My daughter is allergic to a few things. I guess “a few” may be an
understatement. Her challenges that have made it so that she has her own allergist include but are not limited to:
- An egg allergy
- Dairy intolerance
- A sodium benzoate sensitivity
- A latex allergy
- A soy allergy
- A peanut allergy
- Sensitivities to berries
- Sensitivities to bananas
- Sensitivities to pineapples
- Sensitivities to many preservatives
- An allergy to dust mites
Ayla gets rashes every time she wears anything that has elastic in it unless it’s encased in a sturdy hem. My baby gets rashes when she plays at the playgrounds that have the recycled tire pieces as its floor. She can’t wear the adorable swamp themed rain boots her nana bought her or play with the saddle that went with my old Barbie® horse that was being saved all these years just for her.
So…..
Are you ready for my amazing natural remedy that cures her every time?
Sorry. Not this time.
I do use natural remedies to help strengthen her against her allergies and to help her grow out of the allergies she can grow out of. But when a bad rash or diarrhea makes a grand appearance on my baby, I grab a bottle of Benadryl. Pronto. That’s what the allergist said to do. And unfortunately, that’s my only real option that works.
Benadryl Dosage
The Benadryl was first suggested to me when my baby was younger than one by her pediatrician. I thought that all of the soy formula was in a blue can. I thought it was code to the world. Being new to not breastfeeding, I messed up. We were also out of bottles. She had hid them all. Not realizing she also had a latex allergy yet, my husband bought her new bottles with the brownish nipples. So, imagine my poor baby, ten minutes after I unknowingly gave her milk based formula and made her drink it from a latex nipple. It was the perfect storm. So, I called the pediatrician sobbing asking if there was any way I could erase what I had just done. That’s when she told me I could give Benadryl.
Now, under no circumstances should you give Benadryl to a baby this young without talking to your pediatrician though. This is not one of those cases where you can safely say, “Well Dawn gave it to Ayla.” No way. If you have an infant and you think you should give your baby Benadryl, call or page your pediatrician. If your baby is older though, Dr. Sears has an awesome page on his website that explains Benadryl dosages that are safe for toddlers and children. It my favorite because it breaks it down into a chart that shows each style of administration and how much Diphenhydramine (the generic name of the actual drug used in Benadryl) by mg. This was helpful to me because I only had an adult tablet to give her once and I had no idea if I needed to cut it in half, in quarters or simply let her lick it for 1.5 seconds. When it comes to potentially dangerous medicines and you’re used to completely safe homeopathy, figuring out how much to give your toddler can be daunting. That’s why I love Dr. Sears’ webpage.
So, there you have it, that’s what I do for allergies.
Traditional medicine may have won this battle, but I haven’t given up on nutritional efforts for the long term war.
I love that you use a combination or natural remedies and over the counter meds as needed. We used to use Benadryl because my son gets car sick all the time and we were using well over the recommended dosage with our doctor’s approval to help him. He’d get sick being in a car for more than 30 minutes or if the car went 55 mph for more than 10 minutes, or if he’d just eaten or ate/drank in the car. Benadryl saved us most times from disassembling carseats and trying to clean things. Once we figured out the right dose it was great.
I still love Apis for bee stings, mosquitos, and hives, but Benadryl is always good to have on hand.
I also like that you use/d the combo of OTC and natural. I have a book called Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child that gives the conventional as well as herbal, homeopathic, nutritional, and accupressure remedies for all kinds of ailments. You pick and choose what’s best for you. I love it!
Thanks for the info!
Good news is she should grow out of most of her allergies (except maybe the latex and dust mites). I had a big issue with ketchup as a kid, and grew out of it around 10. Come to think of it, I grew out of all my childhood allergies, except dust (including mold though!).
We sparkle heart Benadryl in our house as well, though I have not had to give it to any of my children yet (knock on wood). I am also always careful to be sure I keep liquid, chewables, and pills on hand, since people with swollen airways or lips can’t swallow a pill.
Good thinking Karin. Thanks Jen!
Karin, do you think it was sodium benzoate for you too with the ketchup?
Avery has some super sensitive skin with eczema and she gets random rashes like me and my sister did our entire childhood. We have figured out peas make the area around Averys mouth get red, but other then that they dont’ seem to bother her. Fabric softener made her face break out, simple fix we quit using it. I fear ever finding a reason to give her Benadryl- I am allergic to it! lol
Oh no!!!!
Is it the actual medicine or the coloring/additives in it?
It’s the actual meds, I found our the hard way in college. Took tylenol pm got a whole body rash, fever, so then my bf at the time started giving me benadryl along with the tylenol pm and then it was crazy rash, fever, absolute delirium- I have 2 missing days. so i only heard stories, i was having trouble breathing I guess. it was not so cool. Someone just managed to notice the same thing in both meds and when they stopped dosing me I was fine in another 2 days.
I fear benadryl more then spiders. and thats saying a lot.
BUT benadryl is not evil to everyone, I’m just lucky like that.
What docs have told me about my worry of my allergy to benadryl vs avery’s maybe allergy is that a lot of allergy’s are not hereditary, it’s more peanuts/shellfish/bees that seem to be “relative”.
Oh God, that’s awful. When I had bactrim, I had a horrible fever, rash, debilitating pain in my legs. I couldn’t think straight. At one point, I was sitting on the floor trying to find the strength to walk to get to the hospital. I thought I was dying. AT the hospital my mom asked if it could be an allergy to the meds, they said no. They did a blood draw, found out the infection I was on bactrim for was almost non-existant, I appeared healthy… but the doctor heard something weird in my heart. So he said he thought I had an infection hiding in the heart. Then he ordered something, I don’t remember what it was, but I had two of them. These big machines to see into my heart, like an MRI, but for hearts? Anyway, my heart was fine. So, then my mom asked about allergies to the meds again. Though I had to ask because they had me quarantined for what they thought was some massive freaky infection to which they thought I just had no immune response to because I was just “weak.” I asked for benadryl. So, they gave me two little normal 25mg pills. But nothing happened. So, they sent in a preacher to deal with the fact that I just could not fight off infections. BUt then, on IV antibiotics and not bactrim, it disappeared. So they were going to discharge me. And then my mom, came in and was like, “Looooook, my daughter is having an allergic reaction to that medicine. Before you send her home on another two weeks of it, let’s try it here. So then they gave me a bactrim. Same thing. HORRIBLE pain and rash. (The same rash they swore up and down was infection.) So they gave me a couple SHOTS of benadryl and a couple SHOTS of steroids and i was better. That irritated me, because once THEY thought it was an allergy, they gave me an actual fighting- chance sized dose of antihistamines and steroids. A week and a half earlier though, they laughed at me and begrudgingly gave to me because I wouldn’t shut up about it in the middle of the night and then condescendingly said, “Seeeeeee…. not an allergy.”
The BEST part though, when they sent me home, on my discharge papers, they put that I was allergic to levoquin, and sent me home with a prescription of levoquin.
I’m not allergic to levoquin.
Ugh!!!!
I wish I had had doctors as perceptive as yours were Amy. I wouldn’t have spent two weeks in the hospital thinking I was dying and waving at my son in the parking lot from my window. 🙁
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