Guest Author - Amy Anaruk

One of the most frustrating aspects of dealing with an asthmatic child�and it is so hard to choose, really, because asthma is such a difficult disease�is trying to keep triggers to a minimum.

Unless your child has only a very specific type of trigger--exercise, for instance, chances are pretty good that you�re dealing with environmental allergies like pollen or dust mites.

Dust mites belong to the spider family. They are so tiny that you cannot see them with the naked eye, and they feed on human skin. Since skin is one of the major components of household dust, you can understand how numerous these mites are. Mostly, you find dust mites in places where you spend a lot of time and thus your shed skin cells collect--places like pillows, bedding, and upholstered furniture.

Even if tests don't show a true dust mite allergy, most asthmatics have problems with them. Although you cannot completely eliminate dust mites from a home, you can take several easy steps to limit exposure to them.

When I found out my daughter has a dust mite allergy that triggers her asthma, her pediatrician and her allergist made several recommendations to me:

1. Bedding
Encase your child�s pillows and mattress in allergen-free, zippered covers and wash her bedding in hot water weekly. Opt for down alternative instead of down comforters and pillows. Most asthmatics have more problems at night than during the day, so eliminating exposure to dust mites in her bed should make a huge difference.

2. Stuffed Animals
Don�t let your child sleep with a bedful of stuffed animals because they are havens for the mites. Let her pick one or two favorites and give the rest away. Once a week, place the stuffed animals you keep in a plastic bag and stick in your freezer overnight. Freezing will kill the dust mites.

3. Furniture
Vacuum the surfaces of furniture regularly and wash throw pillows in hot water at least once a month. Whenever you buy new furniture, consider investing in hypoallergenic surfaces like leather or microfiber.

4. Wall Treatments
Don't use heavy, dry clean-only decorative elements like drapes, which not only harbor dust mites but also don't clean easily. Consider using machine-washable curtains or, even better, wooden or plastic blinds. Anything you can clean regularly will always be your best choice.

5. Flooring
Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum your carpeting as regularly as possible. If your child has an environmental allergy or if you have pets, you're probably vacuuming all the time, anyway. Think about purchasing a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter if your child has a severe dust mite allergy.

When my vacuum cleaner died a year after my daughter�s initial asthma diagnosis, I bought a HEPA-filtered one. This extra step cost me a little more money than I planned to spend, but my thinking is this: the extra cost was minimal and probably offset by the fact that fewer dust mites equals fewer ER trips and extra medications, anyway.

Make sure you also clean wood, tile, and laminate flooring regularly so that dust can't collect there.

Refinishing your child's bedroom with flooring other than carpet can make a huge difference if you have the financial means and your child's severity warrants the change. Carpet itself is not so bad, but the carpet pad beneath traps dust, pollen, mold, and other allergens and you can�t ever clean it properly.

Dust mites will never go away, but reducing their numbers in your home can make a huge difference in an asthmatic child's health.