Toddler coughing - allergies?

[zmom]

My almost 2 year old is coughing and coughing. The doctor says that her lungs are clear and that it's probably allergies but that they can't really test until she's 3. He says to just give her cough medicine but that doesn't seem like a viable, long term solution to me. I've ordered a humidifier for her room and a nurse suggested that she could start using a pillow to keep the nasal drip from going into her throat and making her cough. (She coughs mostly when she sleeps.) I can't seem to find a hypoallergenic child sized pillow on-line - any suggestions? I had her on Clarinex but that didn't seem to be helping much so we switched to Zyrtec this morning. Any other things I should be thinking about to help her get rid of this cough? It's keeping her (and therefore all of us) from sleeping!

Thanks so much! :

[saratc]

When my allergies were at their worse and before I started trying to build up my immune system, I had a cough that wouldn't go away for 6 months. I noticed that my allergies are worse in the summer and I would react even to my bed (dustmites) or to my master bath (mold). If your child is coughing mostly at night, I would look to see what in or near her room she may be allergic to. If it's dustmites, I would not use a humifier because dustmites are more active during warm and humid conditions. Also look for mold in or near her room or outside her window.

Even if medications help suppress the symptoms, having allergies is very hard on the system so it would be best to try to find the source of her allergies.

[JenniferKSwan]

You may want to find another allergist - my son was tested at 7 months for his allergies which include dustmites. Now having said that, unfortunately most test results are not 100% correct (even after the age of 3). True exposure is the only test.

Since your daughter is coughing mainly at night, it sounds like it could more than likely be dustmites. First, you may want to hold off on the humidifier because that will cause them to multiply. These are the suggestions my allergist recommended to us and we know from experience with my husband, it truly helps
-Try to keep the temperature at 70 or below in summer
-Invest in allergy covers for the mattress - don't forget to cover the box spring in plastic as well. Also get allergy covers for the pillow (we actually have a regular pillow, covered with a plastic cover and then covered with allergy cover for my son in case of accidents).
-Wash all bedding in very hot water - you will probably need to turn up your hot water heater to 130 degrees at a minimum (we change bedding every other day and do all bedding for the week one morning). As soon as the last load is in the dryer, I turn down the water heater again.
-Curtains are also a big culprit of dustmites. We have eliminated the curtains and use roller shades instead. If you can't do that, I would try to wash the curtains as often as possible.
-I know that you can't always keep children from their stuffed animals, however they are carriers. Placing them in a plastic bag in the freezer for 24 hours is supposed to kill the dustmites. My ds has two that he sleeps with, we take away one at a time.
-Carpet - the best suggestion is to remove it if at all possible. Since you are in the testing process now though, you may want to try to steam clean (preferably with a professionally rented machine as they actually heat up the water) using an allergen reducer shampoo. Febreeze also makes an allergen reducing spray, but it is a little too fragrant for us.

Does it seem like a lot to do? It is, I'm sorry. It has become second nature to me though. Since we have started following the suggestions, ds has not had to use allergy meds and my dh has cut back on his drastically (not to mention his snoring has been reduced greatly!)

[zmom]

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll give them a try. She's still sleeping in her crib which has the plastic covered mattress in it and we don't have a stitch of carpet in the house! (My dad owns a tile company...) She does have a basket full of stuffed animals in her room and we've never washed the curtains so I'll start there. We just switched her allergy medicine and it seems to be doing better. Unfortunately, we live in the county that is supposed to have the highest rates of allergens in the whole US. :

I appreciate the responses and we'll get to washing and freezing!

[Jlo777]

I can highly recommend going to a naturopath or a homeopath or both.They treat the whole person,and tailor a treatment specifically for them.They look at diet,environment,genes,so on.They treat the root cause,not just the symptoms(like doctors).You would definately see a change.Also look up www.mercola.com.This wholistic doctor is a wealth of info and has taught me sooooo much.I know most sickness/ailments are caused by food.It needs to be as whole and pure as possible.Another excellent site,www.westonaprice.org.God bless