Allergy Alert Jewelry for Kids
Last Updated: Sept. 29, 2020
Living safely with allergies can be hard even for an adult. For kids, allergen safety issues are compounded by their maturity levels, ability to identify allergens (such as safe and unsafe foods), willingness or capacity to self advocate, and level of experience. Thankfully, having allergy medical bracelets kids wear every day can help safeguard your child and give you peace of mind while building good, proactive habits designed to protect your child.
Kids allergy bracelet come in lots of different styles, colors, and materials. And because they’re all custom engravable, our kids’ allergy bracelets and necklaces are ideal for any need. Instead of having to choose, for example, a food allergy bracelet for kids from a small, limited selection of children’s allergy wristbands, you (and your child, if appropriate) can shop all of our kids’ IDs, pick the ones your child likes, and then leave the customization to us!
So, what is the purpose of a kids allergy bracelet? Just like any medical ID, the purpose of an allergy alert bracelet for a kid is to communicate key information in an emergency. This simple tool is there to let adult caregivers and first responders know about your child’s allergies, give them instructions on what to do in the event of a reaction, and provide fast access to your contact information so you can be alerted as quickly as possible.
Should My Child Wear a Medical Alert ID for Food Allergies?
In short, yes. Medical alert bracelets, for kids with food allergies, are a daily necessity that serve a few different purposes:
1. They draw attention from adult caregivers who can therefore more easily identify potential issues. Particularly in younger years, such as during preschool and daycare when the caregivers may rotate in and out in shifts, it’s important for your preschooler or toddler to have a food allergy bracelet that draws adults’ attention.
2. Med alerts provide instructions for emergency treatment when seconds count.
3. They help kids start to self-advocate.
People shop for food allergy bracelets for toddlers, kids, tweens, and teens for all manner of food allergies. The most common food allergies are often referred to as the, “Top Eight Allergens.” According to the Mayo Clinic, these eight allergens account for, “an estimated 90 percent of allergic reactions.” Their list includes:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Peanuts
- Tree Nuts
- Fish
- Shellfish
- Soy
- Wheat
It’s important to note that even kids who have other food allergies and those who have never experienced a severe reaction still need allergy alerts. Kids With Food Allergies (KFA), a division of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, explains it well:
“You can’t predict how your child will react to a certain allergen from one time to the next. Both the types of symptoms and how serious they are can change. So, it’s important for you to be prepared for all allergic reactions, especially anaphylaxis.”
Part of that preparation is ensuring that your child always has emergency care instructions and contact information accessible at all times. That’s why Kids With Food Allergies specifically recommends allergy IDs, telling parents to have, “...your child wear or carry a medical alert bracelet to let others know of the allergy.”
Allergy Alert Bracelets for Common Medications
Just as kids with food, insect, and latex allergies need med IDs, so do children with medication allergies. Thankfully, we carry dozens of kids’ styles, all of which are custom engravable. So the style one kid chooses for an amoxicillin allergy bracelet is the same as another kid’s penicillin allergy bracelet. For kids, just as for adults, we offer a broad range of styles, materials, colors, and types of med alerts, all of which we can custom engrave with your child’s allergies, treatment plan, other diagnoses, and emergency contact information.
While children can be allergic to any medications, the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital lists these as the most common drug allergies for kids:
- Penicillin
- Sulfa drugs
- Barbiturates
- Anti-seizure medications
- Insulin
What To Put On Your Child’s Allergy Alert Bracelet
When deciding what to engrave on a kids’ allergy alert medical ID, it’s important to prioritize the most vital information:
- FULL NAME
- KNOWN ALLERGIES
- TREATMENT INSTRUCTIONS
- OTHER CONDITIONS
- EMERGENCY CONTACT(S)
Here’s an example engraving for a kid’s peanut allergy bracelet:
Note the use of abbreviations in this engraving. “ALGY” and “ALGYS” for “allergy” and “allergies” respectively, are extremely common abbreviations we engrave every day. The same goes for, “EPI” in place of, “epinephrine” or “EpiPen.” Using common abbreviations is a great way to communicate all of your child’s needs effectively when space is at a premium. You can see a full list of common medical abbreviations for engraving here.
What Type of Kids Allergy Bracelet Is Best?
Babies, toddlers, and preschoolers:
It’s very hard, and often unsafe, to put a medical ID on a baby, but toddlers and preschoolers can typically wear medical alerts safely. For very young kids, we highly recommend medical ID bracelets over necklaces for safety reasons. Additionally, most parents prefer a traditional, bold red medical caduceus symbol when buying IDs (EG: bee sting allergy or nut allergy bracelet). For kids, when they are very young, the medical alert should be as conspicuous as possible, so all adult caregivers take notice.
For toddlers and preschoolers, we recommend our simple, hypoallergenic stainless steel bracelets because they are durable enough to be worn 24/7 and are interchangeable, so you can add a new bracelet chain when your child grows or replace the medical alert tag if his or her information changes.
Elementary kids, tweens, and teens:
By elementary school, kids often want to participate in choosing their allergy alert jewelry, which parents often find makes them more compliant about wearing their IDs in the long run. Here are some quick and easy links to shop for kids’ allergy alerts:
Medical alert dog tags for boys
Girls’ medical alert necklaces
Girls’ medical alert bracelets
Older kids, including tweens and teens, may find that they want something a little more grown up. For them, we recommend shopping our men’s medical alerts and women’s medical alerts. By the time they’re teens, kids’ wrists are typically not much smaller than the average adult’s, so they will likely find that most of our men’s and women’s styles come in their size.