Pay Attention To These Child Allergies

Pay Attention To These Child Allergies

Keeping calm is the very basic mantra of being a parent. Well, it does sound nice and it definitely helps in almost all situations. However, what no one tells the parents is that how difficult it is to keep calm, especially in a situation when your child is not feeling too well. Actually, a small step can help you avoid such a situation to a great extent. And that is knowing things your child is allergic to and avoiding those things. The world is changing, nothing is as pure as it used to be even 30 years back. Our food is genetically modified, the air we breathe is polluted, even the water we drink is full of chemicals harmful to the body. Hence, allergies start at a tender age nowadays. Through various studies, it has been found out that worldwide, there has been a steady rise in allergic diseases in the last 50 years. Almost 40% -50% school going children today suffer from one or more common allergies. But how do you determine whether your child has allergies? Here are five ways which can help you understand if it is an allergy and what kind of allergy it is: Nasal Allergies When your child gets down with coughing, congestion and runny nose, you often think it’s just cold. Isn’t it? Well, maybe not. Respiratory allergies look a lot like cold, but they are not. This makes life difficult for parents and even doctors. This is more prominent during times of season change, especially spring and autumn because there are a lot of pollen in the air around that time. Respiratory allergies are characterized by a runny nose, puffy or watery eyes, sneezing and even a sore throat. If your child’s nose, eyes or the roof of the mouth feels itchy, then it is most probably an allergy. However, if the itchy eye is pink or red with the discharge of a kind of crust, then it might be a case of pink eye. If your child has a temperature, then it is possibly a cold, not an allergy. Cold and flu usually last for a few days only. However, if your child is down for weeks with the same symptoms, then most probably it is an allergy.  Pet allergies We all love pets, don’t we? But then we can’t get what we always want. Even though your child loves pets, it is possible your child may be allergic to it. But how will you understand if it’s a pet allergy? Well, does he/she show signs of being ill while around a pet like sneezing or watery eyes? If yes, then, unfortunately, it can be pet allergies. This is a significantly easier allergy to tell. Heredity matters Allergy runs in the family. If one of the parents has allergies, there is a good chance that the child will get allergy too. If both the parents have allergies, the odds go up several notches. In fact, 25% to 30% of children with parents having asthma have been found to have the same disease. Here, it is important to note that untreated asthma can be very dangerous and even life-threatening. If your child has breathing problems along with wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath during laughing or exercising, we strongly recommend visiting the doctor right away. The symptoms can get more pronounced during early autumn and winter. Food Allergies This is one of the common forms of allergy among everyone, not just children. Even infants can have food allergies once they start the intake of solid food. If your child gets regular rashes, itching, swelling or redness of the skin, especially right after having some kind of food, it can be a food allergy. Such symptoms might start after hours of eating a specific type of food as well, and not right after consuming something. Apart from skin problems, the symptoms can be as severe as nausea, stomach aches, vomiting, diarrhoea, sneezing, wheezing, etc. The difficult thing here is to tell what is the food that your child is allergic to. You can visit your doctor who can run an allergy test to find this out the culprit. Drug Allergies 10% of the world’s population is affected by drug allergies. This is a kind of allergy that everyone should be aware of. If your child shows some kind of uneasiness after taking a medicine, he/she can be allergic to it. Symptoms include skin rash, itching, wheezing, fever, shortness of breath, runny nose, etc. Once you understand that your child is feeling a kind of uneasiness, visit your doctor right away for a proper diagnosis. Once you know what your child is allergic to, you definitely have to keep him/her away from the source or find a way to provide comfort. A little bit of knowledge goes a long way in making sure the well being of your little one.