Update on Aubrey - Dr Appt yesterday

My2Beauties wrote: Well I took her in and the ped said she thinks it's major allergy issues. She said at first she believes she had a viral infection (which is why she had a slight fever and a touch of diarrhea, but that was weeks ago) She said once those develop it can send their allergy triggers into overtime, so ever since then her allergies have been flaring up. She gave me some samples of Children's Dimetapp Cold & Allergy. I asked about the recalls because I'm concerned giving her that stuff, she said that the recall was only because parent's were giving their infant's too much of the product or giving it to them to try and put them to sleep or something when they didn't need it. She said the products are extremely safe if used as directed. So, she's on 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of Dimetapp every 4-5 hours for 3 days. If I see no change, then I have to go to Benadryl 1.4 tsp 3-4 times per day. This bothers me, I can't fathom giving a 5 1/2 month old infant Benadryl, but she said it's perfectly safe...maybe just at nighttime or something because Benadryl makes me loopy much less a baby. She said if that doesn't work after 3 days then to try Liquid Claritin once a day, 1/4 tsp I believe, might be 1/2, I have it written down. If that doesn't work after 3 days then I have to bring her back in and we'll have to start trying prescription allergy meds. I hate giving her all this crap, because decongestants, antihistamines and the like make me feel so weird and out of sorts, I hate to give her this stuff. But hopefully it'll give her a little boost and dry some of this crap up and she'll get better so I don't have to give her anymore, only when needed every once in a while. She said that with the lack of rain the dry molds and the ragweed are up really bad and now that some rain finally came in the wet molds are starting to rear their ugly heads all of the sudden so allergies are going wild right now. She said she has seen kids all day for the same thing. I asked about the yellow and green snot (sorry TMI) and that I thought that meant infection, she said (and I did not know this) since infants and young children cannot blow thier noses like an adult can whenever their nose feels stopped up, the mucus regardless of whether it's clear to start off with (allergies) can turn green or yellow within 15-20 minutes of it being produced if not blown out. Learn something new everyday. So green doesn't always mean infection. The coughing is just from the mucus sitting in her nose and draining. So please give me get well vibes for Aubrey so that I don't have to feed my daughter countless doses of meds.

boyohboyohboy replied: do the allergies really seem to bother her? i mean does the stuffy nose or runny nose bother her?
i ask because i can tell you from experience with my son on benedryl then went to singular, that he was kinda testy and would wine and just felt worse on benadryl then he did with just the allergies.
singular was better but she isnt old enough.
I think it will make her sleepy and lethargic during the day, maybe just at night to help her sleep?
i hope she feels better soon. she has been sick a while.
how about those plug in vapor things to help her sleep at night?

momtoMegan&Alyxandria replied:
I loved those things.

I hope she feels better soon. I hate loading the kids up on meds too. Sometimes it just can't be helped though.

Here are her ~~~~~get well~~~~~~~ vibes. Hope it helps.

A&A'smommy replied: I'm sending her LOTS of get well vibes.. poor girl!!!

indywndy_04 replied: Jake has the same thing going on....still. He can't shake the runny nose, it is really bad at night...he can hardly drink his bottle. I don't feel comfortable with giving him Benadryl though. That kind of scares me, I can understand how you feel. Let me know how she does. If it will help him, then I guess it will be ok...just seems too strong I guess ??
I am going out and getting a vapirozer/humidifier deal today to see if that will help him.

Not to scare you...but I just want to talk out loud for a minute....when Jake had his surgery and was having to come off the anastigia (now I realize this is a lot stronger and different) but...the surgeon said to watch him carefully while he is coming off of it and make sure he is still breathing because a baby being in that deep of sleep can sometimes 'forget to breath' hince...SIDS. So, just make sure you give her a real low does I guess...just to be safe.

Again - I just wanted to throw that out there...I do not mean anything by it other then a caution statement....I am probably more paranoid then your average mom though.

Hope she gets to feeling better!

boyohboyohboy replied: we just had a talk with the ped about benadryl for our son also for an allergic reaction though, but he said they do not give benadryl to kids until at least 6 months of age, now that just our practice, be it is very sedating.

indywndy_04 replied:
Yea...that is what I was kind of told..not about Benadryl, but just meds in general to infants.

Jamison'smama replied: We have had to do almost this same thing with Jack before. Our doctor just wanted to DRY him out before the mucus settled into a deeper infection or went to the lungs. Most of the time Benadryl is one of the safest drugs to give kids. Some kids can have a reverse reaction but for the most part, these meds are just going to dry out that snot. They are all antihistamines and we have actually had to do double dosing of antihistamines with Jack before---Claritin and Benadryl---since they are two different types. She may act wonky for a day or two but you want her to dry out and get her sleeping better.

My2Beauties replied:
This is what the ped said, she said it's very safe and it would have been removed in the recall if it was not. She said the only thing aside from making her sleepy is that it could have the opposite affect and make her very hyper so she said give it to her in the daytime first before every trying it at night to see what it does to her.

moped replied:

Calimama replied: I hope she feels better soon!

AlexsPajamaMama replied: Get well vibes for Aubrey

I really like those vapor plug ins too and the vapor bubble bath

indywndy_04 replied: That is good to know that it is safe. That makes me feel better about giving it to Jake...I will make sure it is ok with my peds since he is only 3 months...but I wanted to let you know that I went out and bought a Cool Mist humidifier from Walmart for 19 bucks and boy did it work great last night...I think we were all breathing better!! He slept soooo good, although I did have him proped up as well. This humidifier has a filter in it and it brings in the dry air and filters it getting all of the bacteria and gunk out of the air so it made a big difference! You might want to try that as well if you havent already. I told my daycare about this humidifier because if it cleans out the air, then they should have it going in the baby room to filter out the gunk as well! (especially since my precious is in there!) hee hee

Mommy2Isabella replied: Poor Girl! I hope she feels better soon !!

About the medication stuff, Bella is 1year and some change, and I don't even giver her a 1/2 tsp. of ANYTHING! ... But I am WAY against medication and stuff like that. So to me that seems like a lot, Benadryl isn't bad, Bella had a reaction to strawberries and I gave it to her, she was 1year though ... but it didn't make her loopy or anything!

DansMom replied: That's rough. Do they think it's food allergy? (I ask because of the diarrhea aspect, which I don't associate with seasonal allergies). If you can identify the source by eliminating allergens one at a time from your diet while BF, that will be the best cure. It does take some discipline---I found it very difficult to go without dairy, but that's the most common culprit (other possibilities are soy and wheat). Removal of the allergen from the diet should clear everything up, and possibly allow her body to forget the allergy by the time you introduce that solid---then you don't have to deal long-term with antihistamines. To be on the safe side, avoid nuts and shellfish for a long while.

OK, climbing off my soap box. I hope Aubrey is feeling better soon!

jcc64 replied: I'm sorry she's having such a rough time, LeaAnn. Ita about your concerns with all the meds and such a young baby. Every dr has their own views, but it doesn't sound like she's coming way out of left field on this one. My brother is against all cold meds for all kids, but with chronic allergies, maybe it's different, idk. He's an intensive care dr who deals primarily with critically ill child children- it's not like he deals with allergies on a daily basis like your ped does.
If it becomes truly chronic, I would highly suggest a visit to an allergist. They simply know more about the meds and their subtle differences. It's worth a shot, right?
In any event, I hope she kicks it soon.

Boys r us replied: ohh I know you hate giving her all those meds when she's so little, but it is better after THIS long to just get her dried up! You definitely don't want it all settling in her chest!!!

I hope she's better soon!

maestra replied:
I agree- plus, if it does end up having the sedating effect on her, which it doesn't for my kids, it may also give her some of the really restful sleep that she needs in order to kick this. I know that I've taken a medicine like nyquil (when not nursing) just so that I could fall asleep and stay that way. Once I do, I seem to get better much more quickly. Maybe that would be a beneficial side effect?

My2Beauties replied:
I'm not BF'ing her so I know it's not a food allergy. She's on formula with some baby food but this started well before she ever ate any baby food, it's been going on for over a month. She just recently started eating baby food about a week or so ago.

My2Beauties replied:
I thought about this as well. I know Hanna doesn't really get that sleepy on Benadryl, she can stay up for a while after taking it, but she does sleep better through the night, no tossing and turning etc. Like it's a much deeper sleep. Thanks guys! You all are th best!

HuskerMom replied: