Hay fever is an allergic reaction to pollen. You will have hay fever symptoms soon after pollen comes into contact with your mouth, nose, eyes and throat.

Pollen is a fine powder that comes from plants. The most common sources of pollen are trees, grass and weeds.

Hay fever is also called seasonal allergic rhinitis.

Hay fever symptoms are usually worse between late March and September. The pollen count is at its highest when the weather is warm, humid and windy.

You can have symptoms for weeks or months, or sometimes all year round.

Hay fever symptoms

Symptoms of hay fever include:

• sneezing and coughing
• a runny or blocked nose
• itchy, red or watery eyes
• itchy throat, mouth, nose and ears
• loss of smell
• pain around your temples and forehead
• headache
• earache
• feeling tired

Hay fever symptoms in children

Hay fever symptoms in children are the same as in adults.

Hay fever usually begins in children between ages 2 and 5. If your child is under 2 and is showing similar symptoms, it may not be hay fever.

With children, sometimes it can be hard to tell if they’ve got hay fever or a common cold.

There are some ways to spot the difference.

How you know it’s hay fever

If your child has hay fever they will not usually have a high temperature or a sore throat.

But they will have:

• symptoms for at least 6 to 8 weeks – a cold will last 1 to 3 weeks
• symptoms at the same time every year (pollen season)
• itchy eyes and nose

Hay fever symptoms ease for some children as they get older. For others, symptoms will disappear altogether.

Hay fever and asthma

If you have hay fever and asthma, you may also have other symptoms.

These include:

• a tight feeling in your chest
• shortness of breath
• a wheeze and cough

Hay fever can make asthma harder to control. Talk to your GP if you are worried about your symptoms.

What you can do to avoid getting symptoms

There’s no cure for hay fever and you cannot prevent it. But you can try to avoid pollen when the count is high.

You can also use some of these tips to help keep you or your child symptom free

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