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So long as an allergy exists in an individual it can be diagnosed, irrespective of the individual's age. Allergies can exist or develop even in an infant that is just a couple of days old and accordingly it is possible to identify and diagnose an allergy right from infancy. Diagnosis however can be a lot more tricky in the case of infants. An allergy is a condition in which the body's immune system responds to or rather show a heightened response to specific elements present in the environment. In children with allergies you will generally find reactions to substances in their environment, that don't have any effect on other children.
Children in fact seem to display a higher susceptibility to allergies than adults. Allergies to house food, pollen, animal dander and dust mites are most common. These allergies commonly surface as allergic rhinitis, commonly known as hay fever, asthma, and eczema or atopic dermatitis. Frequent ear infections can also be an indicator of an allergy.
Diagnosis is quite easy in children as the symptoms are quite obvious. If the parents suffer from allergies there is a very high probability that the child also suffers from allergies. If only one parent suffers from allergies or they are present in only one of the parent's families then the child has a fifty percent chance of developing one.
While allergy tests are extremely important in diagnosing and identifying allergies they are not the sole basis for diagnosis and treatment. The family history and background of allergies or asthma and the child's past experiences are crucial to determining and identifying the presence of an allergy. Dietary allergies are the easiest to identify as simply cutting back on certain foods gradually reintroducing each item in a systematic manner is all I takes to identify the allergen.
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