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Miami Families
Allergist Notebook: notes for Miami families from Jonathan Malka, MD, board-certified pediatric allergist and immunologist at Nook Allergy. Practical, evidence-based thinking on food allergies, asthma, eczema, hives, and immune conditions in children, written and medically reviewed by Dr. Malka.


Is a Food Causing My Child's Eczema?
Parents often arrive with a list. Dairy came out in March, then eggs, then wheat, and by the time we meet, a four-year-old is eating nine things, and the skin is no better. Almost always, no. A food is rarely what's driving the eczema, and the removals have usually cost more than they returned. That list is not careless. It is a parent doing the only thing that feels available at two in the morning with a child who cannot stop scratching. But it's worth knowing what the remov

Jonathan Malka, MD
Aug 107 min read


Does My Child Need an Asthma Action Plan for School?
Every autumn, pediatric asthma flares climb sharply in the weeks after children go back to class. It's one of the most predictable patterns in childhood illness, and it lands on a calendar you already have. Over years of these August visits, I've changed how I talk about the asthma action plan. I used to hand it over as a form to complete. I've come to believe that's the wrong frame, and that the frame is most of the problem. The plan is not paperwork to file. It is the think

Jonathan Malka, MD
Aug 48 min read


How Do I Keep My Food-Allergic Child Safe at School?
The hardest part of a food allergy was never the diagnosis. It's the first morning you watch your child walk into a school building without you. I can't take that feeling away, and I won't pretend to. What I can tell you, after years of these conversations, is that the safety of the day comes down to three things — and all three are settled before the first bell, not in the middle of a crisis. A written anaphylaxis action plan on file. Epinephrine at school that hasn't expire

Jonathan Malka, MD
Jul 237 min read
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