more likely to carry into adulthood or be life-long – is a bit of a mystery,” Nelson said.

Is it best to introduce common food allergens early?

Yes, a large study looked at whether introducing peanuts to children between 4 and 11 months of age would lessen the chance that they have a peanut allergy at 60 months. Children in the study all had a higher-than-average risk of developing a peanut allergy because they had either severe eczema or an egg allergy. The study found that early exposure was linked to lower risk of a peanut allergy later, Nelson said.

“The general recommendation based upon that is that early introduction of all common food allergens is beneficial,” Nelson said.

Your child’s primary care provider can walk you through how to introduce foods to young children. It’s safest for people with known food allergies to try new foods in a clinic with an allergy specialist.

Are kids who grow up with pets less likely to develop allergies?

Maybe, Nelson said. Studies do indicate that early exposure to animals can decrease a child’s risk of asthma. Some evidence also suggests that having a pet reduces the risk of developing allergies. But studying this is tough because it’s difficult to control other factors that could contribute to the development of allergies.