Pregnancy And Baby Care Articles During Pregnancy

...when a food allergy can cause an anaphylactic shock. This is considered to be quite serious and can even be life threatening.

Most of the food allergies are found to largely affect the younger children. The majority of food allergies are usually caused by eggs, cow's milk, soy, tree nuts, pea nuts, fish, shellfish and wheat. Similarly pregnant women may also develop allergies to these products when pregnant or may already suffer from these allergies previously.

Some of the main signs or symptoms that one should watch out for include swelling, hives, eczema or itching. Some will also get vomiting and nausea that is related to a food allergy. Other signs could be indigestion, cramping and diarrhea. At times the woman's face may swell up along with her tongue, eyelids, throat etc. She may even suffer from dizziness and wheezing. A food allergy pregnancy can be quite painful and distressing for the woman in question. The main advice given to avoid a food allergy is to first ascertain which foods are the trigger for an allergy and then to avoid them totally.

Pregnant women should also avoid foods that contain MSG or Monosodium glutamate. This is also referred to as aginamoto and is found in most Chinese foods and some other packaged and tinned foods. This substance is deemed harmful for the developing fetus. Some of the common allergic food products like tree nuts or pea nuts are particularly dangerous during pregnancy. They are also considered to be dangerous when the mother is nursing as some of these substances get secreted in to the breast milk that the baby feeds up on. It is advised that women give their baby's breast milk exclusively for the initial 6 months as this helps prevent allergies from developing.

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