Seasonal allergies in baby?

[hub1176]

Does anyone else have a child who seems to have allergies? In the last day or two DD's eyes have been red and puffy, and today her nose started running. We brought her to the Dr. who thinks it may been an allergic reaction to something in the air (it's been gorgeous here and we've been outside every day) and he suggested using Benedryl if it doesn't clear up on it's own. Anyway, is anyone else dealing with this? What advice did you get from your DR? Did you find something besides medicine that seems to alleviate symptoms? I thought I had read that these types of allergies were rare in babies.

[kindermom]

I thought so too but my ped is insistent that she can not have allergies. I also have asked an allergiest who confirmed what my ped says. Only time will tell.

[emschwar]

There's a thread in the 18m-4y section about environmental allergies. It might have some info useful to you. http://www.constantchatter.com/showthread.php?t=17971


Interestingly, our allergist (who I don't think will be our allergist any longer) said that Noah did not have allergies. Our ped said he did. We agree with the ped, since the runny nose, cough and red, gooey eyes went away with the claritin and antihistamine eye drops. The allergist said kids very rarely had allergies before their 3rd exposure to a season (so they have to be over 2 when the season occurs).

[SeaPoet]

Hi,
Kids as young as 6 mos. can have environmental or seasonal allergies. Before trying medicine, try and pinpoint what could be causing the symptoms and remove the allergen. If the sniffling etc. is more in the morning, it could be DC bedding or stuffed animals which can harbor dust mites. If so, try a dust mite cover for your DD's mattress, keep the room swept or vacuumed 1-2x/week and removed stuffed animals (or keep them washed or put in the freezer every so often to kill mites). Also make sure there is hypo-allergenic bedding in her crib and sheets etc. are washed in hot water frequently.

If there's a pet in your house, see if that's the cause. If there's dust, someone who smokes in the house, these are other causes.

If it seems seasonal, it might just be! There are many things you can do to help these symptoms, too. Like staying indoors during a few hours of highest pollen count in the afternoons, and getting a HEPA filter for DD bedroom. Give them a try since benadryl has icky side effects, mostly making you feel zonked and tired. If all else fails, medicine might be the only option. Good luck sorting it out and hope DD feels better soon!

[emschwar]

Seapoet - can I ask how you know that kids as young as 6 months can have environmental allergies? I'm not questioning your knowledge, I've just gotten so much conflicting information in dealing with our son's allergies, and it's so frustrating and difficult trying to know what information to believe. (Allergist and RAST test said Noah's symptoms weren't allergies, Pediatrician and response to meds said they are. :confused: )

[SeaPoet]

Emschwar,
I know there's tons of info, and it can all be confusing! I heard this from our ped and my allergist. Both my DH and I have allergies so we looked into it even while I was pg. :eek: My allergist is also a pediatric allergist, and does testing on kids as young as 6 mos. He's also a professor and researcher at UCLA med. school. I also recently read an article in a magazine - American Baby? about the ped. allergies. If the meds work however, then there's the answer. Antihistimines wouldn't work otherwise! RAST tests might not show all "sensitivities" that can cause allergic symptoms, and skin tests are better at that - although how yucky to have to put a little one through skin testing! :( Anyway, HTH a bit!

[emschwar]

Our allergist is a pediatric allergist too, but insisted that kids couldn't have (or very rarely) allergies until they're 3rd exposure to a season. We saw him at the beginning of april, and Noah was born at the end of april so since it was before his 2nd birthday (weeks before) he said he couldn't be allergic yet. Also said (though didn't say why) that they couldn't do all the skin testing they'd need to do on a 2 year old, so just did RAST. We're looking for a new allergist for our next visit (this one said to come back at the end of the summer) because I really wasn't happy with the explanations the current one gave.

[catmom]

Emschwar,
Our ped, allergist said that babies can have seasonal allergies when they are exposed to allergies the second time (I guess there is some debate about this). Our DD was born in mid-march, and tested positive for seasonal allergens when she was just over 12 months old (so her second spring). We did use a skin test rather than the blood test, though.

[QPDoll]

My littlest twin seems to have some type of allergy. He has had constant ear infections since January and after several rounds of antibotics, his ears have stayed clear as soon as we started on zertec (allergy med).

[spps]

My DS is just about a year old and he has seasonal allergies. At first the ped didn't believe me that allergies were the source of his congestion,, but when we finally brought him in with the runny eyes, and nose they finally agreed. They gave us some samples of zrytec to try and also said benadryl is fine. FWIW DH and I both have pretty bad seasonal allergies.

[deliciousjones]

My daughter developed an environmental allergy (to dander) at about 8-9 months. It got progressively worse as she got closer to 1yr. The only thing that made it better as prescription antihistamines, but those kept her awake for hours. When we decided to remove the cats temporarily to see if that was the cause, she cleared up as soon as we had our house professionally deep cleaned to remove the dander.

If we go to a home with cats, and she rolls around on the carpet or crawls up carpeted steps, her face and eyes are puffy within minutes and it takes about 24 hours to get better.