Though food allergens only affect a small percentage of children, about 1 in 13 children. The reactions of food allergens are incredibly scary and frightening for everyone involved. From experience working with Kiddies in School Health, encouraging and teaching children health/medical self-advocacy is an important lesson to learn, before the start of school, and a practical life skill. Though kiddies can out-grow food allergens as they age. A topic we will discuss here in detail, later. We can lessen these feelings of fear and anxiety among Kiddies, Parents, and Teachers/School Staff by arming them with information, resources, and tools.
As mentioned in Kiddie Nutrition: Halloween: Friendly Food Allergen Treats
Some practical ways others can advocate and help Kiddies with food allergens are to:
1.) Always Ask, but that also means kiddies need to know their own food allergens. Kiddies should also recognize their common reactions and symptoms, as symptoms can vary from person to person. They are often unique to your child. 2.) Wearing a medical alert bracelet. There are so many companies offering allergy related medical bracelets. They are kid-friendly made in bright-colors, customizable (since many children can often have more than one food allergy or health concerns including eczema and asthma etc.), and water-proof or easily accessible. Ms. Rose likes the bright colors and characters of AllerMates along with the other products that the company provides. The founder's story is inspiring, as a mother, helping to meet the needs of her child with food allergens.
3.) Recognizing allergens in foods can be a daunting task! Especially hidden allergens in packaged foods and common dishes. Ms. Rose found a wonderful app that can really help Parents and Kiddies with this task.
Spokin is an app founded by Founder/CEO Susie Hultquist, in response to frustrations around finding food allergens in Girl Scout Cookies for her daughter that had life-threatening food allergies. Susie Hultquist was also instrumental in raising funds that would establish FARE-Food Allergy Research and Education Organization. An organization dedicated to research, advocacy, and innovation around food allergens. Spokin's unique features that help assist Parents/Caregivers and Kiddies with recognizing hidden food allergens in food while also providing a community of supportive individuals with similar concerns.
Spokin's features include:
Allergen Concerns, Ingredients, and Food Product matching, along with providing allergen-friendly, verified brands.
Provides a platform for discovering, evaluating, and buying products through reviews and also reviewing products for others.
Provide location & maps of locales that are allergen friendly that have been vetted and reviewed by other Spokin users.
Provides Injection monitoring capabilities.
Provide recipes that include ingredients that match food allergens and the ability to bookmark them.
Provide Top Rated lists that have 18 categories of companies and products that are allergen friendly.
Provide a community of other Spokin users and providing a platform of support and personalized driven resources.
You can find more information about Spokin here. Unfortunately, the app can only be provided on Apple App Store and Apple compatible products. However, there is an Android mailing wait-list. Spokin has some very strong features that can assist parents/caregivers and kiddies alike to address common concerns around food allergens.
In the upcoming post, we will discuss epi-pens in further detail. Ms. Rose hopes you found some of the information here helpful! Leave a comment and let me know!
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