asthma advice, 7mo

[ninaandbean]

hello asthma mummies - My LO is too young for an official diagnosis, but has been wheezing for a long time, and since contracting a mucousy cough and struggling to breathe he's been prescribed a ventolin inhaler (12xpuffs a day with a diffuser).

I had asthma when I was little, LO fits the profile (exzema, wheezing, mild milk intolerance). Anyway, I'm not very stressed out about it, but I did want to know a couple of things -

*do you keep track of how many puffs you give so that you know when the inhaler has run out?
*how do you know when to give a puff? I'm doing it by the clock for five days to kick the cold induced wheeze on the butt, however I've been advised to give it to him after that 'when he needs it'. He can't tell me when that is, so for more experienced asthma mums - what do you look out for?

My mum had to give inhalers to me and my sister when we were tiny and she said she gave them when we had a cough, followed by a wheeze. Do you always wait for the cough?

whole new world of worry just opened up! He didn't sleep at all last night from 4am, when he cries at the mo cos of the cold he really can't breathe well at all and struggles to even make noise when he cries. I have no idea when it's just wheezy bad upset baby, and when it's scary wheezy and I should do something different (call the doc).

advice/reassurance all welcome! Thanks

I have taken DS2 (1 last week)to the GP today as I've had to give him his older DB's inhaler for the last couple of nights (and DS1 is not quite 3 so I know some of your worry!)

I use the calendar in my phone to tell me when the date is up on the brown inhaler (200 doses, 2 a day so approximately 50 days' time) I haven't really worked out a reliable system for the blue one, especially as DH gives it to him more than I do. It doesn't have to sound empty before it is empty, if you see what I mean. In fact, with my own inhalers, I never get it to sound empty and know I've used up the official metered doses. I go on when it's feeling a bit light (very scientific!) and how lonjg it is since we got it (if I can remember!)

I give them the inhalers when wheezy, breathless or uncontrollable coughing occurs. Bizarrely, DS1 is the opposite to me and responds well to going out in the cold air - it seems like it resets him. Beware though, as that makes me much worse - we found it out for DS1 by accident one evening when I was rishing him to the GP on a dark, cold evening!

I know that you can tell if they are really struggling if their tummies are having to work really hard to help with breathing - lift up bedclothes and see if there is a lot of movement just under the ribs. This situation probably means you need help from the hospital/GP.

We have steamed DS1 a lot in the bathroom at night and this helps. It certainly helps me too with the pain of an attack. Put in the plug, turn on the shower and close the door and windows so it gets very steamed up. Paintwork in our house is ruined but DS1 is healthy!!

Remember that an attack can be very tiring so don't expect too much the following day.
As someone who goes by my peak flow, I'm always frustrated that you can't measure LO's peak flow until they're about 7! In the meantime, go with your instincts. I have also been told that these days hospitals will try 30 puffs of ventolin before using a nebuliser - so you can't really overdose them on it, apart from having a racing feeling in your chest from it (not that I would ever get anywhere near that amount at home - I tend to give a double dose twice and then call for help if no improvement after a few minutes).

I think ultimately that you go on the work the child is doing to breathe and whether they look blue around the lips, fingernails etc.. Also, no hospital is ever going to tell off a worried parent if you get it wrong and the child is fine.

You do get used to it in the end. I used to worry a lot about DS1 and then I had DS2 who has sleep apnoea and that's a whole lot more scary!!
p.s. having just reread the end of your post, I think I would have taken him to the medics if he couldn't make noise crying, as with adults a bad sign is if they can't hold a conversation - perhaps the equivalent for a baby?

thank you very much for your helpful advice! Always great to hear from someone who's been there done that, even though it would be nicer if we didn't need to know at all. We have found he's much happier in the bath so I'll bear in mind the steam as much as possible :)

it's good to know you can't overdose on ventolin as well - I did use it as a child as well as salbutamol (I think? can't really remember!) but it's scary giving drugs to a tiny baby. I hope your LO's stay in the pink of health :)

Ds is 15 months and has asthma. With the brown inhaler I work out how long it will last as it's a regular 6 puffs a day, with the blue I haven't yet found a reliable way to monitor it, but I always make sure I have a spare inhaler in for him

With Ds I look for him getting more breathless when playing, often when an attack is building he gets unexplainably grumpy aswell I have noticed. Then the wheezing and xough

Sorry pressed post. Then the wheezing and coughing tend to follow. At the first sign of a cold I give ventolin as that always triggers his asthma.

It is a case of finding what works for your lo though

thanks Sirzy - late night A&E trip last night for steroids :( horrible to watch him struggle to breathe. Today it's just watch and wait. I've found and bookmarked other asthma threads for now, to research some more suggestions. Hopefully he'll be on the mend soon.

Hope the steroids kick in soon!

The asthma support thread on here is great, I have found the mums on there are often more helpful than professionals simply because they have lived it if that makes sense.

Hope he's better soon and your late night trip wasn't too traumatic. Keep going back to the GP/hospital if you are worried.

back to the GP today... not much fun is it?

i find the steroids work well- and seem to help the blue inhaler work more. i feel your pain- my ds is 16 months old now and has had proabale astma since 9weeks old due ot a bad case of bronchiolitis. its horrible not knowing when to ring for a doctor or an ambulance. they do recover fast though!

he's much better today :) steroids and inhaler are having an impact - he actually slept ok last night! Phew! Just to make the full set though, he's got an ear infection today that the GP has given antibiotics. Poor little man! Diarrhea, breathing problems, croup cough, and now earache! What a crummy week for him! I feel much better seeing him interested in food/milk and toys today though. Much, much better. Thanks for the support guys.