is it possible for a newborn baby to show signs of allergy?

[pregnabrain]

Hello there

My 4 week old dd has been really blocked up and sneezy since she was born.

It seems worse when we're at home and interferes with her sleep as she's worst on her back.

I am wondering about the possibility of this being hayfever (both dh and I suffer from this) or cat allergy (we have a long haired moggy).

Have asked midwives and GP but they've all said that an allergy would never appear this early.

Is this correct? Is it really still a matter of post-birth 'getting used to the world'?

Many thanks in advance for your advice / experiences

My daughter was born with a cold (I had a bad one the day she was born ) and was like this for months. She has no allergies (her brother is a different story) With hayfever i was told babies don't normally get it until their second summer. The first summer is when they get sensitized.

Have you tried saline drops to clear her nose?

I was born on April and, according to my mother, I showed my first hayfever symtoms in the May of that year (approx 6 weeks old).

Had hayfever every summer since.

My dd got excema, triggered by allergies, at 8 weeks.

A friend's baby was showing obvious signs of asmha (spelling?) long before the GP said it was possible.

But 4 weeks is not very old, and dd2 had a cold at 2 days old and it took her a while to shift it. It could just be that.

Thanks for this.

I had a cold when she was born too, so I suppose that could be it.

Seems weird, though, that her snuffly-ness lessened a lot over the past weekend, when we stayed at my MIL's house for a few days. We got back home and the sneezing started again.

I think I'm being a bit obssessive about it, tbh. I need to chill out - even if it is an allergy, there's not much I can do about it.

Have got prescription for saline drops. I'll try them tonight.

My ds is 16 weeks - has hayfever according to Dr. We turned up for injections - were told he coulnt have them cos of his cold (runny nose, puffy eyes sneezy). I said that he was often like this - worse when dd has symptoms of hayfever so assumed it was the same... didnt seem to bother him (he is a lovely happy chap) so hadnt worried. Was made to feel like Id neglected him...and ended up coming away with a prescription for the baby version of piriton. Anyway, still doesnt bother him (he actually finds sneezing hilarious , so still havent given him medicine.

Anyway my point....if her symptoms cleared up a bit away from the house it might be an allergy. What you could do is ask for the piriton stuff and if after you`ve given her a dose she gets better then it would kind of prove your theory. If she doesnt she prob just got a cold!!

DS was first refered to the hospital with suspected asthma at 4 weeks. But asthma and other allergies can not be properly diagnosed until they are older (which doesn't necesarily mean the child is not allergic)

Please don't buy Piriton over the counter for a baby this young, if the doctor prescribe it, fantastic otherwise best to leave it alone. Give the house a good vacuuming regularly and don't allow the cat to go into the areas of the house where the baby spends more time. (sadly as it sounds, if the cat is the problem,you really don't want to risk it, rather annoy the cat than to incomodate the baby, DS had his first worrying asthma attack in a house where owners had cats, although he never touched the cats himself).

thanks for your advice and experiences.

have bought an air purifier for the room we spend most time in.

i'll hold off on anything else for another month and just see how things go. if it's hayfever then maybe the symptoms will subside with the end of the season. if it's the cat then....well, don't want to think about that now!