cow's milk allergy is one of the most common allergic conditions in young children, especially in the first year of life. However, many parents ignore warning signs because symptoms are often bland, easily confused with common diseases.
According to MSc. Dr. CKI Le Chi Hieu - Department of Gastroenterology, City Children's Hospital (HCMC), late detection can seriously affect the health and development of children. Here are three common misunderstandings that make many parents subjective.
The first misunderstanding is confusing cow's milk allergy with lactose intolerance. When children have diarrhea, bloating, and vomiting after drinking milk, many people think that they cannot consume milk and think about lack of lactase. However, lactose intolerance is just a digestive disorder, not related to an immune response.
Meanwhile, cow's milk protein allergy is a reaction of the immune system to the protein in milk, which can cause more severe symptoms such as rash, hives, coughing, wheezing, and even anaphylactic shock in life-threatening situations. Confusing these two conditions leads to improper handling, long-term affecting children's health.
The second misconception is that cow's milk allergy only manifests itself through the skin or digestive tract. In fact, this allergy can affect many organs in the body. On the skin, children may have rashes, hives, and atopic dermatitis. Regarding digestion, children can vomit, have prolonged diarrhea, and blood in their stools. The respiratory system can also be affected with symptoms such as prolonged coughing, nasal congestion, wheezing.
In addition, anorexia, poor absorption, and slow weight gain are also signs to note. The diversity in manifestations makes many people mistakenly believe that children are just suffering from respiratory infections or conventional digestive disorders, leading to incorrect treatment and prolonging silent allergy.
The third misconception is to pay attention to the reactions that occur immediately after drinking milk. Not all cases have immediate symptoms. Some children only develop symptoms after a few hours to a few days, making it difficult for parents to contact the cause of the cow's milk containing cow's milk.
Typical signs in this group can include prolonged dermatitis, chronic diarrhea, mucus or blood mixing, restless sleep, increased crying, heartburn and slow weight gain. If the allergen is not eliminated early, the symptoms will last for many weeks, seriously affecting the quality of life and development of the child.
According to Dr. Hieu, when suspecting that children have cow's milk allergy, parents should take their children to the doctor for diagnosis and advice on suitable milk replacement. Early recognition and elimination of the right cause will help children recover faster and limit prolonged complications.
