To ask for your help with hey fever for my toddler?

[BooSouls]

DS is 2.5 and has awful hey fever. First noticed last summer at 18 months where he spent a miserable few months with puffy, runny eyes and snotty nose.

We’ve had quite an outdoorsy Easter bank holiday with lots of time in the garden/parks and he’s suffering already with the same symptoms.

He had Piriton, prescribed by the doctors last summer, and again over the last few days. I’ve also tried to use Vaseline up his nose and encourage him to wear wraparound toddler sunglasses.. but he’s 2.5 and has strong opinions.

He’s inherited it courtesy of my husband who also suffered badly as a child. I’d really like to get some strong routine of medication and strategies that can help DS survive the pollen-y months as he grows up. He’s usually full of enthusiasm and joy, but this evening he’s been sat looking terribly sad.

Is there anything else I can do to help him get through hey fever season? I’m planning to call the doctors tomorrow morning to see if there is an alternative antihistamine or anything else that can help. Recommendations or suggestions to ask about would be much appreciated.

Washing hair every day or shaving it off will help. Fresh clothes as soon as comes in from indoors. And a bit of vaseline around the nose.

Make sure he washes his face (and hands) regularly as it will rinse off any pollen or dust. Just plain water is fine. It can also help to use an extra soggy/dripping sheet of kitchen roll to flush eyes carefully, that seems to help me the most but a toddler might refuse.

Cetirizine has been much more effective than Piriton for mine, and making sure he's getting it twice daily all season so it is in his system before he's exposed. Hope you find something that works - it's miserable for them.

Thank you @QueenWatevraWaNabi, @BlindGirlMcSqueaky and @Pixiedust1234.

I’m not sure shaving his hair is a possibility, but washing it every day is something we already do because he’s always filthy.

Great suggestion on changing his clothes and washing his face/hands to remove the pollen and dust. We can easily start doing that.

I’ll take a look at Cetirizine. Do you DC take it all year round, @QueenWatevraWaNabI?

Local honey really did help here

DS (now 13) was prescribed Citirizine for hayfever when he was 4ish, and takes it from about now to the end of July.

I’ll take a look at Cetirizine. Do you DC take it all year round,@QueenWatevraWaNabI?

I get hay-fever too, so the first symptom from either of us / any mention of pollen on the news and he's on it morning and night until the BBC weather forecasts are consistently not reporting high / medium pollen count for our area The brand Zirtek is banana flavour so not a battle to get him to take it.

If you dry clothes or bedding outside, pop them in the tumble dryer for a bit when you bring them in