Baby heart rate 200 & oxygen 89? Asthma??

[Itsmee12329]

Recently we’ve been sent to hospital twice with our 19 month old toddler. The first time GP sent us as id noticed she was wheezing & her heart felt like it was pounding, GP saw her and sent us to a&e with a letter saying ‘tachycardia’ and WOB.

the 2nd time around, I noticed she was wheezing again but heart didn’t seem like it was beating fast although she was fussing when I was trying to check. But GP again said heart was beating to fast for her to even get an accurate heart rate with the stethoscope and breathing bad again so sent to a&e.

first a&e visit she was given 3 nebuliser back to back along with a steroid medicine and within 3 hours she was back to normal. And we were told most likely it was a viral that caused it but sent home with an inhaler.

3 weeks later - sent to a&e again- and this second a&e visit was a little more scary, nothing seemed to work at first, her oxygen dropped down to the 80’s, her rate was over 200 and it took 9 hours to settle. She was brought round to resus as soon as she was triaged, she all of a sudden went sleepy, her heart went from 198 to 40 and a minute later it went up to 200! We thought she was going to have a heart attack and then all these nurses & doctor came running in & she was put on oxygen for an hour, then 3 blasts of a nebuliser & steroid, then an inhaler & eventually it came down and we where taken out of resus & brought to a normal hospital room for observations.

the person in triage said it seems asthmatic - the GP said it seemed asthmatic - then the doctor at hospital said it seems asthmatic. But we haven’t been given anything other than a blue inhaler and a referral to respiratory which could take goodness knows how long.

does anyone have any experience with this & their child? Does this seem like asthma? Would this be common for an asthma attack?

I’ve purchased an owlet sock and monitoring at home when she seems wheezy so that hopefully we can catch it early if it happens again.

i forgot to mention that both times this happened she had no temperature - but she did have a runny nose. The doctor at the hospital said that a cold can easily trigger an asthma attack in someone with asthma.

but unfortunately they don’t like to diagnose asthma in child nee under the age of 5. My daughter is only 19 months, although the doctor at the hospital did say they can diagnose in under 5’s if it’s serious enough so made the referral to respiratory.

I have absolutely no idea what to think but I can’t settle and feel uneasy, the owlet sock does give us some peace of mind but it’s still all very scary as she sooo young but very very tiny & lightly made up for her age. I’m afraid to google anything as I’m sure it’ll give me worst case scenario so thought I’d get some advice of people who have experienced similar themselves or with their children.

Thank you for your help xx

Does sound like asthma especially as happening without any fever or cold symptoms. Odd they haven’t given you a preventer inhaler the brown one as although they will not officially diagnose asthma til
a but older they should still give you the in inhalers for her.

@Mumoftwo2022 thank you for your reply -

my mum has COPD, and emphysema and she is on a 3 in one inhaler & blue inhaler. My dad has asthma but has never had an asthma attack. My dad has the blue inhaler & brown inhaler and he said the same thing about the brown inhaler - but his asthma seems very different to my daughters as in general she is well but these random breathing problems are very scary and we’re kinda just being sent home without knowing the cause. It’s very daunting as I’d said to my husband, what if this happens at night & we don’t no? This was the reason we bought the owlet sock to monitor her breathing during the night as I really couldn’t settle with the no knowing especially at night as she’s in her own room -

The hospital gave us a blue inhaler and said they couldn’t give us a brown one as she would have to go to respiratory clinic for that, they said the respiratory clinic can ‘treat her for asthma with out diagnosing it’ but the likelihood is they would diagnose it. They told us that they couldn’t & the GP couldn’t diagnose & without it being diagnosed they can’t treat it unless it gets to the point of having to take her to a&e then they can give her the nebuliser & steroid - but it’s frighting and unfair on her that it would have to come to that. The respiratory clinic is a 20 week waiting list which isn’t ideal. But at least she will get seen eventually.

someone suggest cystic fibrosis but I am sure I heard our health visitor mentioned something about the heel prick a baby gets tests for that? I’m almost certain that’s what she told us when I asked what the heel prick was for but I could be mistaken.

she also had a very bloated tummy for a few days after and vomited up a lot of mucus after that episode. But again I’m assuming this is maybe because she swallows most of the mucus when she coughs as she wouldn’t have the sense to spit it out.

Honestly unsure of the whole thing to be honest. I forgot to mention back in December our GP gave us a blue inhaler as she was very chesty & wheezy back then too. But middle of January we got sent to hospital with her and again at the start of February. The suggestion of asthma is the only thing we have had but otherwise clueless.

What a fright for you all. Yes does sound like asthma from what you've described. I hope the referral doesn't take long for your little one. You sound like such a lovely mum and you, and your husband, are doing all the right things for your baby.

My 2.5 year old has now been given a daily steroid called montelukast. This was after a year or so of blue inhaler not really doing enough.
Like you we have been told no diagnoses until 5. In the end I asked the dr to consider giving me something to prevent these episodes rather than relieve the episodes after they happened.
The medication is a bit scary though as soon after he takes it, he gets a massive rush of energy (which he is a bit more used to now).. but for the first week it was quite full on and upsetting to see. He calmed again quickly though.
My toddler has been taking this now for 3 months and we hardly use the blue inhaler now.
Hope you get the support you need for your LO.

@fleeceoffluff aww thank you so much that is so kind of you to say. We really worry about her as she is so little for her age and any time this happens she goes off food for a few days, she was only 19lb back in January - when it happened they weighed her at the hospital & asked her age and when we told them her age they said they where shocked lol! The doctor said oh my goodness I never would have guessed her to be that ages as she’s sooo small even her height, but she is all in proportion. But still very upsetting seeing such a little tote laying in resus with an oxygen mask on and heart rate of 200, it has honestly traumatised me.

@newandconfused5 aww I’m so glad you said this because this is how I feel about the blue inhaler, when she is bad it actually doesn’t do anything. Her breathing doesn’t improve nor does her heart rate. The only thing that seems to actually work is the nebuliser - but like you, I don’t want to have to wait until worst case scenario happens & have to go to a&e, it would be much less distressing for all of us if we had something to nip it on the bud at home before it becomes frightening.

something I personally was never aware of was her throat sucking in, it’s not something I was ever made aware of to look out for, I thought it was the tummy that sucked in. But when we took her to children’s a&e they asked ‘how long has her throat been sucking in for’ I was like sorry what? I hadn’t noticed should I have? But the doctor said no I’m sorry this is something we as paediatric’s would look out for. But I was glad they made me aware of it as it was the first thing I checked on the last occasion when she sounded wheezy to me and thankfully I did as it was sucking is sooo much.

With your little one would this happen very sudden? My little girl seems to go from 0-100 very suddenly. She maybe seem mildly wheezy to extremely wheezy within what seems like about an hour. That’s why I got the owlet sock as the thought of that happening at night while we slept really scared me. You’d think I was on here doing PR for the owlet sock haha! But it really does give us peace of mind

My almost 3 year old is treated as if she's asthmatic. She had her first episode of bronchiolitis at 10 days old where she was blue lighted to hospital struggling to breathe. Since then we've had pneumonia, RSV and bronchiolitis several times. Various admissions, and visits to A&E. Every cold goes straight to her chest and affects her breathing. We had an owlet from when she was tiny, it is very good.
She currently has a brown inhaler and blue and we see a paediatrician twice a year.

When you've seen your baby so poorly it is terrifying I struggled with anxiety around her breathing for a long time possibly some element of PTSD. I'm so sorry you had to witness your baby so unwell.

She touch wood is improving somewhat with age now and the preventer inhaler is helping. Make sure you look up signs of respiratory distress so you know what to look out for I found knowledge really did help me lessen my worry