My son is nearly three. He has woken up nearly every morning with a stuffy nose for about a year...or maybe his whole life, actually. My daughter does not have this and he is stuffy when I am. I have lots of allergies to account for. I am told he can't have allergies this young only "irritants." He has been tested for mostly food allergies with no positives. He has low tolerance. Basically, I am told there is nothing they can do at this time for "seasonal" allergies. My question is, other then rushing to get up every morning as he is moaning abot being stuffed up to get the Saline spray, does anyone have this with their child and have solutions? I have used a humidifier (other then the one on the furnance) and that helps but worry about making his room damp and casuing mold...which is probably a trigger for him.
Have you tried children's claritin syrup? It is a 24 hour non-drowsy medication that sometimes works better for my daughter than benadryl and without the sleepiness. Your pediatrician can give you the exact dose, based on his weight. It can be used for kids as young as 15 months I believe. And as for allergies, my nephew has had severe allergies since birth and has been actually tested by an allergist to prove it:)
Nasal rinses have helped our son tremendously, and I made it through allergy season pregnant this year without taking anything and without being miserable with them. We use Neil-Med positive pressure nasal rinses. It's a plastic bottle with mix that you can buy at Walgreens and other pharmacies. Also, both are boys are on Nasonex and Allegra seasonally. They started at ages 1 and 3 for both and those have helped tremendously. Get in with an allergist. They will be able to help so much! Everything we do was recommended by our doctors at National Jewish. If they don't know allergies, no one does. You can do the nasal rinses without a prescription, so they might be a good place to start.
What is with some Doctors? I was told the same thing about my little guy 15 years ago, and magically I took him to an allergist, he was treated and we were fine. Get another opinion. I personally think Drs err on the side of caution these days, even when the symptoms have been there for a long time. Good Luck!
My kids always had runny noses or stuffy noses, I went to a natural doctor and got some echanacea (sp) drops for them. They work! No more snot, no more stuffy noses, ect. Try it, it works!
I have had extreme allergies my whole life. I was diagnosed with allergies and eczema at the tender age of 3 months. I can't believe the doctor says that a child cannot be diagnosed that young. I am now 45 and still suffer endlessly. There is not much that can be done for your child however, so the saline spray, humidifiers, bathing before bed each night are the best things you can do for him. Make certain that you use allergy prevention type pillows, soaps, laundry detergent etc.. As he gets a little older they will likely agree that he indeed has allergies and may start shot treatments for him, but even with those, I was still miserable through most of my childhood. I've just learned to live with my issues and try to avoid taking too many medications now that I am older. Good luck to you.
It might take a little work to get a three year old to use one, but have you ever tried a Nettie pot? It's a way of daily flushing out your sinuses with luke warm salt water to eliminate mucous. Here'a link to a demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8KOsNtpV8w
Good luck!
My son was stuffed up and still sounds stuffed up to this day, he is 4 years old and when he was 2 I finally had enough with my current doctor dismissing his chronic ear infections and his stuffy nose and I took him else where. I was referred to an ear, nose and throat doctor whom at first glance new that my son needed his adenoids out and tubes in his ears. She explained that he had a lot of fluid and his adenoids where huge, she drained them and took them out and while he was still stuffy, because my 3 year old DID have allergies, he was not half as stuffy as he was before. I was later prescribed 3 different things for him including Claritin and Flonase to help with his seasonal allergies, because like my doctor said, there is nothing I can do about seasonal allergies because the allergens are going to be there no matter what, but that she is prescribing stuff to take the ‘edge' off. But honestly the best thing I feel that we were able to do for him is have his adenoids out. Does he snore? Because children that young usually do not snore unless there is blockage (adenoids), also another way we knew that he had a problem is he could barley smell stuff or eat with his mouth closed because he couldn't breath. Hope this helps :)
There are things they can do for seasonal allergies. Both of my kids have had them on and off especially in the spring.
You can get OTC stuff or they can give you Zyrtec in kid form via a prescription.
We are going through this with my four year old that has had a chronic stuffy nose for two years now. We removed his adnoids and had ear tubes put in due to ear infections early on(which he has had no more infections). His adnoids were large and it seemed to help a lot however there is still continues and right now they have him on Nasonex.
The Nasonex has worked a lot but there is still a problem as he still seems to breathe through his mouth at night.
We have another visit to the ENT in a few weeks to do a recheck on things.
Saline is the best thing you can do at night and during the day, we do it in the mornings and before bed. A humidifier is perfect but you do have to clean it out with bleach every few days. If you live in a dry area it will not cause mold.
You can have your air quality in your home tested, which we did and it wasn't internal in the house causing issues.
I would talk to them about OTC or prescription allergy stuff if you think it may be allergies.
If not have them visit whether he could have enlarged adnoids and check his tonsils. An ENT is the best to see not a regular Dr about all this too.
Make sure he does saline before bed.
My son has this issue still but the Nasonex did a HUGE improvement!
Hi Sara,
I would go to a different doctor and get another opinion. Like the other mom's have said there could be a number of things wrong here. But for the time being I would try the new children's Zyrtec. Its worked pretty well for my kids and my Dr has said it was fine for them from my 2yr old to my oldest at 8yrs old. I am happy with the results so you might try starting with that until you can see another Dr. Good Luck!
Carla
I have been told by our previous pediatrician (only because we moved out of state; we really liked her) that my children had developed allergies while they were less than 6 months old. She also informed me that allergies can turn into asthma. We have had to use claritin during the evening for seasonal allergies. My children have also been on nebulizers before they were old enought to take the claritin to help with the stuffiness. They would get so bad I was afraid that they would stop breathing in the evening. Now I am not a doctor but both of these have helped. I believe your son is old enough to take claritin and they can also prescribe nasal sprays if that is necessary. My daughter was prescribed Nasonex by and ENT specialist because of enlarged tonsils which made it difficult to breathe through her mouth. You may want to have a second opinion and research the medicine to see if that is a route you may want to go. I wish you luck;I know how frustrating the situation can be.
Michelle
Hi Sara~ my son had the same thing and he is 2. His doctor at National Jewish prescribed Nasonex. I don't have allergies and hate the idea of giving it to him but it really has made a difference. Although your son may be too young to test positive to a skin test for environmental allergies he can still be affected by them. We tried the generic brand of Zyrtec syrup that you can get at Target but I don't think it helped as much. We tried everything else before the Nasonex. We give him his spray at night so I don't see any side effects other than an occasional bloody nose right after the spray. I found that my pediatric was less concerned about his allergies (he has food too) and asthma than his allergist. If you want his to take some type of medicine then I would push the doctor. What is the worse that can happen? It doesn't work then you stop, right? Good luck!
My son has had similar problems. His nose is usually a dry stuffy in the morning. the doctor told me to clean his nose wiht the sailine drop before going to bed...also recomended putting a little tiny bit of Vasaline wiht a q-tip on the inside of his nose, just enough to coat the delicate area inside his nose. He is now 8 years old and still has the occasional stuffness, but it happens a lot less often. I would also suggest you ask your pediatrician to refer you to a pediatric allergist. My son was not 3 yet when he was tested for his allergies. Best of Luck to you and your little guy!
Go to a natural or internest doctor and see what they say. I say always try to solve a problem without medication first because they always have a "side effect". His immune system could just need a big boost. Does he take vitamin C? I believe that most things can be cured with what you eat and the rest with supplements and herbs.
You can have allergies that young. Believe me I know from first hand experience.
I was born with asthma and all sorts of things would trigger it. When I say trigger it, I don't mean just having trouble breathing, I mean it shut down my breathing and would put me in the hospital. I had allergy tests done when I was 2 and had to go in twice a week for 3 years for allergy shots. I am happy to report now that there are very few things that I am still allergic to.
When my son goes for expended periods of time with a stuffy nose, we give him childrens Zyrtec. It works like a charms and doesn't knock him on his butt like Benedryl.
Good luck
Hi Sarah,
My son was your sons age when I was told to take him off of dairy. What a difference! We started with chocolate soy milk and slowly started adding regular soy until he was used to it. He drank the soy for close to 2 years, we would try cow milk every so often and he would get congested again. Around 6 or 7 milk didn't seem to affect him the same and he is back to drinking cows milk but also doesn't mind soy. We used silk brand at first as his favorite but also found kirkland soy milk at costco that doesn't have to be refrigerated until after it is opened and comes in smaller containers and he and I both like the flavor better.
Worth a try with your son.
Good luck,
SarahMM
my son is exactly the same way..we just started him with the netty pot..he is 9 so is a little more able to deal with that thing but another friends son is 3 and also does the netty pot for his constant stuffyness..it really works..my son is psyched to do it now because he sees the difference...good luck..jill
Sara,
I am a working mother of 2 my son will be 3 in Nov and my daughter is 18m. My daughter who has major allergies or "sensativities" is sensative to dairy products and has seasonal allergies. She takes both zertek and cingular granuals daily. My son who's "sensativities" never came back positive was stuffy most if not all of his life until I took the family off of milk. Because she could not drink it the entire family drinks Rice milk because soy is also another sensativity. After switching him to rice milk I noticed a huge change in his sinuses. He doesn't wake up in the middle of the night not being able to breath or have the constantly stuffiness. He may not be "sensative" to dairy but maybe in larger quanteties between milk, cheese, yogurt, eggs and other items it just makes him stuffy. I would look at what he seems to eat the most of.
Good luck,
Natalie
my 2 yr old takes singulair for allergies. it helps a lot. before he was taking it, he was complaining that his nose hurt and he woke up crying a lot. it started when it was still cold out, so at first i thought his nose was just chapped or stuffy from a cold. but when the symptoms continued into warmer weather and the rest of us started sneezing a lot, we went to the doctor to see if it was seasonal allergies. i'd just go to a different doctor to get a prescription for allergies if i were you. after all, isn't fall a time that a lot of irritants are released in the air with harvesting? good luck.
Perhaps you could ask for a referral to an ENT? He could possibly have a structural reason for the stuffiness. Is he OK the rest of the day, and just stuffy in the morning? If so, maybe there is an allergen in his bedding, mattress, etc. Good luck!