Sleep Issues with Allergy Medications

Try the Claratin, I give it to my son age 3 and it seems to help him. I'm not sure if there's a Benadryl formula for someone as young as your daughter but she might sleep with it or she might become wired. My experience with Zyrtec when it was prescription (as an adult) was that it made me wired/jittery as many cold medicines do to me and therefore I canouldn't sleep. It could be just the type of reaction she has to it. The other thing you might want to try is Little Remedies, Little Allergies - it's a gel allergy blocker that you rub on her nose and upper lip. It sounds like you're desperate for quality sleep and it couldn't hurt to try that- it's drug free.

Jean S. gave you very sound advice. I have used the lab that she listed with extremely good results. I was having the same issues, was stool tested by enterolab, and found that I was allergic/sensitive to 16 different foods, the most common foods that we eat every day. By attacking the root problem and not just numbing the symptoms, and possibly causing other problems by chemically medicating a tiny baby, you help your child to heal, not just be medicated, and eliminate the risk of the medication causing other health problems. I would definately do the test and seek a lifestyle/diet solution that heals rather than a chemical panacea that could cause more problems. Good luck. (^_~)

My daughter has used Claritin without any trouble, and Benadryl is good for short term use with her.

Zyrtec caused problems for my son as well, but it is the only antihistamine he can take without causing a big asthma flare up, so we keep it around in case he gets a bunch of ant bites or something that might cause him to need it.

One thought for a baby having consistent allergy problems might be to see how she does withour dairy. Our daughter is allergic to milk and had lots of congestion/allergy symptoms as a baby. Once we started using soy formula, we've never seen a runny nose since -- and she's about to be 6!

You might ask if she can take Cingulair. My daughter did not do well on Zyrtec either, but she did well with the Cingulair. You have to take it every day, and it takes about a week to build up in their system, but it was quite effective for us.

L.,

Would you like to fix the underyling immune system irritations and aggravations that are leading to the allergies in the first place? This would heal you child, promote long term health and eliminate the need for medications which always come with negative side effects.

If so, read on.

First place to investigate is diet. Is she on formula? IF so, it is likely the formula. If you are breastfeeding, it is likely the food you are eating. A great lab for testing for the most common allergens (gluten, casein, soy, egg, yeast) is www.enterolab.com. They are in Plano. No doctor referral needed. Best lab I know of because they test stool specimens, not blood or skin scratch. Food irritates the gut, and causes immune system imbalance from there, so stool is where the irritation is actually occurring. Also, least invasive testing for a baby. Couldn't be easier! Order test kit online, send in specimen, they email you the results.

Also, try introducing a probiotic in applesauce or something. This will do A LOT to heal the gut and balance the immune system. You want the immune system to behave normally, not overreact to things inthe environment.

Good luck.

You might test her for food allergies. IgE testing shows true food allegies and IgG shows food sensitivities. Casein (dairy, milk) is the biggest allergen with soy and wheat next. You also may consider d-hist which is a natural anti-histimine you can buy online.

My daughter, too, was prescribed Zyrtec for allergies. That, as well as Benadryl, kept her from sleeping well. The dr. then prescribed her Nasonex (nasal spray) which has helped tremendously without any sleep side effects. She is not completely allergy-free, but it is better. My daughter was about 1 year old when she got on the Nasonex so I'm not sure if there's an age limit, but it might be worth looking into. Good luck!

Claritin (over the counter) has worked very well for my 2 1/2 yr old daughter. We give it to her in the morning, it's a 24 hour dose & have had no sleeping problems.

You might try elderberry juice concentrate. We get it at Ridgemar Market. We have friends that say it has made a world of difference for them. Don't know that it helps everyone, but might be worth a try. It's about $25 a 12.5 ounce bottle and you take about a teaspoon a day. It is very bitter, but is good in grape juice.
You might want to do a search and check it out on the web.
Good luck.

I don't have an answer for what to take, but more of a warning. Someone suggested Singulair. My son, who is now 3 was sensitive to Zyrtec (made him wired), as well as decongestants and some other meds. We did Singulair and it did help and it did not seem to affect his sleep. HOWEVER, after taking it for well over a year, we took him off for the summer (he didn't seem to need it), we noticed a drastic positive change in his behavoir...much less aggressive. We put him back on in the fall and the aggression was back. My boys seem to be sensitive to medicines (just figutred out that my 2 month old's prevacid was keeping him from sleeping) and it sounds like your little one is too. So be weary of Singulair...

L.,
My son has bad allergies all year long. When he was 3 the doctor put him on Zyrtec. It definitely helped, but when he got into 1st grade we noticed that it made him really spaced out (zombie-like) in the afternoon. We would give it to him in the morning. We changed to Clarinex(prescription version of Claritin) for a year. It seemed that after awhile, it also made him tired in the afternoon. Now he has been on Allegra for two years. This seems to work the best. I know that it does not make him hyper. We give him one tablet in the morning and one before bed. I know you are asking specifically about whether or not the medicine makes it hard to fall asleep. I know that once my son falls asleep, he can sleep for 11 hours straight if we don't wake him up. Bottom line, I really did not like the effect that Zyrtec had on my son and think that Allegra has been a much better allergy medicine. Hope this helps.
D.

Hi! My daughter (22 mos) has asthma, so we needed an allergy medicine as well. We went through a few that didn't work or caused sleep problems, and finally the pediatrician prescribed atarax. They said to give it to her at night for a couple days to let her get used to it because it can cause drowsiness. She didn't have any drowsy problems, and it seemed to work pretty well on her allergies and runny nose. Hope that helps.