Hive, please help me make this room & closet safe for a boy with asthma!

[Little Nyssa]

My DS 8 has asthma. He is on a lot of meds which keep him from wheezing, and I keep his room very dust-free. The problem is, that when DD and I are in his room, we have started coughing and sneezing! We don't have asthma. I don't think it affects DS because he is so souped up on all his meds, but I want to solve this situation before it does affect him!

Can you give me any suggestions for improvement?

1. His room:

It gets vacuumed and mopped regularly and all surfaces get dusted. He doesn't have much clutter since Legos get swept up and put away regularly. Just a few stuffed animals that get washed every so often. Under his bed are plastic containers with all his Legos, these containers get removed and I clean under the bed regularly. One wicker basket with toys and 2 canvas boxes with Legos. His mattresses and pillows have allergy-proof covers. Note: it's bunkbeds.The heating system has a filter which gets changed regularly. Bureau and wall shelves and windowsill get dusted. Venetian blinds get dusted.

2. his closet:

has clothes hanging and shelves for extra blankets, sheets.

3. storage area at the back of his closet. This is a triangular-shaped area under the stairs. When we moved in it was plywood floor and drywall walls, and some empty spaces leading to inside the walls. I covered the floor with tile from Lowe's, not leaving any plywood exposed. I painted all the drywall. I put that spray stuff in all the cracks to seal them. I put duct tape over areas that couldn't be covered any other way. In this storage area are: plastic covered box with flattened Lego cardboard boxes, open cardboard boxes with 1. school papers 2. Lego building guides 3. cardboard cutout animals.

 

Can you see anything that could be improved? I wonder if I ought to give the walls of the storage area another coat of paint. I do try to clean it all regularly, but I have just have done another deep clean and it hasn't seemed to help. I have all his sheets & blankets & stuffed animals going through the wash right now with hot water.

 

Thank you all!!

[bolt.]

My big brother has asthma when we were kids. His room had nothing in it. A bed, a dresser with closed drawers, a flat-top desk with a drawer, and a closet with only hanging clothes: no shelves, nothing on the floor, absolutely nothing under the bed. No window dressing either, other than a blind.

 

My mom always dusted and vaccumed at times when he would be out if his room for a few hours while it settled post-vaccum. Cleaning actually kicks stuff up: it's important to do it often, but it's usually a problem when you have just finished it. Also, she changed his bedding really often -- twice a week I think.

 

It was a big deal when she made those changes. She cleared the whole linnen closet in the hallway so it could be 'his' -- my stuff was in my room, but his stuff just couldn't be, so he got a closet for that purpose.

 

Think bare and sanitary... In a much more austere way than you have been.

[justasque]

What is on the floor? If carpet, consider removing it in favor of hardwood, tile, or laminate.

Any feather pillows? Change them for nonallergenic ones.

Do you open his windows? In the spring, pollen can come in the windows, creating extra problems.

Any chance of mold?

Any chance of critters of some kind, perhaps in the walls or ceiling?

[Acorn]

What do you mop and dust with? I cannot use any scented products.

[justamouse]

When my kids were like your son, our allergist told us that cat saliva protein can stay in a location for 25 years, and that we should wash down the walls with TSP. I know, not a very green answer, but it helped.

 

Also, a hepa filter vacuum, because ones without can just blow the allergens right back out.

[Tammyla]

:grouphug:

 

Wicker can be a allergy trigger.

 

I'd consider getting rid of the canvas covers and go with plastic.

 

Air purifier?

 

Have you tried having him sleep in another room? It's strange that you and dd have symptoms when you go in his room.

[bzymom]

I run an air purifier continuously in my d/s's room, and it seems to help him.

[Oakblossoms]

I would check for mold, as well. If you haven't already please remove all dairy from his diet including lactose free milk and soy cheeses with casein. It could very well change his life. I had horrible issues as a child. They only come back if I have dairy. The doctors found my sicknesses/symptoms to be sad and chalked it up to me just being a bit sickly.

 

We are in the PNW, as well. My SIL has had her health messed up because of mold in the attic. She has asthma/allergies now from it. I would rip open the walls/ceilings and make sure.

 

You could try having him sleep elsewhere for a week and see what happens because that would definitely tell you something is lurking in there.

 

 

 

[sbgrace]

You can work on things. You could get a HEPA unit. We have this one in our main living area. If there is carpet in there I think I you'd need something big like this. Our family room in the old house had carpet, toys, etc. and that unit helped my son significantly. I would make sure his bedding is washed and dried on hot weekly. Generally, I think it's going to be hard with bins with toys in there. At a minimum I'd remove the stuffed toys.

 

Do you have a HEPA vacuum? Hard flooring would be far better than carpet but you can only do what you can do.

 

My allergy/asthma son's bedroom is just for sleeping. The toys are in his twin's bedroom and the living room. If someone isn't getting things in and out of that storage area I would focus on the actual bedroom I think.

[Little Nyssa]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far!

 

Just to add, the floors are hardwood (we ripped out the ancient carpet when we moved in) and we painted all the walls. The mattresses & pillows are encased in supposedly allergy-proof covers.

 

I mop the floor with the Bona stuff, and dust with Trader Joe's cleaner.