Seasonal allergies are bad enough when you have to cope with them on your own behalf, but when your kids are struggling with the same thing, it’s another level of difficulty entirely.
Typically, kids are more susceptible to summer allergies and will get heavier symptoms like sneezing, respiratory issues and nasal drainage, which can mean a lot of frustration for them.
At that point, it becomes imperative that you get your child’s symptoms under control, for both their sanity and your own. Most kids will tolerate a certain amount of sniffling and sneezing, but after a while, it can start to affect their mood and temperament.
1. Vitamin C — Kiwis, oranges and strawberries are all high in vitamin-C and they’re easy sells for your kids. In addition to being great for your child’s immune system, vitamin-C has an anti-inflammatory element that can reduce nasal and sinus irritation, thereby cutting reducing sneezing and other symptoms.
You can get vitamin-C supplements, but chances are you can get your recommended daily dose from just eating the aforementioned foods.
2. Drink water and turn on the air conditioning — If you’ve been stingy with the air conditioning, now would probably be a good time to turn it up and cool things down a bit.
Not only will you and your family be more comfortable, but air conditioning can actually reduce the effect of allergies in your home and cause you to have fewer symptoms when you’re indoors.
If you can do that while also encouraging your suffering child to drink more water, these two strategies alone have the potential to provide a significant amount of relief.
3. Aromatherapy and a vaporizer — Aromatherapy using a vaporizer can help ease nasal allergies due to pollen, and it can often do so in a quick manner. Vaporizers do a better job of getting the helpful scents from herbs and essential oils into the air, which can help alleviate the symptoms of summer allergies.
While you can still use aromatherapy without the vaporizer, it’s a helpful solution, particularly during the summer months, since it eliminates the need for burning a hot candle.
4. Calcium and Magnesium — Loading up kids with supplements isn’t a good idea, though in the case of calcium and magnesium, it will be helpful during allergy season. You can easily find a gummy version of the calcium supplement, and while magnesium might require a little more digging, you can likely find a gummy version of that as well.
Aim for about 250mg of calcium and 125mg of magnesium twice a day during the peak of allergy season.
5. Keep them Comfy
You don’t want to see your child robbed of their enjoyment of the summer months, so do what you can to keep them comfortable, especially while they’re in the house.
Protecting them when they’re playing outside will be a bit more tricky, but if you can play your cards right indoors, dealing with the symptoms that come when in direct contact with pollen will be much easier.
How are you going to keep the kiddos safe this summer?
This is a really great post with wonderful ideas to help children cope with summer allergies. I had to bring my daughter to see one of the top allergist NYC has in order to get to the root of her issues. I will definitely keep these in mind for her next flare up.
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