|
Treating Baby Allergies the Natural Way |
 When new parents discover that their infant may have allergies, the options to address the problem are often troubling and confusing. The instinct to resort to medications and to use the intervention of modern medical resources is understandable. At the same time, new parents should foster an attitude of caution about using over the counter allergy medications when trying to help their infant cope with allergies and their symptoms.
Most over the counter allergy medicines are designed for older children or adults. And while there are often instructions on how to cut down the dosage for infants for many allergy medications, the concern about the effects such medicines may have on the development of the child are justifiable. It is always advisable to get the advice of the child’s pediatrician before using any allergy medications on your baby. You may find that your baby’s doctor would rather see you look into natural ways of reducing the impact of allergy symptoms instead of turning to medicines as soon as you see allergy problems in your infant begin to crop up.
Understanding baby allergies through education is always a good first step. That “knee jerk” reaction of “Why our child?” is natural but misguided. The truth is that baby allergies are extremely common and they are a natural part of early childhood development. In other words, a baby allergy is not an illness and they do not indicate that there is something chronically wrong with your baby.
An allergy occurs when the immune system begins to react to something that is not harmful as though it were. The immune system is an important part of how our bodies stay healthy because each person’s immune system “learns” how to fight off illness by attacking germs from within and destroying them. Very often, the ill feeling of being sick is the result of that internal battle that the immune system wins most of the time.
But in a baby, the immune system is also immature as it has not had a chance to learn what to defend against as well as a mature immune system. That means that babies often develop short term allergies as their immune systems grow and mature and those allergies will go away as the baby’s immune system matures as well.
That means that one of the best tools to use to cope with infant allergies is patience. You do want to keep the baby comfortable. But to battle an allergy that is really just part of the natural growth of the baby’s immune system is not wise. The knowledge that babies outgrow their infant allergies within a few years should give parents of newborns comfort that, as the saying goes, “this too shall pass.”
The best strategy for reducing the impact of allergies in your child is to remove the offending items or circumstances from the home. If the child is allergic to certain foods, then a change of diet is in order. If the child is allergic to pets or certain fabrics in his or her wardrobe, those are easy things to change in the atmosphere of your home. For nasal allergies, putting in clean air filters and using a humidifier or air cleaning unit can work wonders.
There are also natural ways to keep your baby more comfortable during an allergic attack. If the allergy generates a rash, the use of topical medications that reduce itching can reduce the discomfort of the allergy rash in your infant. This is also a good natural allergy treatment because when the itching goes down, baby is less prone to scratch or touch the affected area so the rash can clear up more quickly.
For allergies that affect the lungs or nasal passages, the need to bring comfort to the infant so he or she can rest is a top priority. One natural remedy that has been around for generations is to put eucalyptus in boiling water and create steam for the child to breathe. Olbas oil is also a good natural treatment for nasal allergies. Modern humidifiers do a great job of delivering this natural treatment for many hours while the baby is asleep.
For baby allergies that result in skin irritations, there are natural solutions that work well instead of or along with over the counter topical medications. If mom and dad prefer not to use a cream or ointment that may not be right for the baby’s tender skin, olive oil, cocoa butter, aloe or sunflower oil can be very effective at providing relief from an infant allergy rash.
There are dozens of “home remedies” such as what we have discussed that are safe for the baby and easy to use. The ingredients are natural substances we keep at home all the time so the treatment is inexpensive as well. But if you read or hear about a natural treatment for an infant allergy that seems peculiar or unusual, it is always best to error in favor of caution and consult your baby’s pediatrician before using any natural treatment to help your youngster copy with infant allergies.
|