Sabrina Davidson* was at home alone with her daughter, Ava*, when she fed her a bit of peanut butter on a baby spoon as part of her morning snack. The seven-month-old had tried peanut butter once before, so Davidson was shocked to see hives appear on her face. Slowly, the red welts spread until her body was covered in them?a common symptom of food allergies. ?I realized she was having an allergic reaction,? says Davidson, ?but I had no idea how serious it was.?
The hives subsided on their own, and Davidson made an appointment with Ava?s paediatrician for that afternoon. Her husband returned home from work, her in-laws came over for moral support, and the first-time mom started to relax. But then, 90 minutes after the peanut butter snack, Ava?s lips started turning blue and she started to pass out. Davidson called 911. ?It was incredibly traumatic,? she recalls. ?I saw that moment when I closed my eyes for a long, long time.? That day, Davidson and her husband joined a growing number of families living with food allergies. According to Food Allergy Canada, a patient education and advocacy organization, six to eight percent of kids under age three have food allergies, with peanut allergies affecting two in every 100 Canadian children. If you?re thinking, I don?t remember this being such a big deal when I was a kid, you?re right: The incidence of food allergy is on the rise.
?Food allergies are affecting more and more Canadians, and unfortunately the key strategy for families ...