9. Most common allergen foods....

In no particular order:

milk
eggs (usually whites)
nuts (especially peanuts)
wheat
chocolate
shellfish
tomatoes
soybean

Have a nut allergy in your child's class? See my post on items that are approved for a "nut free" classroom.

Not too long ago, I heard a guest speaker at one of my moms' groups. This particular guest speaker had been a Headmaster at a couple of private schools in the area for years and years and years. In her presentation on discipline issues, she stressed how time and time again she would find that a little one's discipline issues (usually boys) were directly linked to their diets- specifically an allergy that had gone undetected. If you are facing this, ask the teacher to start tracking if the issues usually come after lunch. If so, start dissecting your child's lunch. Use the above list to start weeding these items out. Get proactive and take your child to an allergist for the "prick test." It sounds so much worse than it is. On that note, please know that taking your child for any allergy testing before the age of 3 is not AS accurate as waiting until after their 3rd birthday. Also, take into account genetics. If you or your husband has a particular food allergy, there is a good chance one of your kiddos might as well. And you definitely want to be very CONSERVATIVE introducing that food to your child but don't wait too long. There is new reasearch out, and I believe the jury is still out, but researchers (and the American Pediatric Board) are re-evaluating when parents should introduce peanut butter. Peanut allergies are on the rise. But so is the trend of waiting until a child is 2 before introducing it. Is there a link? That's what they're trying to find out. But think about it. Do you know any adult with a peanut allergy? I don't. Our parents were giving us about 80% of the above allergen list way ealier than parents do now. Interesting to chew on. We'll wait and see what the conclusive research shows.