5 Month Old Allergies & No Insurance

Those medicines (Benedryl, tylenol, motrin) were not taken off the shelf because parents were overdosing, they were CONTAMINATED. However, you should not give any medicine or homeopathic anything (except tylenol) to a small infant without talking to a doctor first. Usually food allergies cause rashes or diarrhea problems. It could be seasonal allergies, but that is also not common at that age. Pink eye might be a concern and needs antibiotics if that is the case. It's also very contagious. A visit to the pediatrician might really help.

Could be allergies or could be pink eye. They sell OTC homeopathic stuff call Similisan Pink Eye (read the label first) My daughter ended up w/ clogged tear ducts - doctor recommended using a warm compress. That didn't work so she got eye drops. You can also use a warm tea bag to reduce the swelling. Hope he's okay :-)

If he is having "goop" or discharge from either eye, it's likely pinkeye, which can be viral or bacterial. If it's not gone by this point, I'd go ahead and see a doctor, health department, something. The pediatrician I used to work with prescribed allergy medications to infants, but not that young. Benadryl can be used in older children but all those medications are sedating to a fellow that small! Just red eyes should not indicate a food allergy, either.

Could be allergies, could be pink eye, could be another type of infection. Food allergies don't usually manifest in that way. I would take him in to his primary doc or the health dept and get him checked out.

Do not self-dose a 5 month old with Benedryl. You have no way of knowing the correct dosage. Only administer benedryl under a doctor's direction as he is under the age of 6 years!

You need to talk to a pediatrician...or at least a family practitioner. Do not give him benedryl at that age. It isn't indicated for children that age (unless there is a serious problem). There are mathematical ways of figuring it out with his weight but only if you were far away from medical help and it was obvious the child was having a serious reaction to something like a bee sting and this was a last resort! Other things like Claritin or Zyrtec aren't for kids that young either. It doesn't sound like food allergies.

At the very least go to the health dept. Most states have some sort of plan for children, either Medicaid or something where you'd pay a few bucks a month (in Michigan it's $5) for working families who don't have health insurance. In Michigan the application is right online and you would know which you qualify for immediately. Or you can talk to a person and mail everything in to the state. You should be able to google something like OK childrens health program or something like that. Talk to the health dept.

Good luck.

we literally knew our son had allergies around age 4 weeks old (i was nursing) (husband many allergies so we were on high alert)
we started giving zyrtec at 6 months however since the Dr didn't seem to think it was possible. errrr. (and singular)
there's prob a generic version by now.

He may very well have allergies, but you need to head down to the community health clinic to find out. They will assist you with your lack of insurance/financial deficiencies.

Also, see here for insurance for your baby in your area:

http://okhca.org/individuals.aspx?id=52&menu=40&p...

Hope that helps!

My son was allergic to everything when he was about 6 months old I had to carry benadrl everywhere. The doc had me give him 1/4tsp as often as it says on bottle.