Decongestants

Don't use any fans- they stir up dust. This is key- for my dd's first 2 yrs we used fans for white noise. Now after 3 weeks w/out one- no runny/stuff nose- at all! I use a vaporizer in my dd's room. I also spray her nose w/ Xylitol nose spray- it coats the mucus lining so allergens won't stick. If she gets a hint of a stuff nose- I give her Rescon GG- it is OTC but they keep it behind the counter- it has Guafinisen which breaks up the mucus w/out side effects.

I would avoid them - at least try other remedies first. A humidifier worked great for us. So did the Vicks plug-ins - they have mentholated inserts and you plug them into a wall socket. The entire room fills with Vicks vapors, it works great.

my daughter had her adnoids out last week and it has helped so much.. iwas scared because it was surgery but let me tell you it took them 20 minutes and she did not hurt at all... amazing how far things have come.... good luck

I feel your pain, my son who is now just a month shy of his 4th birthday was actually born stuffed up. The doctors won't allergy test until children are 2 so we just suffered for 2 years. Once he was finally tested we found he is literally allergic to almost everything in every season and also has asthma. He lived with an upper repiratory infection almot constantly. He was put on all kinds of allergy medications as well as breathing treatments. I am happy to report he is finally starting to grow out of it and we no longer have to do daily breatheing treatments. Only when he starts to get sick. As far as decongestants, I know they can have long term effects on the body so I only gave them to him when he was struggleing to breathe and would actually stop at times in the middle of the night because he was so clogged. (I had to have him sleep with me and he still does because of it) Fortunately this has stopped with the medical treatments. I would have her allergy tested by an allergist, it really will help with the congestion.

i have an 18month old who has a lot of allergies, foods included. He's been on zyrtec for almost a year. i took him off of Zyrtec last week, per dr to see how he does. We went yesterday for a quick check up to see how he's doing. He's had a runny nose since friday, and she told me to put him back on it for a few days. When he gets a cold, or is really stuffy i give him pedicare (decongestant only!!) or dimatap (decongestant only)
Good luck! Allergies are hard!!
-S.

Hi M.!! Poor little thing!! That's a shame and very hard on everyone when a good's night sleep is missed. Something I can relate to is having allergies. In the past 2 yrs I have seen an awesome improvement in my allergies. The reason is that I've switched all of my cleaning and personal products to more natural products. What I use are products that are made from the best of science and nature. My allergies are less often, less severe and don't last as long. If you'd like to hear more about them you can contact me.

Good luck!
T.

I have allergies and have noticed that one of my little girls is following the same allergy patterns lately that I have also. We try to do as much natural products in our house as possible, including no preventive medicines from the doctor. We only give antibiotics if they have a true illness. So one thing that I have found that works wonders is Mullein. It's an herb that you can find in liquid form. It is a natural decongestant. I buy from Trilight herbs. Their website is confusing, you should really give them some pointers, but you should really look at it and maybe try out a few things. Most everything is safe for children and they will usually have a notice if it's not safe for kids or pregnant women. A great book to help is Mommy Diagnostics by Shonda Parker. It will really help you learn what to look for in a cough or a stuff nose to see when you do need to go to the Dr. I also put local honey in my tea to help my system adjust to allergies and so you might want to try giving a small amount to your child. You can also place a pillow or thick blanket under the mattress on the end where she sleeps so that she will be raised some and the congestion will be able to drain. I hope some of this helps.

Hi M.,
Have you tried a oscillating fan or a box fan for her room?
I just know when I get stopped up at night, it's usually because I have bad air circulation and a fan always seems to help.
You can also try applying some vaseline to a q-tip and putting it on the inside of her nostrils.
I would try those methods before using any type of medication.
Hope you figure out something that works.
Take Care!

I wouldn't bother with the decongestants... ask your pediatrician about Nasonex. It's a spray that might help open up her nose. Also, my favorite.... a salt water rinse, but at 2.5 might be a little young but they do have a saline nose spray that you don't have to rinse. Salt helps open up the nose too.

Steam or a humidifier are other ideas. And those Breath Right strips. I use them myself when I'm congested and love them! Just got to get her not to pick them off. They work really well.

Well I am a long time suffer of allergies/sinus problems and have had three sinus surgeries in my life. I have used decongestants off and on but not at a steady day to day use. I am not aware of any problems of taking them regularly but they are a stimulant of sorts and can make you hyper and after long term use as with most drugs the body becomes immune and it doesn't work or doesn't work as well as before. If you are having to use decongestants daily in order to breathe properly the underlying cause may be a obstruction of some kind. A very bad deviated septum could be the cause or maybe from chronic inflammation polyps have grown. (?) Anyway its surly not normal for such a young child to have chronic problems breathing. I would really suggest having her examined by a pediatric ENT doctor. Most doctors do not have the proper equipment to see inside where the problems lie.
C.