With the rise in childhood allergies in the UK it is natural for prospective parents to want to have all available information that will allow them to protect and care for their new baby in the best way possible.

Pregnancy can raise a number of concerns for women with allergic conditions, such as how best to manage allergies during pregnancy, whether the baby is at risk from allergy treatments, or even if their child may go on to develop allergies.

The accepted link between allergies and the environment in which we live has raised the question by some parents as to whether there is anything that they can do during pregnancy to minimise the risk of allergies developing in childhood.

The Pregnancy and the First Year booklet from Blossom has been written to help address parent's fears and provide the information that pregnant women need to have a happy and healthy pregnancy.

This section of the website contains some of the advice provided in that booklet. In this pregnancy section you can find further information on:

• Managing allergies during pregnancy
• Your stay in hospital
• Your new baby
• Feeding your baby
• Immunisations

The Best Advice

Important, but simple, basic advice for every pregnant woman is to have a nutritious diet. For women who are avoiding certain foods because of their own food allergies or intolerance achieving this may require extra support from their healthcare practitioners.

Questions as to whether certain foods should be avoided during pregnancy, due to the possibility of causing allergies once the child has been born, so far continue to be investigated. While medical research is looking into this area there has so far been no good evidence that any childhood allergy is caused by eating the 'wrong' foods, and thereby exposing the unborn child to allergens.

Comprehensive advice on managing your allergies while pregnant, what to eat, and how to have a healthy pregnancy for your baby is given in the Pregnancy and the First Year booklet from Blossom's Childhood Allergy Series. For more information on how to receive this and subsequent booklets click here.

... The Pregnancy and the First Year booklet from Blossom has been written
to help address parent's fears ...

... Important, but simple, basic advice
for every pregnant woman is to have a nutritious diet ...