Last year I suffered with sneezing and itchy eyes from fall through most of the summer. Usually this is the result of allergies that are affected by whatever is growing outside. I can honestly say, I have never had it that bad before - I couldn’t stop itching my eyes and couldn’t breathe through my nose. Therefore, I used an excessive amount of eye drops, allergy medication and nasal spray.

Sometime during the spring, I was reminded by an article I read about dust mites and how to control them. Since I had been letting the house cleaning slide in favor of work, I wondered if that might be the issue. I setup a weekly routine to strip the bed, wash the bedding in hot water, vacuum the mattress and carpet. Unless you use bleach in the wash, don’t bother using warm water because that will only kill around 7% of the dust mites.

So - if your little ones start sneezing and scratching or rubbing their eyes, you might want to consider your own weekly routine to keep their sleeping area free of dust mites.

This new routine has helped, especially with sleeping through the night. But I’m still plagued with allergies and already my eyes are feeling prickly. I just hope it’s not as bad as last year.

As a point of reference, I live 45 miles north of Los Angeles, which is the high desert - not much moisture in the air. I also lived in Phoenix for eight years and didn’t have any allergy problems there. Go figure!