environmental allergies and air purifiers?

[nertsmommy]

This has gotten long. I'm hoping someone who has BTDT can offer some advice or insight.

 

So we've started testing on DD. She's 2. The environmental allergy testing is finished. She's allergic to dust, dust mites, and pet dander. The doctor recommended an air purifier for her bedroom and in the main living area where she spends most of her time. I've looked at them. The top rated one by Consumer Reports is $300. I do plan on getting one for her bedroom. I just don't know if we can swing getting a second one right now. She seems mostly congested in the mornings rather than throughout the day. I figure that it won't be too long before we're outside most of the day so the one for the living area can wait until closer to fall. Am I doing a disservice to my child by waiting on that one? I don't want her feeling miserable, but she doesn't seem to be. I'd get the whole house one since we have a forced air system, but we plan on moving within a year and I don't want to put that kind of money into this place.

 

He talked about washing her bedding and stuffed animals every week in hot water or using a special detergent for dust mites. I'm fine with that. She is still on a vinyl toddler mattress so that is good. I'm not ripping up the carpet in her bedroom here. I'll make sure to have no carpet in her bedroom after we move.

 

The doctor did say that cloth furniture is really bad. If I have to spend money anywhere right now, I'd rather replace the furniture. Ours is as old as I am so I'm sure it's probably really bad for her. I really don't like the vinyl furniture. Is there any other options to help her?

 

He also suggested we get rid of the cat. Our cat is 10 years old. She doesn't even climb the stairs anymore. I'm thinking it would be really traumatic on the cat. However, if it would really help my DD the cat would be gone. The only reaction I've ever seen her have was to dogs. She breaks out in red bumps from them.

 

So if you read through all this, what are your suggestions? Any other recommendations? Should I be more concerned about her environmental allergies than I am? Thank you.

[Karen in CO]

We have a small, room-size purifier for my dd's room which we purchased first - it cost about $50. Having a room with clean air for sleep helped her the most. After that we got the large one for our main room that runs most of the time. I vaccuum every day. I have cloth furniture and carpet. I keep stuffed animals behind closed doors when not in use. When her allergies are bad, I keep the dogs locked in the lower level of the house away from the areas she goes to to help reduce her allergy load.

[Spryte]

:grouphug:

 

Do what you can, knowing you're doing the best you can for your kiddo. Even small changes can make a big difference.

 

If you can get a purifier for her room, that's a great place to start because she'll have clean air for at least 8 hours/day. Her room is a good place to start. If you focus on that, it might help a lot. Does the cat stay out of her room? I'd keep the door closed, too, so the purifier can really work. We wash everything weekly in hot water, and reduced the number of stuffed animals to a number I can comfortably wash (no giant loads of stuffies here). We removed curtains and went to smooth, pull down shades. We did pull up carpet, but it made sense for us as we needed to replace it anyway. If you can't, just vacuum with a HEPA filter often.

 

For the rest of the house, if it were me... (and it has been!)... I'd opt for another purifier on the main floor before replacing furniture, just to start filtering the air first, then work on replacing cloth furniture. We have leather and/or wood furniture that we keep wiped and dusted. We do wash curtains, etc on the main floor frequently too - though not weekly, although that would be ideal.

 

Is she allergic to cats? ...That's such a tough one. Our guy is allergic to dogs, and allergist has suggested rehoming them - but the trauma that ensued at just the suggestion... oh my. So we manage as best we can. Allergist suggested that we bathe/groom the dogs every two weeks, so we have a mobile groomer come every 2 weeks (they are here as we speak, actually) - it's a big expense, but worth it. Can you bathe your cat? Would that help? ...I've heard that it can take years to get cat dander out of a house, if that's any consolation.

 

Not sure if any of those rambling thoughts will help... It's tough!

[sbgrace]

My son has a similar indoor allergy set including cat. When diagnosed we had two cats. She told us to keep pets out of his bedroom and perhaps wipe down their fur with a damp cloth daily. I never did the wiping thing. The allergist told us to keep his bedroom allergy friendly. We did try to make his room allergy safe. He didn't play in there, cats didn't go in there, etc.

 

She also suggested he shower and change into clean clothes every night just before bed. The idea was he wouldn't be carrying house allergens (dust, cat) into the bed with him. We still do that. We did and do wash and dry all his bedding on hot. He sleeps with a stuffed elephant and we wash that too. He's 9 and it just keeps being washed. I don't know if all things would hold up to that and I'm sure it's worse for the wear but he loves it so it stays. Pillows have allergy covers as does the mattress. We put up vinyl pull down shades instead of curtains.

 

 

As far as air purifiers we do use them. We noticed a huge difference when we put this unit ($160) in the main playroom. That playroom had carpet, cloth furniture, and of course the cats.I selected budget friendly options. He has this unit ($46) in his bedroom. It has great reviews. We didn't notice a huge difference but we added it after we already had a HEPA in the main living area. We had also already been trying to make his room allergy friendly and it didn't have carpet. So it may be that we had already done so much, and didn't have major dust catching stuff there, that a bit more wasn't obvious.

 

I did get a HEPA vacuum. Particularly since you're still dealing with carpet in her room I'd consider that if you don't own one. Eventually one of our cats passed away and grandparents took the other cat who was incredibly lonely. I didn't notice a huge difference in his allergies. After the cat was gone we cleaned a lot (shampoo carpets, etc.) but I think it's extremely difficult to get cat allergen out of the home even after the cat is gone. We've moved recently and I don't believe the previous owners ever had a cat but I would expect we brought cat on our furniture despite my best efforts.

 

Leather would be the option I see mentioned to upholstry. It was too pricey for us to even consider but I can see how that would cut down on dust. Just sitting down on a couch releases dust no matter how hard I try to keep things vacuumed.

 

My son still requires allergy meds...