Early Childhood Asthma

[tree]

I know I have seen postings about early childhood asthma, but I couldn't find any with the search function...
My daughter is one breathing episode away from an asthma diagnosis. She is doing pretty well with the nebulizer treatments, but she did need prednisone to get over this last round of very nasty asthmatic bronchitis. We have only had a few middle of the night nebulizer treatments, and she seems to be getting better.
When can we expect her doctor to do an asthma management plan? They would like to wait until "next time", but I would like to have something in place for when "next time" hits at midnight. I actually had the albuterol and nebulizer left over from last winter, and I just didn't think to use it for her cough this time. I am not sure, but it seems like we could have stopped this from getting so bad if I had started treating it earlier.

[kellikbock]

Hi. I have chronic asthma & my kids definately have it whenever sickness or allergies come about. Our pediatrician has prescribed us albuterol for the nebulizer (so that we always have it available) & when it runs low, he refills it. Also, the prednisone prescribed is good longer than the experation date (I forget if it is a year or two years, ask the doctor)...he prescribes more than the needed five days so that we can start it right away if one of our little ones develope the wheezing/coughing. You need to keep up with their weight to make sure of the correct dosage. I'd ask you doctor about having some prescribed to keep at your house so that you can start it straight away, then have them be seen if needed.
Otherwise, the nebulizer should treat the asthma symptoms. You can use the machine treatment every two hours if needed if breathing is really labored (like they do in the hospital) BUT, it is recommeded every 4-6.
I'm not sure how old your little one is, but this is what we're doing for my almost 20mo. old, almost 4yr old, and almost 7 yr. old. We've delt with this since my oldest was 3 months old & developed RSV/bronchiolitis...we're just always going to deal with asthma issues. The trick is to catch it before it becomes more serious. My littlest guy ended up having pneumonia last March because we waited a little too long.
So, yes, I'd talk with your ped. about the different options & steps that he'd like you to take so that you can avoid this in the future. Hope that this helps...

[tree]

Thanks Kelli. We will now have albuterol on hand, and I will hopefully think to give it to here right away next time. I can't believe we missed this for a week or so before she started wheezing.

[kellikbock]

It can be a hard thing to catch if you aren't use to wheezing yourself, I think. Asthma presents itself in different ways with different people. My sister, best childhood friend and I all have pretty severe asthma growing up. I cough, my sister wheezes loudy and the friend just gets labored breathing. We all have the "tight feeling" in our chests, but a baby or child can't tell you that.
It's rough.
It's good that you have some albuterol on hand, but you may ask about having the prednisone around, too...it has saved us a few weekend/urgent care visits =0)

[tree]

I am going to save the remaining prednisone that we have, but I don't think they will let us keep it at home yet. We don't have an official diagnosis until "next time", but I am 99% sure that will happen in the next few months.
Have you always used a nebulizer with the kids? My daughter is 16 months old, and it seems like the best way to go. They said we can try the inhaler/spacer/mask combo in a few weeks. I would love to be able to use that for travel and to take with us for emergencies. I can use the neb at home, but I would prefer something else for the plane.

[kellikbock]

We've had the nebulizer since my oldest (now seven) was about three months old. Every time one of my kids have a cough or gets congested with junk, we use it & the prednisone soon follows. Make sure that you have enough to complete the five days, though...too bad that you have to wait until "next time" she gets sick. It's so rough when they aren't feeling good!

[mrss]

My DS is 4 and uses the nebulizer. We've tried the spacers and inhalers a couple of times, but he doesn't have the knack of it. You really have to inhale forcefully to get the proper dose. I didn't actually realize for a long time that his coughing was reactive airway disease. I wish I had mentioned it earlier at a visit. Of course I didn't realize that my OWN coughing was asthma, either, until DS was diagnosed. I have an inhaler now, too. During the cold and flu months DS's allergist had him on daily Pulmicort treatments. We only used the Albuterol for immediate relief when he needed it.