Treating Seasonal Allergies

The best treatment for children who suffers from seasonal allergies is to avoid the allergy-causing agent. If your child is allergic to pollen, this would include environmental modifications like keeping windows closed in your home and in the car and limiting your child's outdoor activities when the counts are the highest, like early morning for pollen.


If allergy symptoms are mild, your child may benefit from an over-the-counter allergy medication. These drugs can be found at your local pharmacy and should be taken on an as-needed basis. However, keep in mind that doctors do not recommend taking allergy medications with antihistamine for longer than 3–5 days at a time because they generally cause drowsiness.

Prescription allergy medications include decongestants, antihistamines, and steroids. Your child's pediatrician will be able to determine the type of medication and the dosing that is best for your child. There are many newer non-sedating antihistamines that work well to control allergies and have few side effects. It is important that your child take these prescription medications exactly as prescribed; they are less effective if taken intermittently or on an as-need basis.

Symptoms of Seasonal Allergies

Spring can be a miserable time for infants and children who suffer from seasonal allergies. Allergic rhinitis, or hay fever, affects nearly 40 percent of children in the United States. The symptoms may at first seem like a cold, but they are actually brought on (and worsen) with exposure to allergens, including tree pollens, grasses, and weeds.

The most common symptoms of allergies include:
• stuffy or runny nose (drainage will be clear)
• sneezing
• itchy, watery eyes
• sore throat
• morning cough
• allergic salute
• allergic shiners—dark circles under the eyes caused by nasal congestion


It is important to recognize and treat allergy symptoms in your kids, because uncontrolled allergies can lead to secondary sinus infections, ear infections, and asthma attacks. Uncontrolled allergies also can lead to irritability and poor concentration in school.

Seasonal Allergies: The Allergic Salute

The weather is getting warmer, the grass is turning green, and for many of our kids, it is also allergy season. One of the common signs of allergies in children is a small crease in the skin in the lower part of the nose that has been named the "allergic salute." The allergic salute is a result of a child suffering from an itchy nose consistently rubbing the nose upward.


Check back next week for more information on signs/symptoms and treatments for seasonal allergies in kids.

Ask a Nurse: Newborn Vision

I heard that a newborn's vision is blurry, but I feel like my baby recognizes me. When do babies begin actually seeing?

It is true that it takes about six months for your baby's vision to completely develop. Newborns see only in black, white, and gray, and they lack accommodation (or the ability of the eye to adjust to focus on near/distant objects). Despite these limitations, doctors say they are still able to recognize familiar shapes, including their mother's face.

Over the first several month's in an infant's life, visual abilities develop rapidly. By six months of age their visual acuity has progressed from 20/400 at birth to 20/25. By this time they begin to coordinate eye movements and are able to focus on distant and near objects. They also are able follow moving objects. Color vision is fully developed by six months of age.

In the News: Study on Spanking

This is by no means a parenting blog, and I'm not here to tell you how to discipline your children. But I thought this study on the effects spanking has on kids was interesting. The study found that kids who were spanked more than twice a month at age 3 were 50 percent more likely to be aggressive 5-year-olds.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1981019,00.html

The American Academy of Pediatrics does not endorse spanking or other forms of corporal punishment for any reason and, based on other evidence, states that spanking is not effective in promoting long-term behavioral changes in children. Instead the AAP recommends other forms of punishment, particularly time out, as it helps a child to understand what and why a particular behavior is inappropriate. The recommended time for a time out is 1 minute for every year of your child's age.

What are you thoughts on this study? What methods of discipline work with your children?

Ask a Nurse: Is My Child Eating Enough?

How do I know if my child is eating enough?


As a general rule of thumb, children will eat when they are hungry and stop eating when they are full. If your child is growing well (progressing along the normal height and weight chart), he is probably getting adequate nutrition.


Here are two important things to remember when it comes to your child's eating habits:

1. Children have small stomachs and, therefore, need to eat small meals frequently. They should eat every three to four hours, which means about three meals and two or three healthy snacks every day.

2. Child-size portions are not the same as adult-size portions. Children need about 1/4 to 1/3 of an adult serving portion. An easy way to remember this is that a child portion is about 1 tablespoon for every year of life. For example, if you want to serve your 3-year-old toddler some peas, he only needs 3 tablespoons.

For the healthiest (and happiest) children, try to encourage your kids to eat a variety of foods from each food groups.

If you have a question you would like Nurse Brittany to answer, e-mail it to healthyhappychildren.blogspot.com.

Fact or Fiction: Butter on Burns

You may have heard the old home remedy to put butter on a burn. Is it fact or fiction? This one is actually fiction, and while those who have tried it say it helps ease the pain, putting butter on a burn can actually lead to bacteria growth and infection.

So what is the best way to care for minor burns? Here are a few tips:
• As soon as possible, run cool water over the burned area. This not only cools the area and stops the burn from getting worse, but it also will ease the pain.
• Lightly cover the area with sterile gauze to protect the area and prevent infection.
• Do not rub the area, put ice on the burn, or put butter or grease on the burn.
• For more serious burns, your pediatrician may prescribe a medical ointment to promote healing of the wound.

Well-Child Exams

A huge part of keeping our children healthy and happy is practicing good preventative health care. Health care costs are lower and hospital visits are less frequent in children that have regular checkups with a pediatrician. We all know that we should take our children to the doctor when they are sick or have a problem, but what about when our children are well?

Well-child visits give the pediatrician a chance to make sure your child is healthy and is growing and developing normally and to do regular screenings and preventative care like immunizations. It is also an opportunity for you to ask questions that you may not have time to talk about during a sick visit. A lot of first time parents may not realize that a pediatrician is equipped to handle any question related to your child's care, even if it is not a "medical" question. So be afraid to ask about potty training, nutrition, safety, or anything else you are concerned about.

The American Association of Pediatrics recommends the following schedule for well-child visits:

3 to 5 days
1 month
2 months
4 months
6 months
9 months
12 months
15 months
18 months
24 months
30 months
3 years
And once every year thereafter

Ask a Nurse: Calcium Intake

Today's question comes from Tiffany in Ithaca, New York:

My toddler doesn't like milk. I can only get her to drink it if I put flavoring in it. What else can I give her to make sure she is getting enough calcium?

When it comes to your child and nutrition, calcium is an area parents should be concerned about. Recent research shows that nearly half of the children in the U.S. are suffering from a calcium insufficiency. Calcium is essential for developing strong bones and teeth. Although milk is the best source of calcium, parents of children who don't like to drink milk have many other options for making sure their child gets the recommended daily calcium requirement:

• Low-fat milk products are the best sources of calcium. But besides plain milk, this category includes yogurt, cheese, and, yes, even ice cream! Like Tiffany is doing, parents can also try adding chocolate or strawberry flavoring to milk if it will get their child to drink a glass. (Although remember the flavoring adds calories and lots of sugar, so it should be limited to one glass a day.)

• Other foods that are good sources of calcium include dark green leafy vegetables and broccoli. Tofu, chickpeas, lentils, and split peas can also be added to favorite recipes to boost the calcium content.

• Many juices and other foods today, like cereals, are fortified with calcium. Check the labels. One cup of calcium-fortified orange juice has the same amount of calcium as a glass of milk

Bowel Patterns: What Is Normal?

I got a call the other day from a mother whose infant had recently been discharged from the hospital. She was concerned because her baby girl had not had a bowel movement since they arrived home, which by this time had been over 24 hours. In my time as a NICU nurse, I've noticed that there are two things new parents seem to worry most about: breast-feeding and their child's poop!

So what is normal when it comes to your child's bowel patterns? How often should they go? This can be tricky for parents to figure out, because the frequency of pooping varies widely from child to child. For some children, it is normal to have several bowel movements a day; others will only need to go once every two to three days. The key is to watch your child and determine what is normal for him/her. A deviation from your child's normal pattern or marked signs of pain or discomfort in your child are the main clues that there may be a problem, and you will want to talk to your pediatrician.

Here are some important tips to support your child's overall gastrointestinal health:

• Feed your child a well-balanced diet, including foods that are high in fiber like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
• Make sure your child drinks plenty of fluids.
• Encourage regular exercise and physical activity. A sedentary lifestyle leads to slow-moving bowels as well as other health issues.
• Never give your child laxatives, suppositories, enemas, or stool softeners unless recommended by your pediatrician.

Ask a Nurse: Treating Nosebleeds

What is the proper way to treat a nosebleed? I never remember if I should tilt the head forward or backward.

There are many misconceptions about how to treat nosebleeds. Here’s a list of dos and don’ts.

Do . . .

1. Remain calm. While a nosebleed can be frightening, it is rarely serious.
2. Keep your child in a sitting or standing position. Tilt his head slightly forward and have him gently blow his nose if he is old enough. Tilting the head forward keeps the blood from running down the back of the throat.
3. Pinch the lower half of your child’s nose (the soft part) between your thumb and finger and hold it firmly for 10 minutes. Don’t release the nose during this time to check if it is still bleeding.
4. Release the pressure after 10 minutes and wait. If the bleeding hasn’t stopped, repeat this step. If after 10 more minutes of pressure, the bleeding hasn’t stopped, call your pediatrician or go to the nearest ER.

Don’t . . .

1. Panic. If you panic, so will your child.
2. Have your child lie down or tilt back his head.
3. Stuff tissues, gauze, or any other material into your child’s nose to stop the bleeding.

If you have a question you would like Nurse Brittany to answer, e-mail it to healthyhappychildren@gmail.com.