To not drug my son to sleep?

[WhiteTrash]

My 6 month old recently had a severe reaction to a food. After the anaphylaxis he had a month of chronic hives which we now have under control with a dose of oral steroids and topical steroids twice a week. We were also prescribed 'potent' antihistmamine Hydroxyzine because piriton didnt make a jot of difference.

Now hes teething and ill. Apart from 2 nights, for the last 2 months hes woken 8-12 times a night on average because if one reason or another, itchinf because of the hives, a cold, teething or all of the above.

Now he has a bad chesty cold hes feeling awful, teary slight temp and teething to boot.

He went down at 6.30pm last night utterly exhausted, he woke every 10-15 minutes until 12am where he cried until 3am and woke/stirred every 15 mins until 6am. During this time Im rocking him, trying anything to keep him asleep. The 15 minute intervals have been the same for 3 nights and I expect no change tonight.

Friends suggest the antihistamine (calpol and neurofen havent helped but we're using them) because he needs the sleep (fuck me, so do I!) but I cant bring myself to do it unessarily. But I feel guilty, he feels awful and worse for no sleep. But every time I consider it I get a gut 'no' feeling even though I used it before for the hives (and I hated it then too!)

Hes yawning and crying on me now and Im feeling guilt for either decision!

Been giving DD daily antihistamines for the past two years and it's never hurt her, if the child is still reacting then an antihistamine would help would it not, by relieving the symptoms he may sleep better? Itching, sneezing and coughing keep my DD from properly settling.

If you are concerned about it masking other symptoms, could you co-sleep or sleep near to the child as well and continue treating for fever and for allergy?

If he doesnt sleep he will take longer to get better. Surely you understand that he needs to sleep. Do what is best for him not what you feel you should do.

Thanks, we co-sleep anyway we dont use a cot. Although hes currently in his swing chair, when things are 'bad' he likes constantly movement.

The rash is down to a minimum (not totally gone but its never totally gone) and he is itchy but hes always itchy since it happened.

However, when we did use the hydroxyzine it did help him sleep but didnt take the rash away or stop the itch. He still clawed himself in his sleep. The doctors were insistant that I should keep using it but it didnt help what it was supposed to be helping- the itch and severity of the rash.

That aside, Ive just got him down to sleep 10 mins aho and been up twice already. Hes just in such a fitful sleep I think we may have to resort to the antihistamines.

Thank you for your help.

Fabby, not helpful, as usual.

Why isnt it helpful? Its what part of my brain keeps telling me, the same as what Fabbu said.

whitetrash what has the gp or hv or (given the current time) nhs24 said about this?

Whitetrash, why don't you get up tomorrow and make an emergency appointment with your GP? Tell them your baby is just not sleeping at all due to the itchiness and is waking every 15 min or so (poor little lamb and POOR YOU). You can ask their advice, many GP's have children of their own, and will be able to lay out the options. My guess is that they will suggest the antihisthamines, which would have a double purpose.

I just think you'd feel better if you were taking medical advice rather than going round in circles on your own.

The itchyness isnt waking him though. He scratches in the night but he doesnt wake, the hives really are down to a minimum.

Hes waking because of an awful chesty cold and teething, its just a virus doing the rounds the doctors cant do much for that.

On that note, hes still asleep so Im in bed about to try and do the same while I can, sorry if I dont reply to any more posts and thanks for your help.

I feel for you OP - dd1 is also anaphylactic to dairy but her reactions have always calmed down relatively quickly. I would give him the antihistamin if you have been given the go ahead by the medics. It can't be a bad thing to reduce levels of histamine for him, on a cumulative basis - ie maybe a regular dose would have more of an effect. Plus certainly for dd, itching (from eczema)was loads worse when she was tired. I was never sure whether tiredness just makes everything seem worse or there was a chemical basis - eg in hormones released or similar. Basically what I am saying is you may find things improve with a few nights of better sleep. Hope things improve for you all.

I think the chemicals released while stressed exacerbate the effect of histamine which in turn raises the stress levels, a vicious circle, maybe thats why antihistamines work better when used long term as they have that sedative effect to them. I know it takes about 2 weeks after starting anitihistamines for my rash to go down and it doesn't stop itching until it's gone, I don't stop taking them after I get hit with the rash until the sun strength lessens in the autumn. Got caught short this year though with that Indian summer we had, got all bumpy again. I take Hydroxyzine, the Piriton does absolutely nothing for it :(

Hope he gets a good sleep tonight hug

Well, I went to bed at 9pm in hope of an early night. Its now half past midnight and still awake after having to hold babys arms the whole time to stop him clawing his head and/or rocking him.

Thats with antihistamines which I gave him 1.5 hours ago so theres that 'option' out the window for all the good it did.

I could cry.

If I understand OP your DS is still on steroid tablets? These could be the culprit, they are known to cause sleep disturbance - insomnia, nightmares that sort of thing. If the rash is improving I would suggest you back to see your GP as it may be time to scale back his treatment to topical steroids.

If your DS was otherwise well I wouldn't hesitate to give the antihistamine. HOWEVER it does not appear that he his in good shape, teething, colds - as a PP mentioned a sedating antihistamine could mask worsening symptoms.

Go to your GP to get DS checked over

Poor thing (and poor you) broken sleep and poorly babies are so upsetting.

If he's still clawing at himself in his sleep and the normal pain meds, strong antihistimines and steroids are not helping then you need to get back to the doctors and ask him for a different approach or more checks.

It occurs to me that if this has all kicked off since he started solids then it is possible he has allergies to more than one type of food - not just the food that caused the bad reaction but possibly others that are in his diet on an ongoing basis - may be worth asking for a referral to allergy clinic if not already?

Hoping he's better and more comfortable soon.

Thanks

Thesecondcoming - I see what your saying when I first read what you put I thought no! We cany stop co-sleeping id never survive getting out of bed that many times! But youre partly (if not fully!) right because he spent the whole night in his swing chair last night. Could not settle in the bed at all. When he was I was having to hold his arms. My last post was when I gave in and rocked him in his chair.

Popcorner - sorry I should have been clearer, he had the course of steroids a few weeks back we keep ontop of the last bits of rash with steroid cream now. A few weeks back the cream didnt touch it so definite improvement.

SMbelle - Totally hear what youre saying. I thought he was allergic to everything because it Just Wouldnt Go. But I stopped weaning him and it was still bad. I lived on rice and beans for a month because I was paranoid it was my eating bad foods that set him off! We saw an allergy 'specialist' she said his urticaria was eczema, no mention that it was an allergic rash so we'd been treating it as such for weeks and wondered why the 7 diffeewnt moisturisers we we're prescribed werent working. She took his blood and a list of foods to test and she caed with the results 2 weeks later - "Hes too young to be tested for individual food allergies." She should have known that.

I did days and weeks of my own research, I found a low histamine diet for us both to try once I realised that as I suspected the awful rash he had was NOT eczema but acute urticaria. I called the allergy specialist to tell her what I found and her reply - "Oh yes, we thought that." AND YOU DIDNT THINK TO TELL US?! She asked did we want a skin prick test? From my research I found they are too often unreliable giving false negative readings. That coupled with her incompatence, I told her to kindly shit off and refer me urgently to a dermatologist.

Last week we saw her, she was fantastic. Basically as a result of the anaphylaxis my son now has a high ige level (histamines) which makes his skin very sensitive. So ANYTHING can kick off the urticaria, dribbly on his chin from teething, round his ears because he pulled them when tired, round his ankles where he had 'sock ons' that caused eczema that then turns into hives. Tight clothing, scratching at his head (he woke with a rash where he clawed last night. Did it itch because a rash was coming? Or did he scratch, irritate it, cause a rash and itch so carried on clawing? Chicken or the egg!) so we now chase the rash round his body with steroids and hope he grows out of it.

And obviously avoid milk based products like the plague. We have an adrenalin pen just in case though.

Wow, essay!

Have you tried mitts/ socks/ gloves to reduce the scratching? Sorry if you already have.

Re the chesty cough, we have forked out for the calpol vapouriser which is about £5 but does seem to sooth dd's cough and help her sleep better. I also use infant karvol on her chest.

Re teething - I go for combo of calpol/ ibuprofen/bonjela and teething powders to keep on top of the pain.

Hope you get some sleep soon, lack of sleep is a killer.

Thanks for the tip on the vapouriser, I'll definitely look into that.

I was putting socks on his hands but then he rubbed his eyes and face and it was flare up badly with rash. His eyes were awful at one point (before I made the sock, hand, rubbing connection) and its the one place we cant put steroid cream on.

Ive tried swaddeling him too but hes very big and very strong and breaks out of it. Tempted to use gaffer tape next.

Not sure about what you should and shouldn't give him, I personally would err on the side of caution, but does he sleep on his back or his tummy? As he is 6 months and able to turn over presumeably, I would put him down on his tummy as this seems to give my boys a lot more restful sleep, especially if they are overtired and 'can't' sleep. Sorry not much other help though

maybe he wouldnt keep getting woken/waking if he was in his own bed without other people disturbing him

just sounds like one more thing to disturb the poor blighter

Also re the co-sleeping, we used to with DS1 and he'd wake many times in the night, but once we put him in his cot on his tummy, and didn't have the distraction on me, he's slept a dream. Have you tried a more 'natural' approach to all the medicating? DS1 can get hideous flare ups of eczema, and while the doctors are happy to keep prescribing steroid based products, I have read so many terrible things able the constant use of them, I have started to use Lush's Dream Cream, being natural it doesn't have an instant effect but does work a treat. Obviously dont know how your little one would react to it, or if it would be any good for him and his conditions but it might be worth a try

While I am really pro alternative treatments, hives and anaphlaxia is one case where I would use as many steriods as the consultants saw fit to prescribe.

I second the idea of trying him in a cot to see if he settles better.

Hear what your saying. But he goes down at 6.30-7pm and is in tge bed alone until 9-10-11 (depending how knackered I am) and since nights have been Really Bad this week hes still be waking every 15 mins. I honestly think its discomfort, irratation and or pain waking him rather than me (DPs on the sofa, poor DP). Plus the two nights we had where he had no ills, teething or bad rash he only woke twice.

With regards to steroids, we have/are using them as and when they have been prescribed. They're the only thing we can rely on.

I forgot to say, sleeping on front - good idea! Will try that!

SardineJam I missed that last bit. Yes, we tried accupuncture it worked brilliantly. Better in fact, than the oral steroids. It got it to a point thougg and helped no more so we stopped after 5 sessions.

I would ask to reffered to an immunologist, asap, chronic month long hives in a baby is no fun, and needs expert help.

it might be that if your child has a food allergy, you might want to consider environmental allergies, for instance, dust mite allergy, which can irriate the eczema. if co-sleeping is not giving you much sleep, and the best sleep baby gets is in your arms with you sitting up out of the bed, well, that sounds very familier to me! my son did that with his dustmite allergy!

if your child has one food allergy, they are more likely to have another allergy. so, be open minded about the drugs prescribed, i would rather you saw a immunologist though as they are the best people to advise you.

An immunoligst will, look at rxn history, take blood and skin prick tests during first consultation. will look at family history. will combine both to give you the best advice.
skin prick tests are safe, and give instant results so that imunologist can assess and give you his/her opinon on allergy status.
blood tests take weeks for results and both tests can give false /positive results. Its the allergy doc that gives you the true results and advice.

my son is on a daily anitihistamine to control his skin, swelling , hives and extra stuff for his unknown reasons for sudden , random face swelling.
he also is on nasel sprays ( btw your baby shouldnt snore, if he is, that needs sorting as indication of enviro allergies ) eye drops during the tree pollen and hay fever season.

good luck, get to yr GP and start demanding decent help for your child, as gps arent trained in allergy.