Toddler asthma

[flowerlover1990]

My son (2 in December) has been given a blue pump and a brown pump to help with asthmatic symptoms when he gets poorly but been told to take brown pump daily. We’ve been in and out of hospital/GP surgery for recurrent chest wheezing/breathing issues since his first winter. Finally we have had an X-ray done and consultant said his chest looks asthmatic. I don’t know anyone with asthma and neither myself or my partner have anyone in our family with it either so I’m a bit clueless. Could anyone give me any tips on how to help my son please? Anything else I can be doing? It seems his is very seasonal if that’s a thing?? He’s been fine all year (Spring,Summer) and this is the first seasonal cold that’s affected him. He doesn’t get out of breath running around. Will he grow out of it? He hates the taste of the brown pump at the moment. Just feeling really deflated and worried.

We’re in the same situation. They don’t really know if it’s asthma, but she’s high risk as she has eczema. It only seems to be a problem when she gets a cold, but she gets a terrible cough and a crackly chest every time.

Our constant basically said she may or may not get ashthma, too early to tell, but the inhalers will help in the meantime.

Weve really really struggled getting her to actually use the inhaler, so we’ve had to resort to bribery and even then we only get about 1 good breath in, if that. The idea of getting her to do 5 deep inhales is laughable!

But it’s now part of her routine and touch wood, her cough seems to have reduced so well stick with it for now.

Take a look at Asthma U.K., they even have a helpline for parents https://www.asthmaandlung.org.uk/support-parents-carers

About 7 million people in the UK have asthma, it’s really common. Keep persevering with the brown inhaler. Bribery is fine (chocolate buttons work wonders at this age in my experience) and make sure you consistently explain with age appropriate explanations, even from 1 it helps.

Asthmatic for 50+ years here. It doesn't matter about the taste. Taking the preventer regularly is the single most important thing you can do. I'm not a fan of bribery in general, but this is a bit like potty training so I might be tempted in this case. It's something your child needs to regard as absolutely non-negotiable. Asthma can kill.

DS who is now 15, asthma is like this. He can play sport fine but as soon as he gets a cold has problems. It has definitely got better as he's got older but he hasn't outgrown it yet and with our family history he's unlikely to.

Is your son just being treated by the GP or was it the hospital who prescribed the inhaler. Does he have a spacer as well? They don't taste great but they do just have to get used to it.

Thanks for the reassuring comments everyone. I really appreciate it. From an anxious first time mama.

@MigGirl We’ve been under the consultant at the hospital as he had a terrible winter last year when he was 1. They suspected it then, but he was too young. I’ve kept an eye on him through the spring and summer months and he’s been absolutely fine. We’ve just had our first winter cold and he’s been struggling with a crackly chest. Had a follow up review ant the hospital and they did another X-ray and said he defo looks asthmatic. He does have a spacer and doesn’t mind putting it on, it’s just the taste makes him run a mile. But maybe the bribery of a little treat will help!
I’m pleased to hear your son can still play sports ok. We are a very sporty family so this was my first worry.

@flowerlover1990 Noah Lyles, who won the gold medal for the 100m sprint at the Paris olympics, has ashthma, and that made me feel much better! (Obviously an outlier but shows what medication can do!)

We’ve been on Clenil Modulite 50 for 2 days now and my son is completely different. Very tense, angry, hyperactive 😢 I’m so worried I’ve lost my happy little boy. Does anyone have any advice please?

My 4 YO has struggled with his chest, he was in A&E for the first time just after he turned 1 on the nebuliser, and has been in a number of times since then. He's been admitted for 3 days once, as they couldn't keep his oxygen levels up. We've seen numerous professionals who say they don't diagnose asthma until after 5 as many kids grow out of it. However mine is basically being treated for asthma even though they won't officially diagnose him, which seems ridiculous.

Firstly, I second what someone else has said, keep using the brown preventer. A top tip - Have you been told to rinse his mouth after he has it? It does say to do it on the fine print on the box, but who reads that?! My son got Oral thrush earlier this year and it's basically from his inhaler and not rinsing his mouth. He then passed the thrush to his younger brother (toddler who likes to share everyone's cup etc) and he was a nightmare to give the thrush treatment to!

Secondly, trust your gut about when to get medical help. Have you been told the signs to look out for in terms of skin sucking in at the ribs and his throat etc? We've been misinformed by a GP to go home and we went to A&E despite of that and his oxygen level was at 87%...after that I bought an oxygen finger monitor to use as a bit of a gauge at home (obviously I know we aren't medical professionals and don't only trust the monitor) I'm not saying this to scare you at all but just worth knowing what you are looking for - I'm dreading another winter because like you, our son just struggles over winter.

Regarding your last post, I don't think the inhaler is making him in a cranky mood... I'd suggest it's more likely if he's feeling rough and under the weather? Hopefully he's more like himself soon!

Exactly the same situation with my now 4 year old who has had multiple admissions every year until he was put on montelukast. Absolutely life changing!

Ooooo this is interesting, this is our first winter on montelukast and I'm hoping it's as successful for us!!

My toddler (2.5ys) is on inhalers, started using it in January. I didn't even realise how much he was coughing until 2 weeks into using them and he no longer coughed at night,the house was so quiet! Most of the time he just has 1 puff on the preventer at night and this controls it but as soon as I think hes getting a cold we do 2 morning and 2 at night at this seems to keep his coughing under control. We use the blue as needed but so far this winter has been so much better.

My older child started inhalers in the summer as his hayfever was so bad he coughed constantly. We tried his brothers blue inhaler and he would stop coughing instantly.

So we have 1 who if effected by the colder weather and 1 who is effected by the warmer weather/hayfever🙈. But we have a history of asthma and hayfever on both sides of our families.

DD has severe asthma (multiple asthma medications daily including montelukast) and multiple allergies. We’ve recently started using an air purifier and it has really helped. Ever since she was born I’ve been able to hear her breathing (I never used a baby monitor as it wasn’t required). Now she is breathing silently. I wish someone had recommended this to me before!

Just checked the packaging of my meds (combi, contains beclometasone). It may be related to the medication and apparently occurs more often in children than adults. Advice is to contact the specialist/prescriber.

It takes time to find the right medication. It took me over a year and I had several bad chest infections in the meantime. I changed medication. Now I am more stable, although sometimes it still goes "wrong".

Touch wood but he’s been admitted for up to a week at a time multiple times a year including an hdu admission. This happened EVERY time he got a cold. Since he’s been on montelukast (January) he’s not had a single admission despite getting colds etc. Praying it continues!!!

Hoping DD is growing out of it at 7 but definitely related to colds so the less she gets as she gets older and the better she can blow her nose to avoid dripping down the back of her throat at night seems to help. We did 2 years of montelukast which helped greatly and came off that this year so now need to see how the winter goes just with lower strength inhalers.

My DD was switched to symbicort which is so much better than the brown inhaler for kids as it is easier and therefore seems more effective. I am on Clenil and have never noticed any behavioural issues but then I am adult. But my DD was taking one puff a day at about age six onward until the symbicort. I’d give it some time.

Great news, hope it continues to work for you!

Thank you! I hope it works for you too!

Thanks @SpruceMoose Funny you should say about hayfever, my partner gets terrible hayfever so I’m wondering if this is why my son is struggling with his chest. Sounds like you have it under control which is good. You didn’t notice any behaviour changes with the inhalers? It’s been 2 days and my son is completely different.

Thank you so much for this reminder @Cornishmumofone We have an air purifier! I’m going to set it up again tomorrow and see if it helps

All of ours grew out of it, they keep an inhaler in their bags but they only need them with the very odd cough. It’s rough going when they’re young x

Thanks @Cindy1802 yeah it seems crazy doesn’t it? My son is only 22 months so he is really young. Praying he grows out of it. I know about the sucking in of ribs, what about the throat? I’ve been giving him sips of water after the inhaler, is that ok? He absolutely hates the taste of it so it’s all a bit traumatic at the moment.

I hope you are right about the behaviour. He’s normally a very gentle boy, but before bed he was slamming his toys against things, flipping his dinner plate over and throwing it and screaming. It was the same yesterday too. He was just so so different. Normally when he’s poorly he just wants cuddles.

My DD5 had a condition called WAVE - wheeze associated with viral episode. She had this from age 1 - 5. Basically, if she had a cold, she would end up in hospital needing oxygen and a nebuliser, and prednisilone. She had a blue and brown inhaler.

There's not really much you can do other than to keep up the brown inhaler. I wasn't good at this.

In DD's case, when she had a cold, her airways would swell up. As she was small, this would mean that her airways would become almost closed. As she got bigger, the swelling didn't close her airways.

Thanks @Tryingatleast did yours get the crackly chest when they were poorly or was it more often that that? So good to know it is possible to grow out of it. It’s so so hard, I’m struggling this week.

Thanks @CraftyGin this is good to know. Did your daughter ever have a chest X-ray? Mine has but he’s only 22 months so is still so little! The consultant just said ‘it looks a bit asthmatic’ He is dairy intolerant and if he has dairy he gets a bit of a wheeze but other than that, if he is well, he doesn’t have a crackly chest at all. It’s only when he gets ill but I know that can still be asthma too.