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Combating Allergies
Helping Your Child Get a Good Night's Sleep By Heather Johnson Durocher
Maybe it's a persistent cough. Or perhaps a runny nose and sneezing. Itching of legs and arms also could be keeping your child up at night. Headaches, earaches, even vomiting could be other signs of allergies, any of which can prevent restful sleep.
Whatever the allergy symptom, and whether they have one or several, many children endure frustrating sleep disturbances as a result of their sensitivities to such things as food, dust mites, mold, pollen and pet dander.
According to Health Canada, a federal department responsible for health improvement, children as young as infants are affected, especially if allergies run in the family. The key to a good night's sleep is realizing what triggers your little one's symptoms and doing what you can to eliminate these things from their environment.
"The most effective treatment and the most desirable treatment for children with allergies is avoidance," says Dr. Rob Reinhardt, medical affairs director at Pharmacia Diagnostics and a practicing family physician in Kalamazoo, Mich. "You can't do effective avoidance unless you know specifically what your child is allergic to and not allergic to."
According to Health Canada, more than 12.2 percent of Canadian children have been diagnosed with asthma. And while no one knows the exact cause for the surge in asthma symptoms, experts say inhalant allergies typically develop in school-aged children, while sensitivities to certain foods, pets and dust mites can occur much younger.
Reinhardt, who is involved in educating both consumers and physicians on the importance of early and accurate allergy diagnosis, says a simple blood test is available to provide parents with answers. Also, because such testing is quantitative, parents can determine their child's worst allergy culprits.
"You can see if they are a little allergic or a lot allergic," he explains.