Coping with asthma in a toddler

[tinymeteor]

Not sure if I'm here for advice or just a hug, but here goes:

DD is just one. Generally happy, healthy and gorgeous, but looks like she's going to be asthmatic. Every cold goes to her jest and requires hospital treatment. We've been in 4 times in as many months, once in a mad dash to ICU and a ventilator... Fucking awful.

How do we cope with worrying that every little sniffle is going to become life threatening? Meow do I cope with trying to look after her when she's struggling and were in a ward and I bloody hate being here and

Posted too soon. You get the picture. She's having a crap time and she's so tiny and I feel irrationally sorry for making her wrong so she has to go through all this. I know lots of people have it worse and asthma is manageable, but ICU scared the crap out of me and I'm struggling a bit, that's all.

Have you got an inhaler or her? Does your GP have an asthma nurse you can ask for advice? Are you under a Paediatrician who specialises in atopic disease? Kick up a fuss at the GPs so they organise support for you.

We've got a 2 year old in the same position and it is very scary. We've got an emergency hospital bag now after having several visits to the hospital over this winter with everything he needs for an overnight stay plus snacks, his red book, and all the discharge letters plus my own notes of his current illness and how we've been treating it at home (you'll be amazed how little you remember when questioned for the 101 time in the middle of the night). He sleeps in the same room as his sister normally but if he's poorly he comes in with us so we can hear his breathing and give him his inhaler before it gets too bad. This is because last time he had croup he had an asthma attack at the same time and he sounded so awful he woke up (and scared) his sister who was fantastic and came to wake us but shouldn't be put through that.

The key is getting the right medication to try to stop things escalating to that point. Does she have a preventer inhaler? Is she under care of a consultant?

Thanks for the responses. We have a consultant appointment coming up in another few weeks following a pneumonia last month, but in the meantime here we are with another chest infection. Been prescribed montelukast as needed but things went too fast for it to work this time. She's had some excellent care but her illness is moving faster than the NHS booking process it seems.

Good advice on the hospital bag, and the record keeping, at least I can get my end of things under control even if I can't control it all.

I just feel so bad for her. She's so little and treatment can be really hard on her. Just wish I could make it better.