Giving a 7 month old ventolin - any advice gratefully received

[Theodora]

My youngest child was prescribed ventolin today with a spacer and mask to help her with a persistent cough. The GP suggested giving it to her when she is asleep if it is difficult to give to her when awake. She hated it when awake, although we tried to make it fun, so I tried again after she had fallen into a deep sleep. She pushed it away and fought it while asleep so I am unsure if she has inhaled any of the ventolin.

Has anyone got any tips for ensuring she gets the medicine? Thanks very much.

• what spacer does she have? DS has been on inhalers since he was 6 months, at first he had the big spacers which he hated but when it was changed to a much smaller aerochamber it made a massive difference.

• Give her the spacer to play with so she can get used to it and it doesnt seem as scary

• When it is time to give her the inhaler let her see you pretend to take the inhaler

-Make sure you dont cover her eyes when holding the mask onto her face, I found that made it much worse for DS.

I cant help on doing it in the sleep, it has always been hit and miss if DS will take his when sleeping without waking up.

If push comes to shove though I have before now pinned him down while I do it, even if screaming they are getting the medicine in so its better than nothing although not a pleasant way of doing it.

Hi, DD is a bit older now and not so bad with her spacer but when that age we tried to make it fun by giving it to her teddy and other toys. Putting stickers on it also helped but I guess she's a bit young for that. Otherwise we had to 'hold her down'. The nurse showed us the best way to do this, sit with your legs out in front of you, put her head between your legs and put her arms under your legs to keep her still. Looks horrible but doesn't hurt her and gets the medicine into her which is the important thing. Good luck.

That's interesting. I was told by pediatrician at hospital when my DD2 had bronchiolitis that ventolin didn't work on babies aged under 10 months.

Anyhoo, god this is so hard isn't it? Am afraid that the only thing that worked for us when DD1 was a baby was to hold her still and give it despite her protestations. Seem to remember it was easiest if I held her still on my knee ( effectively in the vaccination position) and someone else administered the puffer. Horrible to force it on them, but if they have to have it then they have to have it.

In my experience it's impossible to give it while they're asleep as the smell wakes them up. Also, the ventolin has some kind of stimulant in it, which will definitely wake them up

Sorry to hear you're dealing with this. Hope DD better soon

Greenleafytrees With DS they started him on atrovent first (which they said is what is normally used in under 1s), they after a few months he was on Atrovent and ventolin (so about 8/9 months). When he reached 12 months they changed the atrovent for clenil. So I think atrovent is often the preffered inahler for under 1.

The big NHS spacers are hard to use. I recommend an Aerochamber you can use with one hand, and use the other hand to control your baby.

agree with leafy. we had to adopt a fairly robust approach with ds1, as otherwise he wouldn't have got any. it usually takes two people once they are of wriggleable and screamable dimensions (about 6 weeks - we had to start nebulising him at 1 weeks, which was past the 'one person can manage in a pinch' point.)

with older kids you can try the distraction techniques (and use the 'oh look, teedy's taking his medicine' approach), but with tinies you are just as well to get on with it (if they scream louder they are sucking in more ) and distract afterwards.

11 weeks lol. we did manage to keep him alive without any help prior to taht.

Oh, thank you all for replying so quickly.

I did use the spacer first to show her 'what fun it was' so she was smiling when I gave it to her, but she wanted to bite the mask rather than have it covering her mouth and nose. Good ideas to try it on teddies and give it to her to play with. Also we have a smaller spacer in the house so I can try with that one in case it makes a difference. It is also really useful to hear that you've had to force it on your children, horrid to do, but essential if they won't take it any other way. Thanks so much for your advice.

We have been referred to a paediatrician as she is underweight so I can ask about the efficacy of ventolin in babies under 10 months.

Thanks again - I really appreciate it.

Was thinking overnight how sad for all of you that you've had to become experts in giving inhalers to babies. I really appreciate all your advice and wish your children good health.

Hi,

Can second trying an aerochamber, DS hated the big spacer (he was 5mths). We were told that ventolin wasn't always effective for under ones, we had atrovent first but made no difference whereas ventolin did.

With DS we made up a puffer song which we sang when we gave it, also helped us time how long he had been breathing it in. He still sings the song to himself now at 2 1/2. (he had bronchiolitis at 5mths but then developed asthma - hence still needing puffer, but i think the asthma was there before the bronchiolitis if you see what i mean!)

Theodora how is he today?

Dribbleface I think the same about DS, it would explain why the bronchiolitis was so bad if he already had an underlying problem.

I think you need to share the puffer song with us all!! We just do boring counting to 10 - but DS is already good at counting at 17 months (although the order of numbers does change most days!)

DS has been prescribed ventolin today for the first time The GP said to not worry too much about having the mask over his face and to just hold it as near as you can (sort of waving it in front of their mouth) and instead of giving 2 blasts, give 4 on the basis that only half of it is likely to go in.

CAn you swaddle her to keep the hands and legs out of the way? We did that with ds (but he was very tiny for his age).

We used to sing the Thomas the tank engine theme while pining DD down to take it.

Sirzy - i have read lots of posts on here that seem to suggest the same. as for sharing the puffer song, nah thats too embarrassing!

We were terrible with DD1 - I used to put her vest on her but not put her arms in the sleeves the popper the bottom up. She would then yell and I would quickly do the deed, our asthma nurse said screaming is actually a good way to get it into them and they breathe it in much deeper. It made me feel horrible but it was that and DD1 breathing properly or happy play games but don't get it in properly method and end up with DD in hospital.

If all else fails, you can get ventolin syrup. This isn't often prescribed as it's considered inferior to the inhaled versions. But it's a heck of a lot better than nothing if you really can't crack inhaler use for now.

I play it like a trumpet, I honk, quick swap to his mouth and a silly honk, swap honk, swap honk, swap honk (relax giggle).....'pufffffff'

I've a really bad signal here on holiday, so have only just seen all your kind messages and advice.

Thanks so much. We've actually been quite successful so far. She enjoys playing with it, then I pretend to use it, breathing in and out very loudly making silly noises. She giggles and tries to grab it, so I puff it and mask her while making the same silly noises. She seems to enjoy it for a short while, though has looked a bit panicked by 10 seconds occasionally.

She actually seems very jolly and healthy apart from a stinky cold and cough. I've not heard any wheezing or seen her struggling to breathe so am not sure if she has got asthma or whether the gp just heard a rattley chest (or is a rattley chest called asthma??!! Am rather ignorant and obviously didn't ask the gp the right questions).

Happy Easter x x

Hope you are enjoying the holiday.

It is unlikely that it is asthma at this age (they rarely diagnose asthma in under 2s unless very serious) but a lot of littles ones get a viral wheeze when poorly which the inhalers often work well on.

Thank you Sirzy, that's really helpful. I felt really pleased this morning as I produced the inhaler this morning, she started giggling and laughing. I kept the mask on for about 20 seconds after puffing as she was was still laughing (and inhaling!). I would not have had the first idea how to do it without all the brilliant advice here - so thanks very much. Presumably I can stop giving it to her if she's not wheezing?