- You are going to be mad at me when I tell you this, but-- - Let's hear it, let's hear it.

- Ugh, we didn't follow any of those allergy guidelines with our kids.

We just, we like, fed them stuff when it was appropriate.

We'd give them a little bit of peanut butter, a little bit of shrimp, and then you waited to see what happened.

Like, 'cause that's what my mom did and that's what her mom did, you know?

- But I mean, and your kids turned out okay.

- Okay remains to be seen, but they don't have allergies.

(playful music) - We used to tell parents to watch out for all these allergenic foods when their kids are under the age of one.

We were like, shield your kids away from peanuts and watch out for wheat, fish, shellfish and tree nuts.

And definitely no eggs before age one, no cow's milk.

- [Bethany] But we don't do that anymore, right?

- No, so for the past few years, studies have been coming out which show that giving kids these allergenic foods early on, when they're ready to tolerate solid foods, like, four to six months, may actually be good for them and prevent food allergies in the future.

And the American Academy of Pediatrics changed their guideline.

Two big foods which we've seen that kids can safely get early, which may help them later on are peanuts and eggs.

- So we know that allergies can be very, very severe.

Let's talk about a really severe allergic reaction.

- We're talking about anaphylaxis which is a life-threatening response to an allergen.

I mean this involves multiple organ systems.

It can absolutely be devastating.

It causes symptoms like flushing of the skin, hives, trouble breathing, a fast heart rate, nausea, vomiting, all of it.

Now, essentially what happens is when the allergen comes in contact with the body, which is gonna cause the anaphylaxis, the immunoglobulin IgE binds it and this sets off a cascade and the immune system goes haywire.

Now in this situation, it's really important for people to recognize immediately that action needs to be taken 'cause the trouble breathing sometimes could be mistaken as something like asthma.

But remember, with anaphylaxis there's a difference in the trigger and the onset.

If your child or teen or anyone you know, is having anaphylaxis, there's only one drug that works fast enough to potentially save their life and that's epinephrin.

Now obviously you should be calling 9-1-1 or seeking medical care immediately.

But in certain situations, you may need to give them epinephrin.

Now, if you're in a situation where you need to give someone epinephrin, you may be around an epinephrine auto-injector, and you're like, how do I use this thing?

So let's do a demonstration.

- Ta-da.

- So what we're gonna do, we're gonna hold the auto-injector up, we're gonna take off the green twisty cap.

All right, so now we have the child's thigh right here and we are orange to the thigh, blue to the sky.

Let's take off the blue safety seal.

All right, we are now ready to save this child's life or this orange's life.

And you're gonna wanna swing it right into the side of the thigh and hold it there, wait for the click, and wait three seconds.

(pen snapping) Three seconds is how much time it takes for all the medication to go out and be administered into the thigh.

- Do they all work like that?

Pretty similar.

- They are pretty similar.

- And there are lots of big instructions on the side, too.

- And now usually what you wanna do is rub the kid's thigh for 10 seconds, make sure everything is cool, and at this point, you should be either waiting for emergency medical personnel or driving to an emergency department.

- This gets 'em to safety.

- This gets them safety.

- They still have to be seen by a medical professional.

- This can absolutely save a life.

Epinephrin is the hormone that helps reverse symptoms of anaphylaxis by doing a few critical things.

It helps the muscles around the airways relax, making breathing easier, and it helps maintain blood pressure and heart function.

And it does one more really important thing, it suppresses any further release of the chemical that's responsible for allergic reactions, histamine.

But some people say that they have trouble finding one because they're really expensive.

So again, chat with your doctor about trying to find a generic epinephrine auto-injector 'cause they're really important and can be live-saving.

You've got this.

- Allergy management.

- Allergy festival.

The Allergy Managing Fest is a festival that literally no one would go to.

- No.

(laughing together) - Unless you have like, a really cool DJ.

- Yeah, well, yeah, DJ-- - DJ, like-- - DJ Pollen Alert.