What Allergy Medications Are Safe for My 2Yr Old?

My son has extreme allergies (food and seasonal). We tried Singular with him over a year ago and noticed a major personality shift with him. He went from being an easy-going kid to a very fussy kid. We took him off the Singular and he went back to being himself.
We have given him Liquid Claritin but with little success. We have recently started Liquid Zyrtec. It works okay for him. Mostly we just keep him indoors when the allergy reports are high and if he is really miserable (lots of coughing or sneezing) then we give him Liquid Benadryl.

I'm a huge fan of no drugs for kids. Both my kids and me have the kind of allergies you are talking about. When my oldest was one, I discovered the world of alternative medicine. We started with accupressure at an accupuncturist (no needles for kids and no drugs with their side effects). The allergies were completely gone for a year, then they came back. I then started going to Dr. Kathi Perry at Health by Hands in Arlington. Her allergy treatments work. It's been 5 years and our allergies are still gone. I've suffered my whole life even with medication, but nothing works remotely as well as Dr. Perry. It's a long way out there, but well worth the health of my kids. My medical bills are almost non existent now. No allergies equal high immume system which equals very few illnesses.

Hi Alisha,

Have you considered working with a doctor who could treat the cause rather than the symptoms? A lifetime of allergy meds doesn't make too much sense to me, especially with the side effects you're concerned about. I am plugged in to a network of naturopathic doctors. Email me thru Mamasource and I will give you some names.

Blessings,

M.

You are right about Singular. My child took it for about a year or so and it really helped with his allergies and occ. asthma. My husband and both sons have tics and the child with Singular started to get much worse wit the tics. I did a trial and took him off of it and they went away. Back on it and the tics were worse within hours of taking it. It is a good medicine but I would not give it to a child. My husband takes it now without any side effects except a bloodly nose every once in a whle. You can change pediatricians but there is no gaurentee that they won't be the same way, unfortunatly. You are in charge of your child and they have to abide by your wishes and be flexable and intellegent enough to give you choices. If you really feel like they don't respect you, by all means change till they do.
Good Luck and keep asking questions!!

Hello Aisha,

you're right about singulair. My daughter took it for one month and she was moody and cranky and down right mean. so it did change her personality while she was on it. just because the doctor has not heard about something, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. follow your gut. Has your daughter been tested for allergies? if she has, can the allergens be avoided so her body can get a break? has she ever been to a chiropractor? go and talk to Jaime at Abundand Health in Lewisville (where the burger king is by the high school) you can also talk to Denis at Flower Mound Pharmacy (by Braum's) see what you can do naturally to alleviate her allergies. Good luck! ~C.~

Have you tried just using saline spray and bulb suctioning or other sinus flushing type stuff? Keeping the allergens flushed out would help her and it's all natural. She would probably not like it at first, but she would get used to it. I had my son on singulair when he was 3 and he became completely uncooperative and aggressive. When I researched the drug reviews almost 100% of those reviews involving children were negative regarding personality changes including depression, aggression and even suicide in older children and young teens. I took him off of it after about 4 days and he was back to normal within a day or two. My dr. said he didn't know of any side effects like that, but they don't do drug research on children so there are no studies. Just read the reviews and you'll see. Other prescription meds that helped his symptoms was something called Viravan PDM. It's an antihistamine, decongestant and cough suppressant rolled into one. It allowed him to sleep at night instead of coughing so much that he would eventually throw up all kinds of mucus. Hope this helps.

Both of my kids (2 & 4) are on Singulair. It has been fabulous. There have been no problems whatsoever. They both had a persistent cough & runny noses. Since being on Singulair....nothing. Their dr. is just doing it through the month of March since the weather is so up & down. We do that plus a cool mist humidifier every night. Together, they have worked wonders. In the past, I have been on Allegra & it really helped. Medications are just so different for different people. Good luck with whatever you try. :)

Look at food allergies for your child. IgE shows true allergies, IgG shows food sensitivies. Eliminating these foods may help. Dr. Kenneth Bock has a book called Healing the New Childhood Epidemics:Autism, Asthma, ADHD and Allergies - may be worth the read.

Has she been tested? If she's been on Zyrtec since 6 months I'm guessing they've checked some things out. Have you tried Little Remedies gel - you rub it on the end of her nose and it can help; however if she's pretty bad you might want to get in with an allergist and have them tell you which route to go. They may recommend shots depending on what she's allergic to. I don't know of any allergists in the Lewisville area but the group in Southlake comes highly recommended, especially Dr. Fawcett, for kids