Help get my baby off benedryl!

[celia]

My 16 mo. old has a history of allergies already- eczema, allergic to eggs etc. Recently she's started to develop the sort of seasonal- outdoorsy allergies. She gets the itchy puffy eyes and congestion when she's outside- on days when DH is having a hard time with his allergies as well- and at night. The dr. insist she's too little to have allergies and tells me to give her benedryl every night at bed time I've been giving it to her because otherwise she's so miserable... but I hate it. Please tell me things I may be able to do to help her that don't include harsh medicine.

[guerrillamama]

Too little to have allergies??? That makes no sense.

OK, well my 2.5 yo has horrible eczema. (There is a LONG "Eczema Tribe" thread around here somewhere, you should check that out definitely.) I have him on Benadryl unapologetically because otherwise he will scratch himself till he bleeds at night. But it was definitely a last-resort thing for me. I used to give him Zyrtec before, and that worked even better, but can't afford it anymore w/o insurance. It's still a harsh medicine so you may not be interested, but something to aks your dr about (tho he sounds like he may be an idiot).

This isn't really helpful bc it's only preventative, but I recently learned that probiotics can really help with allergies. If you have a health store nearby you should be able to get probiotic supplements to add to baby's food. But I guess you won't see results for about 3-6 mo.

Sorry I'm not much help. Good luck!

[celia]

yup- he says she's too young for allergies and I say... what is THIS then????? I don't mind the benedryl when she does the scratch till she bleeds thing- or her eyes suddenly puff up.. it certainly works and I'll use it until I find something else. I just worry about her having it daily through her entire childhood... I didn't know that had zyrtec for babies. is it a liquid? I'll definitly look into the probiotics. I didn't know those helped with allergies... thanks.

[guerrillamama]

Zyrtec is a liquid and I don't know how young they can take it. I think my son had just turned 2, or was about to turn 2, when he started taking it. I never had trouble getting him to drink it, he loves the taste. Childrens Claritin is a decent otc substitute for Zyrtec, but it's nondrowsy and my son hates the taste.

[talia rose]

Please find a way to test for food allergies. I know that gluten intolerance (which can go through eggs when chickens eat grain) can cause all these symptoms. the medications talked about are a way to mask the symptoms but do not get at the root cause. for all my childrens health issues, it was gluten intolerance underneath and when i addressed that, the health issues went away. and although i didn't figure it out until my son was 20 months, I had my daughter tested (kinisiology- muscle testing) at one week and she came up senstive. so she has been on the diet all along and never gone through the health problems my son had. perhaps it is not gluten but something else, don't give up until you figure it out.