Table 3.

Challenges to food allergy management change across the lifespan.

Age group	Responsibility (primary stakeholders)	Primary challenges
Infant	Parent/guardian, day care	Difficulty in recognizing allergic reactions due to lack of verbalization of subjective symptoms
Toddler	Parent/guardian, day care	Preventing child from grabbing or accepting foods Significant hand-to-mouth play
Grade school children	Patient, parent/guardian, school	Balancing independence with the child’s limited ability to self-manage
High school adolescents	Patient, parent/guardian, school	Risk-taking behaviors More time without supervision causing more reliance on self-management
College/young adults	Patient	Full dependence on self-management skills Risk taking behaviors
Adults	Patient	Balancing self-management with independence, work obligations, travel, responsibilities to others