Outgrowing milk allergy

When we learned of our son's dairy allergy, we were told that he would probably outgrow it by the age of three. When that didn't happen, we were told that he would certainly outgrow it by the age of five or six. When that didn't happen either, we began looking around and realizing that there seemed to be an awful lot of teenagers still holding on to their milk allergy. The largest study to date on milk-allergic children published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology supports our personal observation. Record numbers of students are entering college with a milk allergy. A little dis-heartening to those of us hoping for a quicker outcome.

As this article discusses, milk allergy does not get the same respect as a peanut allergy. To sit a milk, allergic child at the "allergy" lunch table while students eat grilled cheese sandwiches, yogurt, chocolate milk and cheese curl snacks is not allergy friendly to that child. Most schools have a "peanut-free" table, but we all need to work together to keep food allergic children safe while respecting the rights of all students. To see the study, go to:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/11/12/milk.allergy/index.html?iref=newssearch

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