asthma inhaler related questions! 11mo

[poocatcherchampion]

following the recent threads on here I have taken 11mo dd to the doc yesterday for persistent night coughing and she has a blue inhaler and spacer which we have used last night and this morning.

j

sorry dd helped.

can anyone give tips on how to use it with out too much telling? she is too young for explanations and understandably hates it on her face. we manage a few of her breaths but that doesn't seem long enough.

also can anyone explain why he gave blue instead of brown when we are not using it as a reliever?

thanks in advance

At that age it was a two person job for us. One to hold the baby, the other to hold the mask. We just did it and got it over and done with ASAP, despite screaming and protesting.

It is normal to start with a blue inhaler and then if that helps they may look at adding the brown. Have you got a review in a few weeks?

Which spacer do you have? Although I know they aren't always reccomdended when DS was younger I found the smaller aerochamber type was much better than the volumatic we now use (he is 3 and been using inhalers since he was 7 months)

Let her play with the spacer a bit, put it over your face and pretend to give it to yourself. But at this age sometimes it is just a pin down and get it done job. We always count to 10 out loud whilst holding it on to.

thanks yes we have got a review in a few weeks.

will try to counting to ten thing as a guideline as well

And please don't feel bad about any restraining and screaming . We have all been there, it's horrible but it's to help.

Agree aerochamber was better for ds1. If on own you can sit them on floor between legs, enabling you to hold mask on. We made up a song and used to sing it, he still asks me to sing it now and he's 4! It's horrible but necessary sometimes to just get it done. Second allowing to play with spacer, we used to give his teddies it too!

What's the difference between the voluminer and the aerospacer ? I don't know which we have! Its a kind of see through column with yellow edges (child size as they were out of infant ones annoyingly and the only pharmacyto have anything)

I used to tell myself that if they are yelling then they are breathing it good and deep.

All the play, giving it to bears, etc helps ensure they are not scared of the inhaler, which is important, but it's not likely to make them like it - hence the 'pin them down' approach comes into play.

That sounds like the aerochaber, the volumatic is much bigger.

well that was a joy! I consoled myself with the thoughts of all the other parents pinning their children down around the country

It took three of us to pin down my dd the first time in hospital. All been there I promise :)

With reference to the aerochamber we found that the orange infant one was too small especially with a struggling baby. Nurse on childrens ward said she found it easier with the yellow one

DS is 15 months and we give him something he likes to hold while administering the inhalter. currently that's a bottle of antibiotics he's on as well - he enjoys the taste... doesn't always help put makes it a bit easier. otherwise i second the "pin them down and get it over and done with" approach.