Is your child's classroom having a Valentine's Day party? Exchanging cards? Read these tips to help plan for your food allergic child to safely celebrate Valentine's Day at school. Included are food allergy safe card and gift ideas, and how to prepare for unsafe candies with allergens that may be shared.

Robyn O’Brien used to roll her eyes when a child with a peanut allergy showed up at a birthday party. Then, two years ago, she fed her youngest child scrambled eggs. Her baby’s face swelled into a grotesque mask.

A moms battle to make a birthday wonderful while accomodating her childs food allergies

Food allergies are on the rise. Read here for some tips on making you, and the host, feel comfortable when someone with food allergies attends a party.

Why I am glad my child has food allergies

A food allergy is an immunologic response to a food protein. It is estimated that up to 12 million Americans have food allergies of one type or another, and the prevalence is apparently rising. Six to eight percent of children under the age of three have food allergies and nearly four percent of adults have them. Food allergy causes roughly 30,000 emergency room visits and 100 to 200 deaths per year in the United States. The most common food allergies in adults are shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and eggs, and the most common food allergies present in children are milk, eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts.At this time, there is no cure for food allergies. Treatment consists of avoidance diets, in which the allergic person avoids all forms of the food to which they are allergic. For people who are extremely sensitive, this may involve the total avoidance of any exposure with the allergen, including touching or inhaling the problematic food as well as touching any surfaces that may have come into contact with it. Food allergy is distinct from food intolerance, which is not caused by an immune reaction.Persons diagnosed with a food allergy may carry an autoinjector of epinephrine such as an EpiPen or Twinject, wear some form of medical alert jewelry, or develop an emergency action plan, in accordance with their doctor.