I wrote this post while participating in a blog tour conducted by Clever Girls Collective on behalf of Children's Claritin®. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program.
Recently we took a little road trip to see my parents in Oregon. My parents live on a 40 acre ranch and my boys love to visit! They can roam free and explore and have all sorts of fun.
My 6 year old son has allergies and asthma and this visit it was really affecting him in a negative way. The alfalfa on my parents property had grown quite large and there were all sorts of dust and pollens. My poor guy was sneezing up a storm, his eyes were all red, itchy and puffy and his nose was all stuffed up! Not fun for him. We tried to tell him not to go walking out in the alfalfa and sage brush, but that was hard for an adventurous 6 year old! We knew it was a worse year than normal for pollens because it was even affecting my husband which it never really did in other years.
We tried to take several steps to alleviate my son's allergies in any way we could. Here are some of the tips that worked for us:
--We tried to keep long sleeves and pants on him as well as cowboy boots so that none of the irritants remained on his skin.
--We had him change take his clothes off before bed and we would wash them.
--My son would take a shower before bed so that none of the pollens and dust was in his hair or on his body while sleeping to cause any further irritation.
--We instructed him to keep his hands away from his face so he wouldn't rub his eyes or nose. This was a tough one for him! When something itches you want to rub it!
--This trip we also tried Claritin for the first time. I never realized he could take it but it is for kids 6 and up. It really did work wonders for him!
All of these things really helped to alleviate his allergy problems and we were able to enjoy a fun trip with family!
Claritin also has some really great tips for moms and kids. I want to hear what you do. What tips do you have for alleviating allergy symptoms?
Clear to Enjoy Spring: The Allergy Guide for Moms and Kids
View more presentations from Children's Claritin
For more tips on relieving allergies, visit www.Facebook.com/Claritin. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.
One thing we do for our six year old son is keeping the windows in our house closed. It is so hard to do when it is a nice, breezy day out, but the doctor let us know that it helps a TON. Which, when you think about it, sure! We also throw away ANYTHING with ANY bit of mold on it, since mold is extremely hard to remove (even if it looks like it's gone). It seems to help a bit. Other than that, the basics: oral medications, nasal sprays, eye drops, showers, and washing hands lots! I have yet to try Claritin, but I may just give it a try now.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to your tips, our doctor also suggested my son wipe his face off with a baby wipe whenever he came back in the house. At the time, he was 6yrs old also and there was no way he could take a shower each time after coming inside....he was in and out all day long! Wiping the face was a good compromise for us and it seemed to make a difference.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest is 7, and she also has allergies. I do my best to keep her exposure to a minimum, and we do medicate as necessary. (Her allergies present as a cough, caused by post-nasal drip. The cough is *awful*, it hurts to listen to :/ )
ReplyDeleteI realize this was a Claritin deal and that influenced the medications. What I have found is that I prefer to give her the generic brand of the allergy medicine. We give her loratadine and ceterizine (not at the same time, obviously, but either one for more than a week at a time starts to affect her behaviour/mood/etc, so we rotate them) The brand name liquids have sucralose and/or HFCS in them, and most of the generics do not, amazingly enough.
Each family has to do what's best for them, obviously, but this is what we have discovered from observation and lots of reading labels :)
Both my children had allergies from early on. My 40 year old daughter has recently found out she is gluten intolerant and is testing for celiac. I've done a lot of research and discovered that there is a strong likelihood that children who have allergies and asthma may very well have celiac or gluten sensitivity. There is such a thing as silent celiac and the symptoms of celiac may manifest as allergies, asthma, skin issues like eczema, psoriasis, plus many more. Very few doctors are aware of the connection to celiac/gluten intolerance and allergies. If I had known back then what I know now I would have removed gluten from my daughter's diet and had her tested as well.
ReplyDeleteYour son may not have gluten issues, but if he does and they go undetected, over the years the gluten can wreak havoc with the health of a person.
I read your blog daily and enjoy it.
My 10 year old daughter has allergies and asthma as well. We have recently discovered a homeopathic remedy called sabadil! It seems to be working well for her, nice to have an alternative. Here is a link if you are interested. http://www.boironusa.com/products/childrens-sabadil.php
ReplyDeletenasal sprays!!! Ocean brand is my favorite but really, any brand will do. Saline nasal sprays are non-addictive and help to wash the nose and keep things clean inside. If you have a prescription nasal spray, it's good to use the saline spray first, followed by the prescription spray. you'll get a lot more relief.
ReplyDeleteI started doing this a couple of years ago, and it's made a huge difference. Whenever you travel, buy him a brand new pillow (it doesn't have to be an expensive one)-put a clean or new allergy cover on it and a clean pillow case. Sleeping on a clean pillow makes a world of difference.
ReplyDelete