Parents need to see little more than the raw, red nose of a child to motivate them to care for their child with hay fever. The essential initial step is to follow the doctor's advice to avoid allergens and irritants and taking the proper medications. The next step is making sure your child is comforted in the midst of pollen season.

Teaching Your Child to Blow Their Nose

A child's nose may run because of a pollen allergy, but the rawness, redness, and general discomfort comes from the constant scratching and rubbing. The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) reports that the constant flow of mucus, known as nasal discharge, caused by a runny nose can irritate a child's upper lip and nostrils. Rubbing the irritated skin will only make the problem worse.

Relieving the Symptoms of Hay Fever Allergy by Bathing

While children will kick up pollen when playing outdoors, they can carry the pollen in on their clothes and bodies when they come inside. Taking a bath will rid them of these allergens, and keep the house clean of pollen. According to the AAAAI, lowering the amount of pollen contact with a child is essential to controlling hay fever allergies.

If the child is agitated, a warm bath will usually calm the child down, and the humidity from the bath can soothe the symptoms of Hay Fever Allergy. If you child does not normally play while taking a bath, offer some bath toys to make the bath more fun. Instead of just the normal toy boats, offer small bottles and containers that can be used for pouring and measuring. If the child is old enough to keep form sticking everything in his or her mouth, marbles can be fun to roll around. Spray bottles are fun, but make sure the shower curtain is closed. Stay away from bubble baths. The popping bubbles send soap into the air, and can irritate the sinuses.

Let the Children Know Hay Fever Will Go Away

As adults, we are aware that pollen season doesn't last all year. However, children must be constantly reminded of this. While the child's sense of time is still developing, pollen season can seem to be eternal. Tell your kids that hay fever won't last forever, unless that child also suffers from perennial allergies (such as a year-long allergy to dust mites). Be sure that you don't promise to a child that the symptoms of hay fever will stop on a certain date. You could plan for an excursion for when the symptoms stop, or study the trigger plant's pollinating season if the child is old enough to understand. Merely thinking about the day the misery of the Hay Fever Allergy ends can lift a child's spirits.