Well I am really freaking out right now as maybe I am slow to learn this but I just found out that formaldehyde-carcnigen (quarternium-15) is in my baby's shampoo-all of his shampoos. And many other products too like Dove which I love, Tide, Lysol, etc.

My 12 year old has asthma and he hasn't had any episodes until this past week. My 18 month old was diagnosed with asthma. He has been having problems ever since the pollen started flying around. A month ago the doctor told me to give him the albuterol 4 times a day for a week and pulmicort once a night along with singulair for a month. It seemed to be somewhat under control but I had to stop the pulmicort a week ago. He has a couple of more days left of the singulair and we are going to get more pulmicort tomorrow (it is $200.00 for 30 days and the doc gave us 3weeks worth). I have been having to give him albuterol at least 2 times a day and Friday he started coughing like crazy and I had to give him albuterol treatment twice in a row. So I was looking on the internet for stuff about asthma and came across this website:This is SCARY stufff mommies! | MothersClick.com — Connecting, Learning, Sharing. - 32k - and I am just really freaking out. Are these checmicals really that bad? Why would the FDA allow these chemicals to be in these products if it is this bad? I am really upset right now that both of my kids are having issues with asthma and I don't know why. I thought it was because of the pollen and weather. The doctor said it was allergy induced and more than likely from the pollen, but I have most if not all of these products in my home. Please any feedback-hope this makes sense as I am tired and stressed right now.

The FDA and other organisations are considering banning formaldehyde and related chemicals completely, but you have to understand that only recently have we had enough evidence to start thinking about this. It's the same with lead poisoning, mercury poisoning and all the rest of it. All of it was allowed until we realised that it was harmful to us. It is not a case of the FDA not doing its job, formaldehyde is a useful compound and may only be carcinogenic in large doses (there are studies that suggest it is harmless in small doses).
Quarternium-15 is a contact-irritant, and an allergen, it could well be that that your sons are reacting to.

The thing is you and I have probably been around these chemicals all our lives, along with some much nastier materials, and some have not had any adverse effects at all.

If you are concerned about it, try to find products that don't contain these chemicals. That;s really all that I can suggest.

Instead of freaking out you need to go back and visit your doctor.

What needs to be done is allergy testing is a must for both your children to find out exactly what their allergens are and how to prevent and do your best to avoid them.

There are plenty of things to do to try to avoid allergens. Many other common allergens are mites which are found in sheets. Regular washing and special mattress covers will help. Dust is another common allergen. Animal dander. These things are coming and instead of freaking out what you need to do is go back to the doctor and see an allergy specialist.

As far as products are concerned there are many natural products out there that can be bought.

Joe

I have had severe asthma since I was 3, with severe allergies.

Now that I am older it has got better and hopefully it will with your children as well.

Just remember there are many methods, medicines and tests that can be done to decrease the effects but it is not always 100 percent preventable.

Yes, I understand. My oldest is 12 and was diagnosed with asthma at five. It is quite mild-comes and goes and seems to be getting better every year. He still plays football, baseball, and basketball every year. It is just that my little one is bad right now and I just hate it. Stupid me I haven't even thought about allergy test-my doctor didn't suggest it and I was concentrating on just getting him well at the moment instead of thinking about preventative. I will call her tomorrow. Wow I better go to bed. I have been on this computer all night.

For me, I feel that the main cause of asthma is the environment which we develop in. If we have plenty of dirt and allergens and other nasties around us when we are developing, our body develops resistance to this and we end up healthier.

It's the clean-obsessed (and enabled) world that we live in nowadays that doesn't give babies the chance to develop these resistances.

Of course, there's a lot of money in cleaning chemicals to completely sterilise your home. I regard them as useless unless your baby has not developed the resistances they need, then you need to sterilise in order to minimise their suffering, however then when you bring another baby into the sterile environment, the cycle starts again.

How many 3rd world children suffer with asthma? Very few I suspect.. and they live around dirt and allergens and muck for the whole of their lives.

This is my own view on it. I haven't particularly studied the subject, but this is what my scientific intuition suggests is going on.

Thanks Joe, I completely agree and forgot to mention that an ultra clean environment of course isn't the only cause of asthma. It's a very complex thing. But I believe it's one of the root causes of the rapid rise of asthma in our children.

Well I never went to bed. I am still awake. It is 6:32 am here. I think I am going to be pretty tired today. You are right. Asthma is a very complex thing. Doctors still don't really know the exact cause. Drug companies sure are making a lot of money. I couldn't stand it anymore, baby was breathing so fast and the albuterol wasn't helping. I looked online and he seemed to have the signs to go to the ER other than turning blue so I took him and nurse checked him out and said it would be about 2 hours so I went back home. If she doesn't think it's that bad I certainly wasn't going to pay all the money when I can take him to the doc in four hours. There is such a fine line because I really thought they would give him some immediate relief. I'm a little disappointed. Taking him outside in the cool weather seemed to help a little. He has a low fever so he is probably coming down with something and that is probably making the asthma worse.

Asthma is a terrible thing. My son was diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease, which is a long way of sying he has asthma when the weather changes, at 9 months of age.

The albuterol is a great help, I am assuming you have a neblizer (breathing machine) at home? If not, please ask your doctor for a prescription for one. It is a lifesaver in that you don't have to go to the doctor or the hospital for a breathing treatment and the little one can get his therapy at home. I have one for my son and it is wonderful.

Another thing you need to ask for is a prescription for Prednisone or Prelone. It is a corticosteroid and will help reduce the inflammation in the bronchial tree and alveoli.

Low fever is not uncommon when your baby is under stress like this. Mine ALWAYS gets a low fever when struggling to breathe so hard.

Please get him into the doctor, request a nebulizer if you don't have one and also request a precription for short-term steroids (usually only 5 days). Then get some rest.

I will check back with you when I get home from school this afternoon. Good luck dear. I know it is hard.

Well thanks everybody for your input. I took the baby to the doctor this morning. He has an earache in each ear-got zithromax for it. She thinks the infection caused the asthma to flare up. We are sticking with pulmicort and singulair at night and albuterol until he gets better. I was really a mess last night. I usually am pretty calm about stuff but was tired and stressed out.