Foods to Avoid When You Suspect Your Child has an Allergy

My little Keona has had bouts of cough and colds and sometimes, she has some rashes on her skin. When we had her checked by her pediatrician, he told us that the rashes on her skin is an allergy and her intermittent colds can be an allergy as well because it comes and go and comes again.

So if you suspect your child has an allergy, here are some foods to avoid:

• Nuts- all kinds of nuts - peanuts, cashew nuts, etc.
• Seafoods like shrimp, crabs, squid
• Coca cola soft drink (it has a nut, according to the doctor, I only knew it now)
• Chocolate (it belongs to the family of nuts, cacao)
• Chicken and other poultry products like eggs
  

Aside from the foods that you have to avoid, environment and the stuff that your baby use can be a contributing factor for your baby's allergy as well. When your baby is suffering from an allergy, you have to roll out all possible causes that potentially the culprit of the allergy. Here are some additional tips that worthy to be observed if your child has an allergy...

• Change bedding and mattress that your baby use as often as possible to avoid dust from accumulating.
• Always clean your room especially where your baby is staying, including windows and every nook that may be collecting dusts.
• Use a mild soap for your baby. Babies who are very prone to allergy can have it even when using baby soaps and shampoos that are hypoallergenic and claims to be very mild. My little girl's pediatrician recommends using Cetaphil gentle cleanse because it is non-soap base and non-comedogenic.
• use the mildest soap possible when doing the laundry of your child's clothes, nappies and every cloth he/she uses including bed sheets. Our pediatrician recommends us to using Perla white soap.
• Stuffed toys of your child may be cuddly but they can also be the home of so many dust so it's better to entirely get rid of them.
• If you have pets like cats and dogs, their fur can be a trigger for your kid's allergy, so avoid having your pets in contact with your child.
  

That's all for now folks, have a great day.

Keona Stays in Hubby's Office

Keona had her check-up with her pediatrician the other day. She has a cough and I am self-medicating her with the prescription of her doctor the other month, when she had also a cough. After several days of medication, her cough is not gone so we had her checked by her pediatrician.

The doctor said it's only upper respiratory infection and so there is no need for her to take antibiotic. I am glad because she has had antibiotics the other month due to pneumonia aside from the fact that it is also costly.

After the check-up, we asked Keona if she wanted to go home with grandma and grandpa or stay with her papa in the office. Keona is very outgoing and she right away said she wants to go with her papa. It is good that papa is not so much busy in the office because there's an activity going on in his company. Keona spent her after noon in hubby's office watching her favorite cartoon movies.

When I got out to work, I fetched them and we went to Jollibee for her dinner. When we reached home, she is already very sleepy since that was already around 6:30 in the evening.

No Scoliosis and Pneumonia is Gone

As I have mentioned in my previous post, I really felt down due to Keona's x-ray findings of scoliosis and pneumonia. When we had Keona checked by her pediatrician, he prescribed us with an antibiotic - Unasyn with a dosage of 3.5 ml /3x a day for a minimum of 10 days. On the 7th day of her taking the antibiotic, Keona underwent an X-ray as per advise by her pediatrician.

It was a thoraco-lumbar and APL x-ray to really look into the severity of her scoliosis and at the same time, to monitor her pneumonia. When I went to claim the result, I was surprised to see that there was a negative study of the scoliosis. Thankfully, Keona's pneumonia is also gone after 6 days of antibiotic.

I am really happy of the result. It turned out that the scoliosis findings on the x-ray was just an incidental finding and according to the pediatrician, it is just because of the positioning. We are really glad about it because we will not be bothered by that concern anymore.

Thanks be to God for giving us the grace and for Keona's recovery from pneumonia and the negative x-ray result of scoliosis.

I hope everyone is having a good day.

I Feel Down

My title describes what I'm feeling right now. I'm really down emotionally. Keona has had cough several days now. In fact many days already. It started even before Christmas. We had her checked and her pedia advised us to let her take bricanyl for her cough and disudrin for her colds. But both colds and cough never cease.

During our visit to her pedia, I told Dr. Mike that she might have primary complex tuberculosis because her cough is almost every other month and every time she has cough, she always takes antibiotic. This time, her pedia said that if she'll have still fever in the New Year, we would go to his clinic but Keona's fever is gone.

Our concern is her cough and it's getting severe in spite the medicine she's taking so we decided to have her undergo an X-ray. I got the X-ray result today and that what makes me feel down. Her X-ray result reveals an inflammatory lung disease compatible of a Pneumonia. Aside from that, the X-ray revealed she has scoliosis. I'm more concerned of the scoliosis because I know the inflammation in her lungs will be cured through antibiotics. Hopefully her scoliosis is not severe and it is just in relation to having her cough. Tomorrow we'll have to visit her doctor and let him know Keona's X-ray result. Hopefully, Keona's health will just be all right.

Keona's Fever Goes Back

I got a call from Mom today that Keona's fever is back. It shoot up top 39.1 degree celsius. I called her pediatrician and he advised me to have her take antibiotic. Cefaclor 250 mg / 5 ml and a dosage of 2.5 , 3x/day.

I hope her fever will be gone soon. I can't be out from work because we are expecting a visitor and I'm expecting to be interviewed. I wish I can just stay home and take good care of her.

Visit to the Pediatrician

We don't have work today. It was declared holiday by the president of the organization where I work. It is very timely since Keona needs to be brought to her pediatrician nephrologist as well as to her surgeon for a check-up. We'll be bringing with us the result of her renal scan which we will get yet at the nuclear medicine department.

After the check-up, we promised Keona to go shopping so we'll be strolling to the mall again. Have a great day friends!

Alarmed by Keona's frequent poop

Yesterday while at work, I got a call from home that Keona had already poop 4 times. Grandma told me to just fetch them at the mall when I got out at work for they brought Keona with them. When we were on our way home, Keona poop again and was followed by another 2 poops when we were at home with approximately 1 hour gap in between.I was alarmed because it became very frequent and it's wet. I called up Keona's pediatrician for advice and he told me that the best thing to do is to have a stool exam the soonest that we can. We need also to keep her hydrated so we have to frequently let her drink water and have her take a pediatric hydride.

We decided to wait for another poop and bring it to the laboratory for examination then we'll just buy pedialite on our way to the hospital. 1 hour has passed but there's no poop. Two hours passed and still no poop came out so we decided to just go to bed for I was already very sleepy.

Until in the morning, there's no poop, so perhaps it was just viral thing or maybe due to the many raisins she ate the other night. She likes to eat a raisin a lot that she consumed quite plenty the other night.

MMR Vaccination

Keona's MMR Vaccine immunization is supposedly scheduled last week but due to her having stuffy nose and colds, it was postponed. We had her vaccination yesterday. Her pediatrician's clinic is Keona's most hated place in the world.LOL. Whenever we enter into the clinic, she would be glued to me and refused to be touched by anybody, especially Doctor Mike, her pediatrician. When MMR vaccine is being administered, she cried the loudest volume she could have. I pity her but she needs to be immunized with it given the many outbreak of measles in the country nowadays. MMR stands for measles, mumps, and rubella. If a child is immunized with MMR vaccine, then she'll be protected from these diseases.

Pneumococcal Vaccine

My daughter Keona had her first dose of Pneumococcal vaccine yesterday. It was very timely because even if it was Monday, we had no work because our company celebrates St. Peter's feast so we had a non-working holiday...Yeheeeeyyy, we can accompany our daughter to her pedia. When we arrived at her pedia's clinic, a lot of patients are already waiting for the doctor whose having rounds (doctor's visit) of her admitted (hospitalized) patients. Good thing we had Keona's name listed on a sheet of paper posted on the clinic's door the other day and she's number 2 so we don't have to wait too long when the doctor arrived. That's what we do every time we go to Keona's pedia because everyday, she has "overflowing" patients.hehe.I think it's because of her sunny and accommodating personality that makes her likable to patients. Oh...did I tell you that this doctor is already my daughter's fourth pediatrician? We've been hopping from one doctor to another because we searched for the one that we feel would really take care of her and someone who we can just text/call even in the middle of the night when problems and emergencies come. Now, we settled for two doctors...the one we had a visit yesterday - for Keona's general pediatric needs and another doctor, a pediatric nephrologist - the one who monitors for Keona's ureteral reflux. I think (and I believe ) that they are the best doctors in town:)

Going back to pneumococcal vaccine(ang daldal ko! hehe). I was kind of traumatized already because of pneumonia. Keona had already suffered pneumonia when she was only 2 months old. We thought that it was only caused by a 5 in 1 vaccination but her fever did not go lower than 38 degree Celsius and would even reach up to 40. 6. Whew! I was really alarmed. She would moan and her face would turn red...Good thing she did not have convulsion. That was the first time she was admitted in a hospital.

Here are some facts about pneumococcal vaccine which I bookmarked.

What is pneumococcal disease?

Pneumococcal disease is the main cause of bacterial meningitis (an infection of the covering of the brain) in the United States. Each year, pneumococcal disease causes many health problems in children younger than 5 years, including these problems:

• More than 700 cases of meningitis

• About 13,000 blood infections

• About 5 million ear infections

Children younger than 2 years are at highest risk for serious disease. Pneumococcal disease causes about 200 deaths each year in children younger than 5 years.

What is the pneumococcal vaccine?

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is a shot for infants and toddlers. It helps prevent pneumococcal disease, and it also helps stop the disease from spreading from person to person.

The vaccine's protection lasts at least 3 years. Because most serious pneumococcal infections happen during the first 2 years of life, the vaccine protects children when they are at greatest risk. (Some older children and adults may get the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine--a different vaccine used to prevent pneumococcal disease.)

Why should my child get this vaccine?

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine can prevent pneumococcal disease. Pneumococcus bacteria are spread from person to person through close contact. Pneumococcal infections can be hard to treat because the disease has become resistant to some of the medicines that have been used to treat it. This makes preventing the disease even more important.

Who should get the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and when?

The following groups of children should get this vaccine:

1. All children younger than 2 years. Healthy infants and toddlers should get 4 doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine:

• One dose at 2 months of age
• One dose at 4 months of age
• One dose at 6 months of age
• One dose at 12 to 15 months of age

Children who miss the first dose at 2 months of age should still get the vaccine. Ask your doctor for more information.

2. Some children between 2 and 5 years of age. Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is recommended for children between 2 and 5 years of age who:

• Have sickle cell disease
• Have a damaged spleen or no spleen
• Have HIV/AIDS
• Have other diseases that affect the immune system, such as diabetes or cancer
• Take medicines that affect the immune system, such as chemotherapy or steroids

3. This vaccine should also be considered for use in all other children between 2 and 5 years of age, but especially those who:

• Are younger than 3 years
• Are Alaska natives, Native Americans or blacks
• Attend group child care

The number of doses a child needs depends on the how old the child was when he or she started getting the shots. Ask your doctor for more details.

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine may be given at the same time as other childhood vaccines.

Are there some children who should not get pneumococcal conjugate vaccine or who should get it when they are older?

Children should not get pneumococcal conjugate vaccine if they had a severe (life-threatening) allergic reaction to a previous dose of the vaccine.

Children who are moderately or severely ill at the time the shot is scheduled should usually wait until they recover before getting the vaccine. Children with minor illnesses, such as a cold, may be vaccinated.

What are the risks from pneumococcal conjugate vaccine?

In clinical trials, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was associated with only mild reactions, such as:

• Tenderness or swelling where the shot was given
• Mild fever
• Fussiness
• Tiredness or poor appetite
• Vomiting

A vaccine, like any medicine, could cause serious problems, such as a severe allergic reaction. The risk of this vaccine causing serious harm or death is extremely small. If you have concerns, talk to your doctor.