Avoid a Food Allergy Scare on Halloween
Article originally healthychildren.org with the article last being updated on 10/16/2024. Click Here to read the original article.
Halloween can be one of the trickiest days of the year for children with food allergies. Kids often haul home pounds of treats, and even small amounts of an ingredient they are allergic to can cause a potentially life-threatening reaction.
Here are some tips to help ensure Halloween's frights stay festive and don't involve a medical emergency.
Reading before eating
Always read the ingredient label on any treat your child receives. Many popular Halloween candies contain some of the most common allergens, such as peanuts or tree nuts, milk, egg, soy or wheat.
If the ingredients aren't listed, arrange for a treat "exchange" with classmates or friends. Or, bag up the goodies your child can't eat because of an allergy and leave them with a note asking the "Treat Fairy" to swap them for a prize.
Be aware that even if they are not listed on the ingredient label, candies (both chocolate and non-chocolate) are at high risk of containing trace amounts of common allergy triggers. That's because factories often produce many different products. Also, "fun size" or miniature candies may have different ingredients or be made on different equipment than the regular size candies. This means that brands your child previously ate without problems could cause a reaction.
Teach your child to politely turn down home-baked items such as cupcakes and brownies, and never to taste or share another child's food.
Food-free fun
Offer non-edible goodies to trick-or-treaters and classmates. Food Allergy Research & Education's Teal Pumpkin Project, which promotes safe trick-or-treating options for food-allergic children, suggests items such as glow sticks, spider rings, vampire fangs, pencils, bubbles, bouncy balls, finger puppets, whistles, bookmarks, stickers and stencils. Consider supplying some to neighbors whose homes your child will visit.
Plan alternatives to trick-or-treating, such as watching an age-appropriate creepy movie together.
Center parties around festive activities such as costume parades, pumpkin decorating contests, Halloween themed games, crafts and scavenger hunts or spooky storybooks.
More information (additional links)
Easing Babies & Toddlers Into Halloween Fun: 8 Tips for Parents
Peanut Allergies: What You Should Know About the Latest Research
Article Last Updated: 10/16/2024
Source: American Academy of Pediatrics (Copyright © 2018)