Posted on 25th May 2011 @ 10:58

Allergies are a major concern for many parents these days and it’s not always just their babies they need to be worried about. Dust allergies and many others affect parents too, and in many cases it becomes difficult to know how to best deal with them. There isn’t of course any perfect cure for allergies, we can only protect against reactions by keeping our distance from the things we’re allergic too and avoiding them as best we can. However, when it comes to things like dust, or mould spores for example, that are airborne, there is a chance that you can filter them using purifiers etc.

How does an air purifier work?

An air purifier works quite literally by purifying the air. The air inside your home is dirtier than the air outside. This is usually because any particles of dust etc in your home are not given the opportunity to move very far, whereas outside the home air circulates much more freely. Other problem areas for air pollution in the home are:

• ·         Smokers release an awful amount of toxins into the air.
• ·         Heating and air cooling systems can often circulate bacteria around the home.
• ·         Pets shed hair and dander.
• ·         Open windows allow pollen and other problem allergens into the home; thus becoming trapped in furniture upholstery and carpets etc.

They work basically by taking air in, filtering it and then releasing it clean. However, there are different types of air purifiers and not all of them are as effective as each other. There are standard room purifiers that will only filter against dust and other larger airborne particles, but there are excellent air purifiers that can filter against virtually all allergens, including: pollen, smoke, mould spores, bacteria and pet dander. They do this by using much finer filters that utilise electrical attraction and ozone. The more often you filter the air through these types of purifiers the better it becomes.

Will it weaken my baby’s immune system to filter the air too much?

Most parents concentrate on using air purifiers in the very early days or if their child has a particularly nasty reaction to one of the allergens they decide to filter against. Whether or not you will weaken your child’s immune system by filtering against harmful allergens in the air is dependent on how much exposure you filter against. To keep your child in an environment that is too sterile is of course a bad thing, but in reality your baby will remain exposed to every other type of bacteria and many other allergens throughout their days when they are out and about interacting with other people and children.

The benefits of using an air purifier far outweigh these concerns and when you have a child that suffers with asthma or a particularly bad reaction to pollen or other allergens, you will realise that it is a much more advisable to provide you child with as much comfort in their own home as possible.