The Power of Environment: Natural Solutions for Overcoming Childhood Asthma at Home

The Power of Environment: Natural Solutions for Overcoming Childhood Asthma at Home

Join me as I share a personal journey from my son's asthma diagnosis, the changes I learned to make in our home environment, and stories of how he thrives today.

Our home environment is so important when it comes to the health of our children. Learn how to be proactive to keep your kids' lungs strong, even if they don't have asthma. And if they do, you don't want to miss these tips and tricks to keep triggers at bay!

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Transcript

Jaime Snell: 0:48

Welcome back to the ECO Mama Podcast. I'm Jaime Snell, your host, and I am excited for you to join me today, friend, because I have a personal story that I wanna share with you. This goes back to part of why I feel that it's so important to share with other mamas what we can do to safeguard our homes and our family, improving the air quality. That we breathe every single day for ourselves, for our children, for our animals. It also spills out into the nature around us. So what we bring into our home also affects what is outside of our home. The story that I wanna share with you today has to do with asthma and my son's diagnosis, but I'm gonna give you a little bit of background before he was diagnosed so that you can understand that his lungs actually were already compromised. And it was out of everyone's control. When I was pregnant with him, he was my third and I went into labor three weeks early. I had had two daughters before him. Both were induced. They didn't come out on their own, but for my third pregnancy, he was ready three weeks before we were told he would be here. And trust me, I was ready to, but now that I know what I know, I would never wish an early delivery for anyone. So three weeks early I go into labor. He was born pretty quick and he came out so fast and it was a natural birth. Thankfully I did not have to have a C-section. But he came out so fast at the birth canal that his lungs did not have the chance to fully squeeze out all of the amniotic fluid that had surrounded him. So he had trouble breathing the first 24 hours. He wouldn't latch on, he wouldn't eat. They were really nervous that there was gonna be something wrong long term with his lungs. Thankfully, within 24 hours, they were able to suction out as much fluid as possible where he finally latched on. And we were successful in breastfeeding for 13 months, so that was just a quick little initial scare, but I do believe that it contributed to his asthma diagnosis, which didn't happen until the age of five. One other thing that I'd like to share that happened early on when he was five months old, my husband and I purchased our first home and we bought this house. Had a pretty good deal. It had been a rental for a while, and there were many, many red flags that I did not know to look for at the time, but we were so excited. We had three young children. It was our first house. It was something within our, you know, affordability range, and we jumped on it and we took it and we moved in. One of the red flags is that they had dogs before. Not a big deal, right? Like you can air out the house. Well, they had covered up the bad smell from the dogs and all of the dander, the pet dander, by using plugins in every single room of the house on both floors, top and bottom. And so, of course, the first thing I do when I move in is I get rid of those because I had already learned at this point that they're not good for us. We don't wanna inhale those. So I got rid of'em. I aired out the house. And then the smell came from the dogs and it ended up being the carpet. But within 48 hours of living there, my son and I both were struggling to breathe. I was breastfeeding him. He had his own room. There was carpet all in our bedrooms down the hallway. The whole house was carpeted except the kitchen and. He just, he couldn't breathe like he and I were both hacking a lump. So we ended up moving our sleeping quarters downstairs and we stayed there for a couple of weeks until I had the time and energy to start removing the carpet. And this was the nastiest thing I think I've ever touched in my life. I always equate the padding, which was rubber by the way, if that tells you how old it was, it was rubber padding underneath this soiled carpet. And I equate it to the scene in, along Came Poly where they're playing basketball and he goes to shoot and his face goes up against this man's chest who's not wearing a shirt and it's all slathered with sweat. Yeah, it was just really, really nasty getting my hands in the air and doing it, but I was also, I should have worn a mask. I didn't know better. I couldn't breathe. I could not breathe. I got the hallway done, which I think was the worst part. I don't know if they kept the dogs in the hallway and closed the bedroom doors or what, but the hallway was the worst. But I got all of that up and then I had to stop. I had to get my husband to help me the next couple of days to get the rest out because I couldn't do it on my own. I wasn't breathing well. I mean, it was just so much that disturbed my lungs, but it also was hurting my son. So we stayed downstairs for a few weeks until we got the upstairs aired out, and then we saved for a wood floor, which is what we wanted to replace it in, because part of the deal with the house is we wanted to fix it up and I, he learned to crawl on some floors. So yeah, I had a through few throw rugs that I could put around, but no way was I putting carpet back in that house. And by no means did I want him to ever suffer like that again. Well, Fast forward until he is about four and a half years old and he started having coughing fits. We're living in South Carolina now it's allergy season, but we'd never really had any problems. In four years, really to know about, to even be curious or wonder if he had any breathing problems or lung issues. Everything had always checked out normal at the doctor's office. Well, he started getting his breathing fits and we ended up going to the pediatrician and they gave us a breathing treatment because his oxygen levels were low. Then we came home, and then we went again the next week. And then we came home and then eventually they gave us a nebulizer to start giving him breathing treatments at home. They said, we think he has asthma. We're gonna give you a inhaler to give him breathing treatments so that if he has these coughing fits, you don't have to keep breathing him in. You can help regulate it at home. They also gave us. The steroids, which is the medicine that he had to drink and poor kid's. Five. I was so trying to avoid medication. I was trying to avoid steroids. I knew this wasn't good for him, but I also knew that he needed to breathe. Then my husband went to South Florida or to North Florida actually. So a couple states south of us one weekend with the kids to visit his family, and I was the lucky one. I got to stay home and just have some quiet time. Unfortunately, while he was down there that very first night, something triggered my sons. Asthma like we thought, but we didn't know what was triggering it. We didn't know why he was having these coughing fits. He could not breathe. They didn't think to take, he hadn't had an attack in months. They didn't think to take the nebulizer or the inhaler with him. So he ended up in the emergency room at midnight down in Florida. When he got back, we went back to our pediatrician, who then suggested we see an allergist so that we could learn what was triggering his asthma. And these coughing fits. And then we could help deter the flare ups. Help deter the triggers, get rid of these things. Now, I thought that I was already living a pretty clean life, that I was working on having indoor air quality, but there was still so much more that I could have been doing that I did not know at the time. My son, my poor son. He was right at five years old now, and he sat on my lap and I've heard that they've changed the process of how they give these allergy tests. Now they give him in patches that you wear for a few days, but at the time they said, oh, well, we're gonna have to prick him to see what he is allergic to. And I'm thinking, okay, like a finger prick. I didn't know. I didn't know what questions to ask. I sat there as my poor son squeezed my arms. I had to hold him still. And they put these I, I think of the, in the Adams family. Where is it? Uncle Fester likes to sleep on the bed of nails. They pricked my son like 45 times in four different sections on his back. He swelled up in so many different areas just from the initial reaction. The actual allergies they came up with were based on what stayed red over the next, like, I guess three hours or something like that where the welts remained, but everything swelled up cuz at first it, you know, they basically just like, Injected his body with all of these different samples to see which ones were gonna make him sick or, you know, a flare up and swollen. He did always have a problem with mosquito bites. He would, it looked like the welts on his skin when he'd get bitten. So here we were at checkout, he's crying. He's got a little bit of blood on his shirt. I'm trying to hold it together and by myself. My husband's at work, my other two girls are at school, and and then I get the bill. Why don't I think to ask these questions beforehand? There was so much I could have done. To navigate without him going through this pain or through all of these expenses. But it's the path that I was on and this is how I learned that my son had asthma and what he was allergic to at the time, they said it was pet dander. So couldn't have any cats, couldn't have any dogs. They said, of course, like allergies from outdoor environmental such as pollen, which is kind of a given, A lot of us can be easily triggered by that. And then the, and dust mites. So it was really nothing unusual. We don't even know still to this day why he was triggered when he was in Florida. But I did learn some things that I could start doing at home right away, washing everything in hot water. I was already using a detergent that was, did not have any chemical irritants in it, so I didn't have to change some of my products. Some of them I did have to change because I realized that they still had. Some sensitivities that could, could trigger him, but the dusting process and keeping things clean, especially in his bedroom was new for me. I mean, I'm a mom of three. We're one income family. I wasn't able to clean every single day, but I did invest in things like norac rags that would help collect the dust as opposed to the swiffers we were using, which would just blow it all around. I eventually invested in a really good vacuum cleaner. That not only has a HEPA filter, but it has a water filter, water filtration system inside of it. So whatever I'm dusting up or sucking up through that vacuum, which is very powerful, it not only pulls it in, but the. Dust is trapped in the dirt and debris and dust is trapped in the water system. And then it blows back out the fresh air, the clean air through the hepa. So it's also a vacuum that can double as an air purifier, which I learned at that time it he needed his own air purifier in his room. So those are some things that I learned to start doing. Wash everything in hot water. Get an air purifier for him. Start collecting the dust, not just blowing it around so that you can't see it anymore cuz those particles are still in the air. You, I needed to learn to capture it, but that, that, I can't say it was a hundred percent right away. It took a while and we had nights. Where I was on the edge of his bed, just praying for God to take me instead, because his fits would get so bad and he couldn't sleep and he'd lay there wheezing and just, he wanted to sleep and he was so tired and, and I was tired too, and I wanted to sleep. And I'm just holding him and I'm praying with him. I'm trying to calm down. And if you've ever lost your breath, you know how difficult and how scary it can be, and you're panicking. And the last thing that your body needs to do when you're losing its breath is panic, because then you're just gonna be gasping for air, like grabbing a sip as fast as possible. But you have to calm the body. You have to calm the mind and slowly take the air in. That's not easy to do for a five year old kid that doesn't know what's happening. He just knows that he can't breathe and it's very uncomfortable. And the mama who's holding him that. Just wants him to be better. So in addition to that, I also learned that I could enca, I needed to actually encapsulate the pillows and the mattresses and they sell. Think of like a pillowcase. They sell a pillowcase for the mattress itself. I thankfully knew a little bit about some of the materials that I did and did not want to use, so I did find a guts certified and it, it zippered up. Think of like, I put the mattress in a sleeping bag, but you have to have help. He had a queen size mattress at the time, so we had to. Get someone to help us put that in there. And then that had to be washed once a week in hot water. His pillows. I've since learned that a pillow should be replaced every six months to one year. I had no idea I was hand me down pillow girl. my parents would have like extra pillows in their guest room and then they would go and get new ones. I'm like, Hey, do you want these pillows? I'm like, sure. I've bought throw pillows from garage sales before. No more. I've learned how much a pillow can store inside of it. The best thing that you can do if you don't want to get rid of your throw pillows, especially if they're hand-me-downs, is to regularly put them in the dryer on high heat because that will kill any dust mites that try to survive inside of them. But it is suggested that you encapsulate them inside a case that you can wash often, or a cover. And then replace them every year. And the pillow that you sleep on, definitely replace every single year. Put it in the dryer once a month to kill any dander or mics that might be living inside of that pillow as well as anything, you know, obviously your sheets. Your pillowcases and stuff, you probably wash already on a weekly basis or twice a month. And if not, I do suggest that. But it's highly suggested to replace it once a year. And if you love to travel, which we do, we love to travel, we go camping, we go visit fins and family, we get Airbnb when we can. Take your own pillow. Always take your own pillows with you, and if you are on blanket if you can, but pillows especially because that's what you're breathing in all night long, if you sleep with a pillow. And I suggest sleeping with a pillow mainly because you can control that more than you can control the mattress if you're traveling. So sleep with the pillow that you have replaced often. There's a lot of different pillows that are made out there, but if you can afford it, I suggest to get a good quality organic grade pillow that is either stuffed with or covered with bamboo or linen pillowcase are also great. They're, they're. Wicking and they help you breathe at night. They help your skin breathe so they're healthy for you. So yeah, so that is my journey of when my son got diagnosed at the age of five. And those are a lot of the things that I learned all in that short amount of time. It was overwhelming and it required a lot of changes. He has a asthma attacker flare up. Probably once a year at most. So I have been very, very blessed. He has outgrown the things that they said that he would have the most troubles with. We now have an indoor outdoor cat. He has had no problems with the cat. We do have a Hyperallergenic dog but he's had no problems with the dog. We try to keep his room dusted, he'll be nine in two weeks and it's very difficult to get to the surface of his dresser and his bookshelves and his desk. He just has stuff stacked up. He's not really like the tidiest neatest person, but we do vacuum his room regularly. We change his sheets regularly. We keep the ceiling fan clean. We keep it as dust free as possible, as well as the rest of the house. But in particularly, it's his room. And then he always has that air purifier in there. And on, there's quite a few different air purifiers out there. Again, I like the ones that have water because they capture all of the dirt and debris that comes through, and then they blow out the clean air. But HEPA filter is great too. Well, that is what I have for you today. I wanna thank you so much, friend, for listening to my story. It's just a little bit of why I do what I do. I already have the heart for a cleaner environment for my family, but then put under the circumstances of my son's diagnosis with asthma. It took it up. To the nth degree, and if you or your children have ever suffered with any breathing issues, I wanna be there for you. If you have any questions, please feel free to message me at any time. Comment down below, or you can always email me directly at Jamie dot Snell ECO, CRATES of America, and I'll answer your questions. And if I don't have those answers, I will find them out for you because if I can help just one more family, breathe easier at night. I will feel as if I've served my purpose. So thank you so much. Have a wonderful week, and thanks again for joining me. Take care.