Is It a Cold, the Flu, or Covid?
December is prime time for seasonal respiratory viruses. As a parent, are you ready to identify the health concerns surrounding your child and other family members from cold, flu, or Covid-19? We’re here to help.
Help for Your Child’s Allergies
Helping your child through allergies is all about providing the best quality of life. Sometimes, allergies are minor annoyances while other times they can be major and even life-threatening. Often connected to childhood asthma, allergies aren’t always permanent and many of the symptoms can be effectively controlled.
Early identification of allergens, those substances that trigger allergic responses, helps to minimize the impact of allergies on your child’s life, reducing medical visits and missed days at school. While there’s much you can do as a parent, enlisting the team at Dr 2 Kids, Smita Tandon, M.D., sets you up for success.
Allergy basics
Your child’s immune system is a remarkable guardian of health, protecting them from many different pathogens. When your child has an allergic response, it’s an overreaction by the immune system to a substance that’s typically harmless.
In children, certain substances commonly produce allergic reactions. These include:
- Natural sources, such as a tree or plant pollen, stinging or biting insects
- Environmental irritants like cigarette smoke, car exhaust, or perfumes
- Conditions in the home, including pet dander, dust mites, or mold
- Foods such as peanuts, dairy products, and eggs
Your child is more likely to develop allergies if there’s a family history of particular sensitivities. Watch for symptoms like hives and other skin rashes, upset tummy, sneezing, coughing, runny nose, itching eyes, or breathing difficulties including wheezing.
Allergy diary
In the early stages of your child’s life, recognizing allergy symptoms and identifying their triggers is perhaps the most important thing you can do. When you suspect a physical reaction may be an allergic response, start an allergy diary to help you recognize patterns. This diary can be invaluable later on when Dr. Tandon reviews your child’s symptoms.
Hydration and rest
Common advice for colds is the combination of plenty of fluids and lots of sleep. When your child suffers respiratory symptoms from allergies, the same advice holds true. Clear fluids and broth-based soups help keep their airways clear by thinning mucus and easing other symptoms. Extra rest provides the body more recovery time, and your child’s immune system will function better during waking hours.
Avoiding triggers
Once you know what it is that your child is allergic to, there are sometimes steps you can take to avoid contact with those. Banishing peanut products from the house is obvious when they have nut allergies, but there are other, subtle changes you can make. With airborne allergies like pollen, a schedule for changing furnace filters may help, as well as watching the weather for high pollen count days. Choosing inside play might help reduce or eliminate allergic reactions.
A visit to Dr 2 Kids, Smita Tandon, M.D. offers up next-level allergy relief. Testing can confirm your diary or reveal unexpected allergens, and Dr. Tandon can help you with treatment options, recommending over-the-counter and prescription medications when warranted, including customized allergy shots.
Contact the office by phone or online to book an examination or allergy testing for your child. Allergies can’t be cured, so symptom management beginning as soon as possible produces the best results for your child. Book your appointment now.
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