Ventolin refused

[Trooperslane]

How do you get a nearly 4 year old to use a spacer and a blue inhaler?

She hates it and I know it's non negotiable, but short of holding her down I can't get her to.

Any magic tips?

Give her the option of taking it voluntarily, or to be pinned down.
She'll refuse both, so tell her that she needs it, she has to take it, and so you'll have to pin her down, then do so.
Do the same for every dose, after 2 or 3 she'll take it voluntarily.

If she refuses then holding her down is exactly what you need to do.

Let her play with the spacer, give toys pretend inhaler whatever but ultimately if she refuses then you have to pin down

Unfortunately you'll just have to hold her down. Like a PP said, give her the option. If she won't take it voluntarily then that's the only option for her I'm afraid

You just have to pin them down if they won't do it happily.

You hold her down. It's not optional, it's life saving. But before you do, you tell her what nice thing you're going to do when it's done (sweets/story/cuddles/tv time/whatever it is). Not "if she's good," but just "when it's finished."

And then you go ahead and hold her if you have to - get a second adult to help if you can. And you give it to her, and afterwards you say well done, because she did it. And then you get whatever nice thing it is you'd talked about.

And next time you point out how she will get the nice thing faster if she fights less, and you get it done. And so on.

No very hard if it's just you I know; we end up on the floor, me wrapped around her.

But you cannot let her not take it.

Please just make sure she has it. Failing to do so for an easy life is the way to hospital admissions and all sorts of grief.

How about, immediately after pinning her down and once she has had the required number of breaths, there is a reward (sweet, trading card packet) - something which she can't get at any other time other than immediately after ventolin so that she decides to acquiesce to ventolin in order to get the treat.

Hey all.

Great responses - I know from bitter experience with myself why it's non negotiable.

I'll try a few things and update the thread which might help some others.

It isn't helped by three fact that we've been dahn sarf this weekend and it's 32!

Looking forward to returning to the frozen north where it's only 24

Arm yourself with a lot of small treats like chocolate buttons.

Break down the action of giving the inhaler to all its smaller components, e.g. getting her to touch the inhaler, getting her to pick up the inhaler, getting her to put the inhaler to her nose, etc. Find the action she is willing to do, even if it is just looking at the inhaler, get her to do that, give her a button, repeat a few times. See if she's is willing to move to the next step, if yes move onto repeating and rewarding the next step, if not give her a ten minute break then go back to it. Stick to the positive. You may be surprised how quickly she accepts the inhaler.

I have used this technique on a one year old, a dog and a horse. It is used for a variety of animals that could never be pinned down and is less traumatic than sheer force.