Author:
John Stephens
Date Of Creation:
27 January 2021
Update Date:
1 July 2024
Content
Urticaria is a very common condition in children, with red or white bumps on the skin that cause itching. Urticaria is not contagious, usually appearing within hours or days, although in some acute and chronic cases it can last several weeks. Urticaria occurs when the body releases histamine due to an allergic reaction, even reacting to heat, anxiety, infection, or changes in temperature. When your child has a urticaria, there are some simple remedies you can take to treat the bumps with home remedies or medications prescribed by your pediatrician.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Take your child to the doctor to be diagnosed
Learn about symptoms of urticaria. Urticaria can appear on one area of the skin or all over the body. Learning about the manifestations of urticaria on the child's body will help you determine the cause of this condition.
- Local urticaria occurs on an area of the body and is usually caused by contact with plants, pollen, food or saliva and animal hair.
- Systemic urticaria appears on the entire body. This type of urticaria can be a reaction to a viral infection or an allergy to food, medicine, or insect bites.
Understand the causes of urticaria. Children can get hives for many different reasons. Whether local or generalized urticaria, knowing the cause of urticaria will help you treat your baby effectively at home or decide to take him or her to the pediatrician. Children may get hives due to the following reasons:- Eat foods like shellfish, nuts, milk, and fruit. Food allergy urticaria usually clears up within 6 hours of eating.
- Take medications like penicillin or allergy injections.
- Get in contact with pets or animals.
- Exposure to pollen from flowering plants
- Bitten by an insect (such as a bee or mosquito)
- Anxiety and stress
- Exposure to extreme temperatures or the sun
- Contact with chemicals, including detergents or soaps containing perfumes
- Have viral infections such as colds, infectious mononucleosis and hepatitis
- Have bacterial infections like urinary tract infections and pharyngitis
Take your child to the pediatrician. You should take your child with urticaria to the pediatrician if you are unsure of the cause or if the urticaria does not go away within 1 week, if the child recently started taking a new medicine or eating a strange food, if the child was stung by an insect. , or if the urticaria makes the child extremely uncomfortable. Your doctor may prescribe oral medications, steroid creams, or other medications for symptom relief.- Seek medical help if you are not sure what causes your baby's hives. This can help reduce the risk of having to treat urticaria with methods that may or may not be necessary for the child.
- Take your child to see the doctor if the urticaria still doesn't get better after a second dose of antihistamine.
- If your child exhibits any of the symptoms of anaphylaxis, including swelling of the face or throat, coughing, wheezing, difficulty breathing, dizziness or fainting, you should take your child to the emergency room or call an ambulance at 115.
Get your baby tested. If the underlying cause of the urticaria cannot be identified in your baby, your doctor may run some tests to diagnose the condition. This will not only help the doctor find the cause, but also determine the best treatment for the child.- Your doctor may order blood tests for underlying medical conditions.
- Babies can get an allergy test to identify allergens.
Treatment of underlying medical conditions. If your baby's urticaria is determined to be caused by an underlying medical condition, your doctor can treat it to help reduce swelling and itching. Some studies have shown that treating underlying conditions helps to treat urticaria more effectively than simply treating the symptoms.
- For example, if your child has a thyroid problem, the doctor may treat the thyroid disease first and see if the hives get better.
- If your baby has a known allergen to a particular allergen, your doctor will ask you to avoid exposing your child to that allergen.
Avoid irritation of urticaria. Urticaria can be caused by an allergen or a stimulant. Knowing what causes urticaria in your baby will help you avoid it, while also helping to reduce and prevent the rash.
- Triggers can be a allergen, medications, foods, cosmetics, environmental factors, insect bites, strong soaps or detergents.
- If you suspect something is causing your urticaria, try to limit your child's exposure to it and see if the symptoms decrease.
- Several external factors can aggravate urticaria, including sun exposure, stress, sweat, and changes in temperature.
- Use mild or “hypoallergenic” soaps or detergents. These soaps are low in harmful chemicals that can irritate your child's skin.
Method 2 of 3: Cure urticaria at home
Wash off allergens on local urticaria. If the urticaria only appears on one area of the body, wash off the allergen with soap and water. This will help reduce urticaria and prevent it from getting worse by allergens on the skin.
- You do not need to buy any special soap. Any soap will be effective in removing allergens.
Let your child soak a bath with cool water. Cool water can sooth irritated skin and reduce inflammation. This therapy is most useful in cases where urticaria has spread throughout the body. You can add oatmeal glue to the water to increase its soothing effect.
- Add baking soda, raw oatmeal or colloidal oatmeal to the water. All of the above ingredients have a calming effect on the skin.
- Only let the child soak for about 15 minutes to avoid getting cold.
Apply calamine lotion or anti-itch cream. Calamine lotions or over-the-counter anti-itch creams can also help relieve urticaria, ease itching, and reduce inflammation. You can buy anti-itch creams at pharmacies or online.
- An over-the-counter anti-itch cream (or hydrocortisone cream) can help relieve itching. Be sure to buy a cream with at least 1% hydrocortisone concentration.
- Apply the cream to the hives once a day after giving your child a bath.
Use a cold compress to reduce itching and inflammation. Itching and inflammation during hives is caused by histamine in the blood. A cold compress or a cold pack can help relieve the itching and inflammation associated with urticaria by constricting blood vessels and cooling the skin.
- Histamine is produced when allergens enter the body, causing allergic reactions such as itching and inflammation.
- You can apply cold compresses to the affected area in batches of 10-15 minutes, every 2 hours, or as needed.
Do not let children scratch. You should help your child try to avoid scratching. When a child scratches, allergens can spread and make symptoms worse or cause other problems, including skin infections.
Protect your child's skin. You can help prevent and reduce urticaria by protecting your baby's skin. Clothing, bandages, and even insect repellents can help protect your child and ease symptoms.
- Dress your child in cool, loose, and soft clothing with materials such as cotton to prevent scratching and prevent sweating, which can make urticaria worse.
- Dress your child in a long-sleeved shirt and pants to avoid scratching and protect the skin from external irritants.
- If your child is likely to come into contact with insects, you can also apply an insect repellent to the areas of the skin that do not have hives to keep them from coming closer and causing further allergies.
Method 3 of 3: Treatment of urticaria with medication
Give your child an antihistamine. If your child has systemic hives, you can give him an antihistamine. This medication can stop the allergy-causing histamine and help relieve itching and inflammation.
- Follow the recommended dosage based on the child's age and weight. If you are unsure about how much to give, ask your doctor.
- Common antihistamines include cetirizine, chlorpheniramine, and diphenhydramine.
- These drugs often have a sedative effect, so you must monitor the child to ensure it is safe.
Take an antihistamine H-2. Your doctor may recommend an H-2 antihistamine to ease the symptoms of urticaria. The drug can be taken orally or injected.
- Some of the H-2 antihistamines include cimetidine (Tagamet), ranitidine (Zantac), nizatidine (Acid), and famotidine (Pepcid).
- Side effects of this group of drugs may include digestive problems or headaches.
Use prescription corticosteroids. Your doctor may prescribe stronger oral or topical corticosteroids such as prednisone if other medications are ineffective. Be sure to follow your doctor's instructions when giving medicine to your child, as it can weaken the immune system.
- Oral steroids are for short-term use only due to the risk of side effects from long term use.
Injections for asthma. Many studies have shown that injectable asthma medications like omalizumab can help relieve urticaria. This drug has the advantage of not causing side effects.
- This method is more expensive than the other options and is usually not covered by insurance.
Combination of asthma medications and antihistamines. Your child may be prescribed a course of asthma medication with an antihistamine medication. This method may help relieve the symptoms of urticaria.
- Your doctor may prescribe an asthma medication such as montelukast (Singulair) or zafirlukast (Accolate) with a prescription or over-the-counter antihistamine.
- This treatment can lead to behavioral and mood changes.
Consider taking immunosuppressants. If your child has chronic urticaria and does not respond to other treatments, your doctor may prescribe medications that act on the immune system to reduce acute and chronic urticaria.
- Cyclosporine is known to inhibit the immune system's response to urticaria and provide symptom relief. However, this drug has side effects such as headache, nausea, and in some cases impaired kidney function.
- Tacrolimus also works to reduce the response of the immune system causing urticaria. It also has the same side effects as cyclosporine.
- Mycophenolate helps suppress the immune system and relieve signs and symptoms of disease.
Warning
- Urticaria is usually harmless. In rare cases, hives can be dangerous, especially if it's caused by an allergic reaction that can cause difficulty breathing. Consult your doctor if you have any doubts about urticaria in your child or if home remedies are ineffective and your symptoms worsen.
