No one wants to have their Halloween fun end with a trip to the emergency room. Halloween includes costumes, candy, carved pumpkins, and other things that could include an allergen that your child reacts to. Here are some things to beware of this Halloween.
Halloween candy could be dangerous for kids who have food allergies. The bite-sized candies that your trick-or-treater collects probably doesn’t have the ingredients listed on the packaging. There could be peanuts included in candies that you would not normally expect there to be any peanuts in. Exposure could cause a child who is allergic to peanuts to go into anaphylaxis.
There could be latex in masks and costumes. Latex might be woven into your child’s super hero costume, to make it a bit more stretchy. It could be in the makeup that you applied to your child’s face to enhance his or her costume. There could be latex in the Halloween mask that covers your child’s face. Exposure to latex, for kids who are allergic to it, can result in contact dermatitis, eczema, or anaphylaxis. Read the labels to check for latex before the costume, mask, or makeup touches your child.
Fog machines, or smoke machines, can contribute to asthma attacks. They are often used to give atmosphere to a haunted house. Unfortunately, the dried ice, liquid nitrogen, and water have other chemicals added to them that can make it hard for kids who have asthma, or allergy related asthma, to breathe. If your child uses an inhaler, make sure that he or she is carrying it while trick-or-treating. Some families will use a fog machine to make their yard a bit more festive.
Carved pumpkins are fun to make. The become awesome decorations for Halloween. The longer a pumpkin sits around, the higher the possibility that it could be growing some mold. Kids with mold allergies can react to carved pumpkins that do not appear to be moldy when you look at them. One way to avoid allergic reactions is to make sure that all of your carved pumpkins “live” outside on your porch or in your yard, instead of inside your house.
Parents of children who have serious allergies should take the time to consult with their child’s doctor before Halloween. See if the doctor thinks your child’s costume is safe for him or her to wear. Ask about other hidden allergens that appear on Halloween that you might not be aware of.
Image by contributing2myinsanity on Flickr