Baby in hospital on holiday, hand hold needed

We have had very similar with our DS. It’s so stressful and the fear every time they start a cold or a cough starting is unreal!

We got told they can’t diagnose asthma until 5 but we pushed for a preventative inhaler after his last admission (11 days, he just could not get off oxygen!) & he started a cough/cold a week ago and so far no admission needed. Hoping it’s done the trick. We’ve also been told he could still grow out of it all but maybe worth investigating a preventative inhaler (I’m not sure what you were given this time).

I hope your little one gets better soon! It’s so hard and can’t imagine the stress on holiday.

Why does he need to be seen at home? You can get to appointments

Oh OP, must be so worrying.

My sister has lived in Spain for ever, married, grandkids etc.

I hear the medical care is excellent there. Sending hugs.

My son was exactly the same. Needed oxygen when born and been hospitalised a few times for rsv/oxygen issues when ill. He’s 16 months and we’ve been told he has ‘hyperactive airway disease’ and he has a blue and brown pump. Brown he has everyday and blue as and when needed. This has really worked for my son but I had to be super super pushy. They kept telling me they don’t give brown pump for children this young. I refused to leave until a sufficient plan to get my child better was made and low and behold gp ‘checked’ and he can have it aslong as I report back to them how he’s doing on it every 3m. Unfortunately I think some children can be more prone to things like this and it’s horrible to watch, my son always perked up within a couple of days. Sending love OP!

Hey OP. What are the doctors saying? Is he still in hospital and what’s the treatment plan?
If you feel that he is not improving ask them to take him to Son Espases hospital in Palma. Is a tertiary care hospital with doctors 24hours and proper consultants in situ. A pediatrician will assess your baby and decide on what’s best.

Good luck and hope he has a speedy recovery ❤️‍🩹 they also have translators in case you need access to them

Our nicu baby DD was in hospital age 18 months with rsv which turned into bronchiolitis. The full on throwing up the gunk and milk and belly breathing. I’m sure she got asthma from it. Every time after that she got sick and couldn’t breathe. Scary to watch, but It wasn’t bad enough to warrant hospital. This was during Covid so her GP wouldn’t see her until she had a cleared pcr test which took 3 days every frigging time. Eventually we complained so much we were given liquid albuterol which helped quite a bit. We moved house after that and the new GP on first visit was shocked we didn’t have a diagnosis. She listened once during a general checkup after a bout of sickness, it wasn’t even in full force and could immediately hear it. She gave us a steroid/albuterol inhaler. We only use it when she’s sick and it makes a huge difference. It’s so scary when they can’t breathe, sending healing hugs.

The biggest tightest hug for you xx Im so sorry for everyone in this. 😞

So sorry OP! I’m sure you know that CMPA (milk intolerance) has put him at significantly higher asthma risk. My child was diagnosed with asthma around 2 because of repeated croup and nasty colds always going on his chest. I also have it, do you or your partner?

I had the RSV jab in pregnancy and my youngest is rarely unwell, just Incase you’re wondering if there may be a link there.

please dont blame yourself but I’d push hard when you’re back for an asthma assessment and more allergy testing. If your son has eczema (mine did too) he’s even more likely to have asthma.

I second other posters that have said if you can get him an echo (an ultrasound,) and an ecg for his heart, that will rule out any heart defects as sn underlying cause. Don't let that scare you, it's not as awful as it sounds!
Maybe take advantage of insurance to get it done in Spain.

Hope your son is on the mend xx

Hi there OP I'm so sorry to hear about your son. My son is 18 months and we've been to hell and back with bronch, difficulty breathing each time he has a cold, nebulisers etc. Because he's had so many admissions we are under the respiratory team and he has he orange inhaler as the brown one wasn't enough to stop him being very dangerously ill. He is in the right place. We also have an older toddler and yes they do get ill from sibling but that doesn't mean there isn't underlying asthma/ viral wheeze etc. I know how anxiety provoking it is but you will all get through this. When you are back go and see your GP and push for a referral and or make sure they note this admission on his record. Sending lots of love and hand holds xxx

This was my experience too - except I saw an excellent asthma nurse at our gp after pushing, really advocating for my DD and not taking no for an answer basically. She explained why steroids help so much as their lungs are still developing until after age 5. We eventually got a combi(white/lilac) inhaler which was life changing. After multiple admissions up to age 3, her wheeze was then controlled and she has grown out of needing it just last winter aged 8. Totally understand the anxiety OP, hugs 🫂

Big handheld and sending lots of positive thoughts your way.

Big hug.

it sounds very like my now 7 year old son. Over the years things have got better but I remember between the age of 1 and 2 was the worst - every cold would result in a chest infection, low oxygen and nebuliser if we were lucky or overnight stay on oxygen if not. He had 12 rounds of antibiotics over the course of that year for chest infections (basically every time he got ill!)

Like you we were prescribed an inhaler but told they can’t diagnose asthma that young - which didn’t really help all that much until we were put on an inhaler protocol - which says that as soon as they get a cough or cold you start giving them the blue inhaler - 2 puffs every 4 hours without fail and more if the cough gets worse. It really helped his body give it the bit of help it needed to start fighting off these colds on its own. He still suffered with them a lot more than his brother ever did but still better than hospital trips and antibiotics. He also got a brown inhaler for when things were bad. As time has gone on he has started to need this less and less - since the end of reception year I’ve noticed he barely needs an inhaler at all. I don’t have to use the inhaler protocol anymore for every cold but when he’s got a really bad one we revert to it still. Maybe ask the doctor about that the next time you’re in the hospital? May not work for you guys of course so just a suggestion.

In the meantime I hope your little one gets better soon. Sending him well wishes and positive thoughts.

My DD ended up in hospital at least once a year with bronchitis type viruses until she was about 4yo.

Thankfully, she (hopefully) appears to have grown out of it but I remember worrying that she might have cystic fibrosis. All sorts used to go through my head, I think it’s normal as a parent that wants to help their child.

I don’t know if they will asthma test as young as three, she had to wait until 6 and struggled with the test event then.

I hope your LO is okay, I’m sorry you’re all going through this 💐

Hi @glassofbrancott
DS had bronchiolotis at about four months and had a persistent wheeze that got worse with a cold. He had the spacer with preventer and reliever inhalers (pulmicort and salbutomol I recall). Then he was given a nebuliser for ventolin in bad phases. He also had a cpl of doses of oral steroids. Every time he had a hospital apt, we saw someone different and we had him referred privately to the Royal Brompton.Best money we ever spent. A session with their asthma nurse was the turning point. For £25 we bought a turbohaler, a third of the size of the spacer and much easier to handle but not available on the NHS. That nurse also pointed out that counting to 10 wasn't good enough if the baby held their breath and that whilst 10 breaths was best, they got most of the dose in the first couple of breaths but they had to breathe. With the turbohaler and better advice he turned the corner and never needed the nebuloliser again. By 15mo we just started the preventer at the firsr sign of a sniffle. By 7, it was a memory.

He ended up playing front row, 6ft, very.

This too shall pass and soon you will be home. However, I'd recommend a private referral to a specialist.

My son had very similar bouts of viral induced wheeze as a baby/toddler where he would cough for hours and end up gasping for breath. Many many trips to hospital for the nebuliser! Every cold seemed to massively affect him and we were given a blue inhaler to use regularly and also more frequently when he started to wheeze. It definitely helped but he was still very prone to coughs and had lots of episodes of croup that always needed treating with steroids before it would shift. We were seen by an asthma nurse when he was 2 or 3 but they said he was too old for a formal diagnosis - lo and behold about a year later he grew out of it completely and has not had an episode in over 3 years! He has had the odd cough and cold but they don’t affect his chest at all anymore and he doesn’t need an inhaler.

I've worked as a HCP in the NHS for over 30 years and given the choice I'd absolutely choose the Spanish health care system over ours.
Have you got decent travel insurance OP? If so that should cover your extended stay and flights home as well as medical costs.

Hand hold

This won’t help you now but when you get back home, please speak to your gp and insist on an asthma review. It is absolutely not the case that they have to wait until he is 3. My boy had a similar start to yours and gets a very bad viral wheeze, almost every time he picks up a bug. He is on brown inhalers twice a day, has a blue inhaler and when it gets really bad he also need oral steroids (Predisnolone) and antibiotics. We know the signs now and as soon as he starts getting a snotty nose we start him on the brown inhaler. There is also a powder caked Montelukast that he takes every night during the winter months to help prevent a full on outbreak. They do grow out of it as they get older but in the meantime, this combination of meds helps massively to prevent hospitalisation.

I hope he gets better soon. Feel free to message me if you need any more info xx

I have always had great paediatric care in Spanish hospitals. I think everything will be ok. But you do need to push for more tests at home.

Hi 👋
my ds was in that exact hospital at 18 months old. They were so thorough. In the end we self discharged and caught our flight as we felt he had stabilised enough to travel (gastro bug, dehydrated etc), it was a horrendously stressful time and I really feel for you. He was on a drip and everything. We got off our flight and went to a&e, all was fine in the end. He’s almost 14 now. Hope all goes well xx

Hand hold. Step-GGD had similar problems and in and out of hospital. Has grown much stronger and came 7th in race (primary school sports day - last year this would have been almost impossible) this week. Long ago DD in hospital with bronchiolitis but grew out of the chestiness too. It will be okay.

This sounds exactly like my 2 children.it always followed the same pattern. Runny nose for a few days, then coughing, then sucking in at the ribs and throat. They were eventually diagnosed with asthma and have inhalers and are doing much better.