Do you have a toddler with seasonal allergies?

We have really enjoyed the recent taste of summery weather around here. Unfortunately, it looks like Joe has inherited some seasonal allergies. The poor kid is a sneezing machine and can't stop rubbing his little eyes.

Anyone else have toddlers with seasonal allergies? It's going to be a long 6 months if this is what he has to deal with on a daily basis.

 

Yes, my 3 YO and one of the twins has them now. The 3 YO is on a Claritin (10mg per day), Nasonex once daily, and an inhaler of Xopenex if the coughing gets bad. The 16 mo is on Zyrtec and a Nebulizer due to a terrible cough.

 

At their 2 year appt. the doctor showed concerns about asthma. I think it is allergies due to the fires in October and everything is growing back. We have a recheck tomorrow. She says if it continues to use Claritin.
We will see
Cari

 

Darn, I really hate to have them on meds of any kind. I'm hoping that with the weather back to good ol' Seattle damp that it will subside (at least for the moment).

As of this morning it appears Nick has also inherited seasonal allergies. <_<

 

Maybe it's just a cold and it will pass? You can always hope. My kids all have seasonal allergies, and all have had forever. I use something called hydroxizine (it's a prescription) at night, it makes them tired and it takes the itch out -they also get eczema from it. During the day I use Clariton, or loratidine (which is the generic clariton). Zyrtec didn't seem to work as well for my crew.

 

Claritin or Benadryl for us. My son has really struggled with allergies and now my girls seem to have it too. For a while, the doctor gave my son something when he was little, but I can't remember what it was.

 

My girls were hardly sick their first year, then in their second year they had this cough they just couldn't shake--turns out it was a dust allergy (we live in a dry dusty place) they were on Zrytec until the rainy season. They next year I took them to a homopathic doctor and he gave us a very different form of treatment. And this year we are doing fine with just running the humidifyer every night. They seem to be growing out of it (either that or the homopath cure them!). I'm very happy not to be having to give them medications this year.

 

QUOTE(SweetpeaG @ Apr 14 2008, 09:34 AM) [snapback]720856[/snapback]
Darn, I really hate to have them on meds of any kind. I'm hoping that with the weather back to good ol' Seattle damp that it will subside (at least for the moment).

As of this morning it appears Nick has also inherited seasonal allergies. <_<


I feel the same way. I am hoping now that the weather is suppose to cool down they will get past it. I really hope it is not an asthma thing for my boys.
Cari

 

We are still in the is it asthma or is it allergies phase for DD? So my pediatrician has prescribed Singulair.

 

Natalie is on zyrtec for the daily stuff. She also has a flovent inhaler (daily) and zopanex inhaler (rescue) for the asthma she has that is associated with her allergies. Unfortunately, not using meds is not an option for her. She literally can't breathe without the meds. My oldest dd is on zyrtec and flonase.

 

Both of our boys have seasonal allergies . I started going to a pediatric allergist when Ben was 20 months. To me it seemed like he was having classic allergy symptoms which started that late summer. He also had a history of reactive asthma and began waking in the middle of the night very stuffy at that point in time.

Something to keep in mind. The allergist explained to me that babies and toddlers really do NOT have the ability to have seasonal allergies. My husband (a dermatologist) explained the same thing to me but I didn't believe him. To have an allergic (histamine) response to something you have to be exposed to it repeatedly. The allergist said that it takes at least 2-3 seasons of exposure to have a reaction. So really the earliest it would be possible is around age 3. Still not sure if I agree with that. But anyway, at that time, my son did have a full panel of allergy tests. Seasonal did not turn up. He was, however,allergic to several other things (cats, dust mites, etc) and started on Zyrtec with great results.

A few months ago right around their 4th b-day, I had both boys tested again (blood and skin prick testing) with the ped allergist, since we were trying to get to the bottom of why Luke's adenoids are enlarged(per ENT's recommendation). Sure enough, both boys had major reactions to dozens of types of trees, grass, weeds, mold, pollen. Symptoms started really popping up in both of them this past week. So both are on Zyrtec. Ben takes it year round(sometimes Singular as well) and Luke only during season. I have no problem with using Zyrtec. It has a very safe profile and it does give the boys relief. When you have a child that gets into reactive asthma, you look for ways to avoid that.

 

Mine are 4, but Timothy showed signs last summer. Probably 90% of the time, a little Benadryl right before bed works wonders. The rest of the time an extra dose in the morning is needed to help. Sarah does have asthma, but it's more sickness and crying induced. Without the Benadryl, Timothy just collects fluid in his head and ends up on repeated antibiotics for ear infections and sinus infections. I figure with him it's a choice. I can give him a little bit of Benadryl (which they will even let pregnant women take) or he can have repeated courses of antibiotics for the infections.

Marissa

 

Thanks for all the input, guys. I think we'll just stick it out to see how they do this spring. Hopefully it won't come to anything.

Debb-i very interesting about young toddlers not being capable of having seasonal allergies. I had never heard that before.

 

QUOTE(Debb-i @ Apr 15 2008, 04:05 AM) [snapback]722103[/snapback]
Something to keep in mind. The allergist explained to me that babies and toddlers really do NOT have the ability to have seasonal allergies. My husband (a dermatologist) explained the same thing to me but I didn't believe him. To have an allergic (histamine) response to something you have to be exposed to it repeatedly. The allergist said that it takes at least 2-3 seasons of exposure to have a reaction. So really the earliest it would be possible is around age 3. Still not sure if I agree with that. But anyway, at that time, my son did have a full panel of allergy tests. Seasonal did not turn up. He was, however,allergic to several other things (cats, dust mites, etc) and started on Zyrtec with great results.


I totally believe it, because having grown up in Iowa, most of my friends moved to other parts of the country after finishing college--MOST of them developed seasonal allergies the THIRD year they lived in their new homes.

But what I do find interesting is that My brother's (he moved to Santa Cruz, CA) have been getting worse every year since his fifth year--the year he started taking medication for them. I moved to Mexico, and also started getting allegries in my third year, but I refused to take medicine and in my sixth year here they started getting a little better. It's the time of year now when I should be sneezing no stop, but I'm not (this is my 10th year). In my very non-scientific way, I believe my body just needed time to get used to them. Had I been on clairiton or whatever, I would never have given myself that chance. :huh:

 

We just tested Drew for allergies and he came up tree pollen and grass pollen along with peanuts (had no idea, as I gave him a PB&J for lunch). Anyway, we have tried Zyrtec (crack for toddlers), and many others with no help. Now we take Clarinex once a day along with a nasal spray. We have to do this for six weeks and then we go back for more testing...Good luck.

 

QUOTE(Debb-i @ Apr 15 2008, 04:05 AM) [snapback]722103[/snapback]
Something to keep in mind. The allergist explained to me that babies and toddlers really do NOT have the ability to have seasonal allergies. My husband (a dermatologist) explained the same thing to me but I didn't believe him. To have an allergic (histamine) response to something you have to be exposed to it repeatedly. The allergist said that it takes at least 2-3 seasons of exposure to have a reaction. So really the earliest it would be possible is around age 3.


So, I took my boy for a recheck of his ears today and saw my primary Ped and she said the same thing and took him off the Zyrtec (one of her associates put him on) especially since he is not showing any signs of allergies and just has a lingering dry cough from a virus that he is being treated with a nebulizer. And I was able to look like I knew what she meant thanks to this post from yesterday