5 Facts About the Peanut Allergy!

Has your child recently been diagnosed with a peanut allergy? As parents, it’s natural to try to scour the web to find as much information as possible about this scary health condition. Luckily, we rounded up the top 5 facts about peanut allergies that you may or may not know about already:

• Peanuts are actually not part of the nut family! They belong to the legume family, which also includes lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans and lima beans to name a few. Peanuts grow underground, as opposed to tree nuts which grow on trees. If your kiddo has a peanut allergy, it does NOT mean that they will also be allergic to other members of the legume family.

• Although kids may not be allergic to other legumes, they may have other allergies. Almost 4 out of 10 kids with peanut allergies are also allergic to tree nuts. Doctors are also discovering that more and more kids with peanut allergies are also allergic to sesame. Always talk to your doctor about the possibility of other food allergies if your kiddo has been diagnosed with a peanut allergy.

• You may have read that kids grow out of certain allergies over time and thought “PHEW!” Unfortunately, most kids do NOT outgrow their peanut allergies (only about 1 out of 5 will).

• All food allergies should be taken seriously, but ESPECIALLY peanut allergies. Peanuts have been known to cause very severe reactions. In fact, just an itty bitty trace of a peanut can trigger a severe reaction.

• Parents have to be EXTRA careful when it comes to finding foods for peanut allergic kiddos. Why? These sneaky little allergens can be hidden in a lot of unexpected foods such as sauces, soup mixes, and even cake icing! Always read the labels on products before giving them to your kiddo.

Explaining a peanut allergy to your kiddos can be difficult—not to mention confusing. How can you help kids understand? AllerMates makes it fun with P.Nutty, our kid-friendly cartoon character that is always on hand to teach kids everything they need to know to stay safe.

P.Nutty is a former cafeteria worker who longs to fit in with the cool crowd, but he’s been asked to not show up at school now that so many kiddos have food allergies. You’ll see P.Nutty pop up all over our website and products, like our peanut allergy bracelet, (available at allermates.com, select CVS Health stores and more) designed to keep kids safe at school, daycare, camp or on-the-go!

xo

Iris

Iris Shamus Wife, mother to three awesome kids and founder/CEO of AllerMates. Based in New York, Iris and her team create helpful content, answer emails, ship their products and obsess every day about keeping kids safe.