Nasal congestion, prescribed anti-histamine, happy baby turned into a monster

[matana]

DS is 5 months and for as long as i can remember has had a lot of nasal congestion which is most noticeable at night. At first we thought it was one cold after another but then he developed a cough which has now lasted 3 weeks. We took him to the doctor who said he might have an allergy to something, possibly our cats. So she prescribed anti-histamine. The bottle said 'no recommended for babies' but as it had ben prescribed on a lower dose we went with it.

The following day our happy go lucky laid back little boy turned into a monster. He seemed irritable and tired all day, didn't smile at all and when i put him down for his usual naps he just screamed. When he did eventually nap he extended his morning nap, took it at a totally different time and then his afternoon nap reduced to 45 mins and he wouldn't go down at all for his late afternoon nap, just screamed until we brought him downstairs again. He went 4 hours without a nap and was then overtired by the evening. This is all so out of character for a baby who barely ever cries. He's also been quite sick.

After two days of this i couldn't stand it any more, so last night i didn't give him the anti-histamine. Today he's (so far) back to normal, laughing, smiling etc. My view was that i would rather have a happy, if slightly bunged up baby, than a very unhappy and drugged up one on the off chance that he "might" have an allergy but without any proof.

The thing is, i don't know if i've done the right thing. What happens if it was just co-incidence and it wasn't the anti-histamine? Now i won't know if he has an allergy because i haven't stuck with the anti-histamine for long enough. I just had a git instinct it was doing him no good.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice?

It probably was the anti-histamine. Your his mum, use your instincts. I can only give my son Sudafed during the day as it totally makes him wired and unable to sleep.

If he sleeps even if bunged up, I'd forgo the anti-histamine until he's a bit older.

you're his mum. I swear my grammar/spelling goes to pot in this place!

Don't worry - my spelling also goes to pot! "git" = "gut"

Other than a snuffle he's so content usually, so maybe i will just leave it until he's older. It was the 'not recommended for babies' that set alarm bells ringing. I mean, they must say that for a reason.

My son is technically too young for sudafed but he wasn't sleeping when all bunged up. And a few hours sleep, with him waking up in the middle of the night wired, was better than no sleep at all!

Now we have a cold mist humidifier in his room that runs all night and it helps so very much, so you might want to consider that?

You could go back to the doctor and ask to try a different antihistamine? Sometimes people react to one type but others have fewer side effects.

A small but significant number of children - my DS amongst them - react badly to anti-histamines. My child was talking by the time he took Zertec: he was waking in the night with wierd dreams, almost hallucinating. I asked my GP about this and he said he's witnessed this phenomenon in the emergency room: he's seen a calm child become highly agitated after being given anti histamine. We had to experiment to find an anti histamine DS could tolerate. In the end, we stuck with Clarityne even though it is one of the older, 'first-generation' anti histamines. But even that he didnt tolerate all that well. So it's always a toss up about what is worse: the symptom or the medicine.

Sounds like a side effect. Normally I thought that piriton was given? Now that does make you drowsy but it works.

Have you tried regularly clearing out his nose with saline and suction?
(before bed time and first thing in am)

I generally use saline ampules and the "baby nose clear" device
which I find far superior to the bulb type suction.

My DD has a complete personality change on Piriton. She gets really grumpy, agitated and really not very pleasant to be around.

See how your DS gets on without it, and if your GP recommends it again, ask for an alternative perhaps?

Hope the wee fella is better soon.

Something similar happened to DS1 on Zertec. He was 2. Made him loopy. He had been dry at night before for a few months, and started bedwetting again too.