Running head: FOOD ALLERGIES AND PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
Food Allergies and Parental Responsibility
Grace E. Trice
University of California, Davis
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FOOD ALLERGIES AND PARENT RESPONSIBILITY
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Food Allergies and Parental Responsibility
Food allergies affect approximately eight percent of children in the United States
(Branum & Lukacs, 2009). While this is a relatively small percentage, the number is rising, and
food allergies are constantly creating new obstacles for parents of suffering children. These
parents suddenly have to rearrange their lives to revolve around protecting their newly diagnosed
child from harm (King, Knibb, & Hourihane, 2009). Despite the difficulties food allergies create
for parents and children, it is the sole responsibility of the parents to understand how to manage
food allergies in order to keep their children out of danger. This paper will discuss food allergy
diagnosis, parental responsibility regarding food allergies, and food allergy treatment.
Since parents are usually their child’s first point of contact, it is the parents’
responsibility to recognize potential allergy symptoms and options available for food allergy
testing. Food allergies occur when the immune system fights against what it recognizes as a
damaging food protein, or allergen (Food Allergy Education & Research, 2014a). Food allergies
are indicated by symptoms that originate from immune system reactions that appear repeatedly
when encountering certain foods (Vickery, Chin, & Burks, 2011). Common allergy symptoms
consist of difficulty breathing or swallowing, coughing, dizziness, confusion, swelling, hives,
itchiness, vomiting, diarrhea, or stomach cramps (Gupta, Dyer, Jain, & Greenhawt, 2013). Once
symptoms arise and there is reason to suspect a food allergy, it is important for parents to take
their child in to be tested. It is the parents’ responsibility to understand how to recognize these
symptoms in order to ensure their child receives proper medical attention and food allergy
diagnosis.
The most common types of testing used to diagnose food allergies are skin tests, blood
tests, oral food challenge tests, and trial elimination diet tests (Food Allergy Research &
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Education Inc, 2014c). During a skin test, a doctor puts a small dose of the suspected allergen on
the patient’s arm or back. Then, the doctor either pricks or scrapes the skin to let a trace amount
of the allergen get underneath the skin, and the doctor observes whether a reaction occurs (Food
Allergy Research and Education Inc, 2014f). During a blood test, a doctor or nurse takes a
sample of the patient’s blood and sends it to a lab, where blood specialists examine the amount
of allergy symptom triggering antibodies, IgE, in the sample (Food Allergy Research &
Education Inc, 2014b). In the oral food challenge test, the doctor has the patient ingest
incrementally larger doses of the allergen over time, and the doctor observes how the patient
reacts (Food Allergy Research & Education Inc, 2014e). With the trial elimination diet test, the
doctor has the patient remove the allergen from his or her diet for a period of two weeks, while
the doctor documents the patient’s reactions (Food Allergy Research & Education Inc, 2014d).
An alternative form of allergy testing is muscle testing, done through applied kinesiology. In
muscle testing, the doctor places a pinch of the allergen in the patient’s mouth, and then the
doctor tests the strength of the patient’s muscles while tasting the supposed allergen. If the
muscles prove weak, this signifies that the patient is allergic (Schmitt & Liesman, 1998). The
complexity of allergy diagnosis can sometimes be difficult for parents of sufferers to fully
understand which can cause stress and anxiety because parents are sometimes uncertain of how
to begin the process. Parents of children with allergies need to be aware of the process of
diagnosis so that they can reduce this stress and anxiety in order to properly care for their
children.
From the moment parents find out their child has a food allergy, they need to start
making several changes within the family. Food allergies require parents to make plans to
restructure the family’s way of life in order to protect the allergic child (King et al., 2009). News
FOOD ALLERGIES AND PARENT RESPONSIBILITY
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of an allergy can be difficult to process, and it can take time to become accustomed to this
change. Parents often experience distress at the news of their child’s food allergy (Gillespie,
Woodgate, Chalmers, & Watson, 2007). The period of reorganization, when the allergy
diagnosis is new and everything in the family is still being sorted out, can be extremely
challenging because the presence of a food allergy affects the entire family (Rouf, White, &
Evans, 2012). Despite the pressure parents face in making changes within the family, and
overcoming the challenges these changes create for families, parents need to remain strong and
understand that their main priority is in protecting their child who is a significant member of the
family.
Depending on the type of the allergy and its severity, the amount of responsibility parents
have in protecting their allergic child can be enormous (Cummings, Knibb, King, & Lucas,
2010). This responsibility can force parents to make difficult decisions regarding the safety of
their child. For example, parents need to remember to look at food labels and decipher whether
certain foods are safe for their child (Cummings et al., 2010). They also have to make sure they
are always aware of their child’s condition, and that they carry medicine with them at all times,
in case anything happens (Stjerna, Vetander, Wickman, & Olin, 2014). If the parents are unable
to be with their child, they have to make sure that the child is under the supervision of a trusted
adult who knows how to administer the medicine if necessary (Roy & Roberts, 2011). In
addition, parents deal with a significant amount of stress when trusting others around their
allergic child. Furthermore, parents’ fears for their child’s safety cause them to want to supervise
their child even past the age when their child’s peers without allergies would need supervision
(Mandell, Curtis, Gold, & Hardie, 2005). Parents worry about how this extra supervision affects
their child (Mandell et al., 2005). However, sometimes parents do not know how else to provide
FOOD ALLERGIES AND PARENT RESPONSIBILITY
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protection, and it is the primary responsibility of the parents to make sure they know how to
provide protection in order to keep their child safe.
Allergies do not only affect the allergic child and the parents, but they also affect the
family as a whole. The risk of social events on an allergic child’s safety forces parents to decide
whether or not to allow their child to participate in family activities and school events. Many
parents do not allow their child to attend these events in order to reduce safety risks. Some of the
activities that are often missed are social events, fieldtrips, parties, sleepovers, and play dates
(Bollinger, Dahlquist, Mudd, Sonntag, Dillinger, & McKenna, 2006). Parents need to learn how
to protect their child, but also how to allow their child to have social experiences while growing
up (Rouf et al., 2011). In addition, parents need to know how to teach their child about food
allergies so that the child can take on more of the responsibility of controlling their own allergies
(Akeson, Worth, & Sheikh, 2007). Parents not only need to be able to manage their child’s food
allergy, but as their child gets older, parents need to know how to teach their child how to
manage his or her own allergies. In order to be able to teach their child, parents need to make
sure they are well informed about food allergies and become competent at controlling their
child’s specific food allergy.
Another significant impact of food allergies comes from the challenges arising from other
people’s attitudes and opinions. An affected child’s identity is greatly influenced by a food
allergy. When addressing this issue, parents must consider how to allow their child’s allergy to
make up a part of their child’s identity, while preventing the allergy from being the single factor
to characterize their child. Most parents try to allow their child to have as normal a childhood as
possible, despite the existence of the allergy, and try to prevent the allergy from dominating their
child’s life (Knafl, Breitmayer, Gallo, & Zoeller, 1996). Although children should not be
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distinguished by their allergy, children are often strongly affected by the attitudes and opinions
of others. Parents are constantly discouraged by the way others treat their children because
people judge their children based on having an allergy (Mandell et al., 2005). Some people do
not even believe that children actually have allergies, and this is difficult for parents because they
need to make sure their children are always in a safe environment (Munoz-Furlong, 2003). If
people do not believe that the child has allergies, they might expose the child to life threatening
foods. Parents must make sure that they know with whom their child comes in contact and
whether their child is safe around those people.
The resistance to believing in or to taking seriously the existence of food allergies in
children is a huge problem for parents. Since the awareness of the existence of the allergy and
the attitudes toward the allergy can affect how the allergy is controlled, there are implications for
children and families in general but specifically in the school setting (Mandell et al., 2005).
Some schools are more willing to accommodate these allergic students than others. For example,
if a teacher is not familiar with accommodating students with allergies, the teacher might be
concerned about the liability and extra burden the situation creates for him or her (Deutsch,
2013). Parents have reported being discouraged by others opposing the accommodation of their
children’s allergies, especially from school employees (Mandell et al., 2005). However, if
teachers get support from the school staff and families, then they can strive to provide safe
settings for these students with food allergies. In order for this to be successful, the school and
the family need to work together to ensure that both the home and the school are safe for the
student (Deutsch, 2013). The parents gain enough knowledge regarding food allergies in order to
take the initiative in informing the school about their child’s allergy and to maintain
communication with the school to continue effectively monitor their child’s safety.
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The number and quality of allergy treatments that might reduce the stress placed on
parents and families of allergy-diagnosed children are somewhat limited, however, parents of
affected children need to have knowledge of these treatment options. One option is the use of
antihistamines and epinephrine (Gupta et al., 2013). However, these medications may not be
entirely effective, and will only temporarily fix the problem. Another option, which is probably
the most common option for treatment is to eliminate the allergen containing foods from the
child’s diet (Gupta et al., 2013). This is sometimes challenging because it is often hard to avoid
certain foods entirely. Another treatment option is oral immunotherapy, where the child takes
doses of the food allergen and increases the dosage over time to build up their immune system in
an effort to reduce the symptoms caused by an allergic reaction (Gupta et al., 2013). A final
experimental treatment option is Chinese medicine, which involves the use of Chinese herbs to
treat a food allergy (Gupta et al., 2013). None of these options are foolproof, meaning 100
percent success every time. This uncertainty in effectiveness can create distress in parents who
are considering treatment options for their allergic children because there is no guarantee the
treatment will be effective and the possible side effects are unpredictable. Despite this
uncertainty, the more a parent becomes educated about the various options, the better he or she
can decide on an option and develop a plan for treatment.
It is important for parents to be aware of the existence of food allergies and their effects.
In understanding allergy diagnosis and allergy treatment options, parents can better understand
how to reduce the amount of stress experienced from the existence of the food allergy and figure
out the best way to provide a safe, but natural, environment for their child. It is also important for
parents to understand allergy management in order for them to be able to teach their children
about how to handle their own allergies, inform others about food allergies, and be able to keep
FOOD ALLERGIES AND PARENT RESPONSIBILITY
their family happy, despite the time and energy it takes to manage a food allergy. By educating
themselves, parents can be more successful in the management of their child’s food allergy, and
have a better chance of ensuring their child’s safety.
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