5 Ways To Ease Allergy Symptoms In Infants
Allergies are the reaction of the body’s immune system when exposed to foreign things called allergens. This reaction of our immune system varies in intensity, from mild and annoying to a life-threatening situation.
Both children and adults can experience allergic reactions, especially if exposed to triggers. However, allergies in kids are often hereditary, which means that they might acquired that from you or your partner.
Allergy symptoms are very uncomfortable. If not addressed properly, your child might become unhappy, grumpy, and not feeling good overall. Fortunately, there are things you can do to help ease your infant’s allergic symptoms, such as:
Give Your Baby Appropriate Allergy Medicine
Allergy medicines, such as antihistamines, are designed to help block histamine. Histamine is the chemical that causes the symptoms of allergies and hay fever. There are many antihistamines available in the market today. Most can cause drowsiness, but some don’t.
Aside from the common antihistamines in the pharmacy, some allergy medicines use natural ingredients to address infant allergy symptoms. You must consider that your baby is still sensitive, so you must be extra careful in choosing allergy medication.
Choose an effective, safe medicine for your baby, especially during their early years. That said, be wise when picking a medication that will help ease the allergy symptoms of your infant and keep your baby happy with effective infant allergy medicine.
Rinse With Saline Solution
When an infant experiences a stuffed nose due to an allergy, you will feel scared as a parent. Seeing your baby having trouble breathing is the worst feeling a parent can experience during this episode of allergies. However, instead of getting consumed by fear, why not do something to help your infant ease these symptoms and make your baby feel better?
In this instance, you can opt for nasal irrigation using a saline solution. Start the nasal irrigation with one nostril and allow the water, mucus, and allergens to flow through the baby’s nasal cavity and out of the other nostril.
Saline rinse instantly relieves stuffy noses from allergies or colds. Saline solutions can be bought from your local pharmacy. But you can also make your saline solution at home by mixing ½ teaspoon of salt with 250ml of water.
Let Your Baby Drink More Water
Another thing you can do to help your infant ease allergy symptoms is to let them drink a lot of water. Enough hydration will help flush the allergens circulating in your baby’s system. It will also help remove foreign substances and reduce the risk of allergic reactions.
In addition, water helps thin out the mucus on your baby’s nasal passages, helping them achieve better sinus drainage and relieving congestion. If your baby is less than six months old, give them formula or breast milk to keep them hydrated.
For children six months old and above, allow them to drink lots of fluids like water, milk, and natural juices. It will help them stay hydrated and flush out unwanted allergens, minimizing their allergy symptoms.
Use Natural Remedy
Aside from medicines, other natural remedies can help your baby feel better when they experience allergic reactions. If your baby is experiencing skin allergy, you can use aloe vera gel to soothe the itchiness and redness on your baby’s skin.
Skin allergies are very uncomfortable as it causes too much itching, redness, and burning sensation. Aloe vera effectively soothes these allergy symptoms due to its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antiviral properties.
Aloe vera is a popular natural remedy for burns, cuts, insect bites, acne, or pimples. Since it’s natural, you can rest assured that it will be safe and delicate to use on your baby’s sensitive skin.
However, if you are hesitant to use a freshly picked aloe vera plant, you can ask your child’s primary healthcare provider for a suitable aloe vera gel product in the market that is safe for infants.
Change The Diet Of Your Baby
Diet changes are a crucial step you must do if your baby has a food allergy. Food allergy is a kind of allergy that is triggered by certain food. And if your baby suffers from allergic reactions to certain foods, avoiding them at all costs is highly recommended.
For example, if your child is known to be allergic to peanuts, it’s best to remove peanuts from their diet. This approach is called an elimination diet. Elimination is what most physicians suggest to parents with children who are diagnosed with food allergies.
An elimination diet is when all the food that triggers your child’s allergy is removed from their diet and then slowly add them back. Before you do an elimination diet, it’s best to talk to your child’s physician so that you can plan the ideal approach with the help of a professional.
It’s also best that you familiarize yourself with the common allergenic foods so that you can watch them out and monitor your child after they consume them to know whether they are allergic to them. The common allergenic foods that you must watch out for are:
- Cow’s milk
- Eggs
- Peanuts, chickpeas, soybeans and peas
- Shellfish like crabs, prawns, shrimps and lobster
- Wheat
- Tree nuts
Note that even foods that aren’t on the list could still potentially trigger an allergic reaction in your child, but it could be very rare. The ones listed above are the common ones.
To Sum It Up
Allergic reaction in infants is something that parents shouldn’t take lightly. Not only that it is uncomfortable, but it can also lead to a life-threatening situation. That’s why, as a parent, you must know what to do if your child has an allergy. This way, you can not only make them feel better, but you can also save their lives.