recurrent bronchitis in babies/toddlers

[SenoraPostrophe]

I was talking to a friend earlier who has a dd about the same age as ds (who is 16 months). Her poor dd has been in hospital about once a month with bronchitis since she was 6 months old - basically whenever she gets a cold she gets it.

I thought I'd ask about it because ds gets bronchiolitis a lot too (that being what the doc calls it - friend said bronchitis though) - doc says he's asthmatic which is no surprise because dh is asthmatic, but he didn't have a problem till he was 7.

so anyway i was wondering if anyone:

a) knows any interesting stuff about bronchitis/asthma etc, especially miracle cures! I know that generally doctors can't treat it with anything - ds is treated with ventolin and some baby expectorant stuf that i don't think you can buy in Britain.

b) knows if my friend's dd's bronchitis could in any way be related to the fact that she had quite a nasty allergy to lactose until she was about 8 months

c) thinks it's a weird coincidence that we were preg in the same village at the same time and both babies have a very similar ongoing health problem (although one - her dd - is affected more badly than the other)

Allergies can cause asthma like symptoms. They don't in my ds, but I know a couple of kids they did until the offender was found. In one case certain additives, in another salicylates.

but do you know if that is also true of reccurrent chestiness-after-a-cold (which is the only reason doc says he's asthmatic - if he didn't get colds it wouldn't be a prob!)

and what are salicylates?

does your friend's mother/father smoke? that can really irritate the chest after the cold and cause bronchitis. Pollution is also a factor - I imagine if it was a particular problem in your village then the local doctors would know something about it.

Bronchiolitis is the infection of the bronchioles which I think are smaller parts of the tree in the lungs than the bronchis which are the ones that get all inflamed with bronchitis. I think bronchiolitis is fairly common in babies - my ds had it at 6 weeks and then again a few times in his first year.

Your poor friend's dd - her chest must be quite bad to be hospitalised so often. I think if it is asthma it's a case of getting the inhalers right.

well according to various things I''ve read on the internet, bronchiolitis more than 2 or 3 times in a baby is associated with asthma - so much so that it can be diagnostic. So I think what I really want to know is - is it always diagnostic of asthma?

ds isn't asthmatic in the sense that he has attacks or anything and my friend doesn't smoke. we do, but not near ds. Friend's dd actually had pneumonia at least once - they have been trying diffrent inhalers.

you don't subscribe to my conspiracy theory about the village then? docs might not know though - I think she and I were the only pregnant women at the time.

anyone else know anything?

so, does anyone else's child get chronchiolitis/bronchitis with EVERY cold?

maybe it's the dry air here or something.