One of the biggest challenges in parenting is when your baby falls sick. While medication can cure most problems like the common cold and fever, some conditions are harder to determine. This is when your baby gets an allergy reaction and the irritation can be quite disturbing.
What is an allergy?
Naturally, an allergy is when the body gets an immune reaction to an allergen found in the environment. The common ways of coming in contact with the allergen include:
- touching
- eating
- injections
- breathing
What actually happens
When this occurs, the body reacts. This is because it thinks that the allergen (which is an alien agent) is a threat and then tries to curb it. To do this, the body will release histamines and any other types of chemicals to try and combat the attack.
The release of these chemicals will cause irritation to the body which includes:
- itching on the skins
- sneezing and wheezing
- runny nose
- coughs and throat irritation
While this is quite common among adults and can be easily combated, it would be very difficult for babies. Mild cases are fine but there could be situations where the effects can be quite major including swelling and even difficulty in breathing.
Common allergens
Allergens are commonly found in the environment. This makes it almost impossible to stop them from coming in contact with your infant. Among the most common sources of allergens are:
- food
- dust
- mold
- drugs
- animal dander
- insects
- pollens
How dangerous is this?
In most cases, allergies can only cause irritation and can be quite easily cured. However, there are situations when the allergy reaction causes something more serious and then lead to severe consequences. As such, allergies cannot be taken too lightly. If you have a baby, the most common way he will get into this is mostly through agents in the air. Children who go to nursery will most likely get allergies from contact with other kids. Typically, you can have allergies treated by prescribed antihistamines by the doctor. However, you should start monitoring the food your baby is taking and rule out any forms that might be causing the reactions.
Is cold an allergy?
It is not. In most cases, the symptoms of nasal allergies are quite similar to the common cold where you get watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, nasal congestion and the likes. Your child is probably having a cold if it is occasional and lasts only for a few days. However, if your baby gets it too frequently and for longer periods of time, then it could be an allergy. Another way to determine this is check the skin for rashes. If the rashes is not common, it could be a one-off condition like chickenpox. But if your baby gets it all too frequently, then it is time to speak to the doctor.
