Mom's creation helps prevent allergy-related ER trips

It's another innovative, yet simple, "Made by Mom" product in the pediatric section. Iris Shamus, the mom and entrepreneur behind AllerMates, developed a line of fun characters that kids won't have a problem wearing and will alert caregivers to specific food allergies.

The display pictured here is positioned alongside a diverse pediatric OTC section in CVS/pharmacy that not only features pediatric cough-cold remedies, but also pediatric analgesics and digestives. AllerMates can help spread the word on a child's allergies through alert stickers, EpiPen cases and a multi-allergy charm bracelet with the corresponding allergy "charms." AllerMates has even developed dog tags that a child with allergies can hang around her neck.

According to the American Academy of Asthma and Immunology, 8% of all children under 18 years have a food allergy. Peanut is the most prevalent, followed by milk and shellfish.

Antihistamines can be used to help relieve the onset of minor allergy symptoms. Overall, sales of cold and sinus tablets were up 4.4% to $955 million for the 12 weeks ended Dec. 30, according to SymphonyIRI Group data.

The article above is part of the DSN Category Review Series. For the complete Cough-Cold Sell-Through Report, including extensive charts, data and more analysis, click here.