At What Age Can a Child Self-Administer His Allergy Medications?

Filed in archive Allergy Medications , Living with Allergies on October 26, 2007

In the article on MSNBC accompanying the video report on Catrina Vonder Meulen appearance at the Today Show, allergy mom stephanie Winston Wolkoff discusses 5 ways to cope with your kid's food allergies.

For the seasoned parents out there who've done their research on food allergies and how to protect their kids from having a reaction, most of her tips are quite self-explanatory- read the labels and segregate allergy-free food from the non-allergy safe stuff (I'd say if possible, rid the household of all known food items that trigger allergies), source out shops selling allergy-safe products, inform your child's school about his condition, and to write down a food allergy restaurant card you can show the staff when dining out (there are also shops specialized in preparing these cards, if you want to go that route). However, she made one point which, to date, I have failed to do: teach your child to self-administer his medication. She refers in particular to epinephrine injections, but for those whose allergy reactions are not as extreme, this is something which may also apply even to those taking antihistamines.

My son is 5. He knows how to evaluate if he's having a reaction and recognize if the situation warrants the use of his medications. However, up to this point, I have never taught him to self-administer, and I'm not sure he would or could in case there was no other adult in his vicinity. And this scenario scares me.

At what age do you teach a child to self-administer medications, whether it's 'simple' antihistamines, inhalers, or an epinephrine injector? In a household where there are allergy is not an issue, all medications are usually kept out of reach of the little ones. But in a child with severe allergies, surely this does not apply?