Product Review: Children's Claritin

*Disclaimer: I received this product free as a BzzAgent. I do not receive compensation for my review and all views and opinions expressed are my own and given freely.*

While I love living in Oregon for the most part, this is a state with some serious pollen problems. I've gone outside to find my red Jeep completely yellow with pollen if that gives you an idea of what I mean when I say a serious pollen problem. Having allergies and living in Oregon means I am well acquainted with all brands and forms of allergy medications. My husband and I had hoped that our son would be blessed with no allergies, or at least develop them later in life, but that didn't happen. If you've never seen a very young toddler with allergies let me tell you, it is heartbreaking. We had been doing Children's Allegra, but when I had the chance to try out the Children's Claritin I couldn't say no.

First, the differences between the two. Allegra is a 12 hour dose whereas Claritin is a 24 hour dose, meaning the bug won't wake up completely miserable if I gave him a dose the day before. Claritin is sugar free, the Allegra is not, though both are dye free. Allegra had weird rules about what you can and cannot take at the same time as the Allegra (like no juice, which is a problem when you do smoothies for breakfast every single day), Claritin did not. So already off the bat Claritin is winning, and the Allegra is looking less and less appealing.

Now onto the really important stuff, how well did it actually work? To compare how well it worked on bad allergy days I gave my son a dose while I went medicine free (the things I do for science). His allergies typically present themselves with itching, watery eyes, sneezing nose, and a snotty nose. If they go untreated for about a day he will then develop a cough like he has a mild cold. Day 1 on Claritin was nice and sunny (a rarity for Oregon in April) so we took a half hour long walk around our neighborhood to both burn some energy and to test out the Claritin. No coughing, sniffling, or sneezing, which is a good thing, there was a touch of itchiness but I expected there to be some after he dove into a bush chasing after a squirrel. I on the other hand was a sneezey, drippy, snotty, and itchy mess dying to get home and take some Benedryl. Day 2 and 3 were pretty much the same, though with less itchiness on his part.

The Claritin works great, which is all I could ask for, has less bad stuff than the Children's Allegra, and didn't wind my son up like the Allegra did as well. I will for sure be switching over full time to the Claritin as soon as we finish up the Allegra. The only thing I wish they'd work on the flavor a bit, there was a sharpness to it that I didn't like though the bug didn't seem to mind it at all. If you're child has allergies, what do you do to combat the symptoms and keep them up and running around?

Birthdays and Holidays Galore!

Wow, April has been a busy month for us! The bug turned 3, I turned 28, and we had way to many Easter events to go to as well. Add is a busier than usual work schedule and that equals one busy month. This upcoming Saturday is our only day all month without any plans, I for one am looking forward to sitting around in my jammies and not doing anything.

I know the busyness is taking a toll on my little guy, this has been a timeout heavy week compared to our regular amount. I know he's fried and that acting out is his only real way of expressing that, but I can't let bad behavior become a regular thing. It really is a no win situation for everybody, so I'm trying to cut him some slack when I can. Do you have any tricks you use to keep everybody on an even keel when things get busy?

Toddler Humor

My little guy is about to turn 3, I'm so not ready for that, and his sense of humor is in full swing. While he might not get the finer nuances of a good knock knock joke, he will full belly laugh at the silliness of Bubble Guppies or Mom's Classic Shoe As A Hat Routine(tm). It's been fun watching him develop from a serious, matter of fact little boy into this silly little clown. And while he may be getting sick of my "hay is for horses" joke, I'll never get sick of his cute little giggle.

Toddler humor in TV shows is mainly based around visual puns, since sometimes verbal puns are lost on a child who's language skills aren't fully developed. Silly faces and things being used in the wrong way are common ploys, though I've noticed the use of character laugh to help the viewer associate when something is a funny joke versus something that is not. Some shows don't really use humor, while others have plenty of jokes that only the parents will truly appreciate (Toy Story and Shrek are two that come to mind). How is your little one doing in the humor department? What silly thing do you do that always earns a giggle or two?