Viral wheeze- a&e and hospital admission - any experiences?

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We took my 17 month old to A&E last night as he’d developed a wheeze alongside a cold and was breathing in quite a laboured way. (Sucking at the ribs and 40 breaths pm) He’s got a history of wheezing with colds and has had several rounds of antibiotics for it in the past. We’ve always been to the GP but this time symptoms came on overnight and his breathing seemed more of a struggle.

Anyway he was given 10 doses of inhaler and observation but they weren’t happy with how long the wheeze stayed away between doses so he’s now been admitted and he’ll keep it up until he is clear of wheeze for 4 hrs in between doses.

My partner got quite cross about the admission said lots of kids get wheezy with colds and that we should have waited and gone to the GP. I’ve sent him home to sleep because his annoyance just wasn’t helpful.

Was A&E the right thing? I kind of feel like hospitals are so stretched right now they wouldn’t have admitted him unnecessarily.

the fact he was admitted shows it was the right thing. You don’t take risks with breathing.

if May be that he needs a short course of oral steroids to help clear his chest

They wouldn’t have admitted in him if he wasn’t unwell. Of course you were right to take him.

Both mine have been in hospital with viral wheeze/bronchiolitis. I hope he bounces back quickly.

Your partner is a dick.

You wouldn't have been admitted for shits and giggles.

My DD ended up in a high dependency unit with a viral wheeze. Was there for 4 days and extremely close to being intubated. You did the right thing by going to a&e.

We had the same with my youngest, he is off today with it! Look it is very dangerous when they can't absorb enough oxygen, when ds was admitted there were 10 little boys in there, it's very common and easy to treat. But you must treat it you can not ignore the symptoms and some kids need steroids so you must take them to the hospital.

Why are men such dicks?
People can die from respiratory arrest and its not obvious necessarily how much difficulty they are in. Would your partner risk a dead child? Knob

Your partner is a twit.
The clue is in the name VIRAL antibiotics do not work on viruses.

It's common, most kids it's a one off, others it's really a symptom of asthma but they can't diagnosis asthma until 5 or 6.
Others like mine sort of out grew it but was in hospital 4 times for 3-4 days between 18mths and 2 1/2. He ended up with an inhaler for a while.

My DS was admitted several times when he was younger with a viral wheeze (he’s since grown out of it) and they wouldn’t admit you if they didn’t need to. They’ll want to keep an eye on him and his oxygen levels. Once he can make it to 4 hours without needing ventolin he’ll be discharged with a plan to gradually reduce the inhaler amount.

Its scary when they are admitted but he’s in the right place.

They like to keep an eye on them if there is any concern.
Your partner is probably having a majorly unhelpful reaction to a stressful situation by going into denial. It's not an attractive quality. I spent half a lifetime with someone the same and could never change his reaction or get him to understand when something really was serious. So I'd advise not bothering - save your breath.

I should probably add on the first occasion I took him too GP who pointed me in A&E direction. Second time I couldn't get a GP appointment until much later in the day and the GPs receptionist said if its that bad go to A&E.

I’m a paeds nurse and children can die so of course they are correct to keep them if they aren’t going 4 hours between mdi. I’ve seen children intubated, in icu so getting on top of it as early as you can with inhalers and dr review is important and sounds like you knew what to look out for op. Your partner thinks he knows it all and that’s dangerous. When children go to sleep their oxygen levels can drop quite a bit which is why we prefer to keep kids in to monitor them etc administer 02 if needed. My own son is asthmatic and we use the same treatment he’s been quite unwell a few times. It’s scary how unwell they can be.

Ugh it's so worrying. I have been there many many times with both of my children.

DS2 was particularly bad, having been admitted for 3 days with bronchiolitis at just 3 weeks old he then constantly had viral wheeze and/or croup that needed hospital treatment every time he had a cold up until the age of around 5. Sometimes we had to stay overnight when they couldn't ease it with one steroid dose one time we had to stay a couple of days. We were given a blue inhaler for him to use at home. Sometimes we could also get a steroid prescription to keep at home too but they don't really like doing that as they like to observe them when they have an episode.

DS1 had it but not so badly. Funnily enough after the age of 5ish DS2 hasn't yet an episode at all but DS1 has continued to need an inhaler when he has a cold (brown one for prevention during the winter months and a blue one to ease symptoms when he needs it) and seems to have continued to have asthma whereas DS2 hasn't. I hate that he seems to have asthma now and at almost 11 hasn't 'grown out of it' because to me that feels like he's always going to have it. I hope your LO has a speedy recovery.

I took my 18 month old in with laboured breathing. She had very low oxygen levels and was quickly admitted. They thought it was viral wheezing but the inhaler didn't have any effect. Turned out to be a very severe chest infection and she needed IV antibiotics and a few nights in hospital. I'm very thankful that it was taken seriously and treated at the hospital.

You were right to take your little one in. I hope they're feeling better soon.

Thanks everyone for helping me not second guess myself.

My partner is mostly not remotely a dick but he’s not the strongest on stepping up emotionally. And I think there’s something about hospitals.

Of course it was the right thing. Sure if at the onset you notice and the GPs are open then you can sometimes catch it in time to open up the airways with steroids, but if they are closed and if a child is struggling then of course hospital is the correct place. The 4 hours between inhalers is common before being discharged, they're in the right place if they aren't reaching this yet. Hospitals don't admit children on a whim, they assessed and knew they needed a bit of help. Follow your instincts anyway, if you would have gone in and they'd have said he'll be okay at home then that's still better than not and things deteriorating.

How is he this morning?

@Sirzy thank you for asking.

Still quite wheezy but not labouring but breath as much. He’s had a nebuliser.

He’s generally a very perky energetic child and he had an upbeat period after breakfast of toddling the corridors and charming the staff but has hit a wall now. Nap time for both of us I hope!