I am a mild but managed asthma sufferer and now have 2 children who are heading along the asthma path too. My 3 yr old daughter was finally diagnosed in Oct 09 at almost 3yrs and we are coping well with a preventer and Ventolin each day and as required.
My wee boy is just 10 mths and has shown all the same signs and symptoms with his first chest infection at 3 wks. He is now on 7th course of antibiotics since beg of Feb and has been on same inhalers as his sister for 5 weeks. He has also had 8 days of steroids over this time. He made a great improvement for a week (2 weeks ago) and it was during that week that we had our specialist apt (typical!). He is to go back to specialist in June but has had to go to Out of Hours doc over the weekend due to severe wheezing again.
I am just on the look out for any advice out there. I am not convinced that he is getting suffcient dosage from his inhaler even though he has the child vacuum tube. He doesn't like the sensation/smell of the inhaler puff and pulls away very quickly. He gets quite distressed if we hold it over his mouth when he doesn't want it.
We are not smokers, and have no pets and he eats a very healthy diet. So I would just appreciate if anyone has any pearls of wisdom from experience to pass on.
Hello and huge hugs. This is going to sound so horrid but sadly I know what you going through. My ryan hated his spacer and I ended up having up trap him inbetween my legs so his head was laid on my hip and my legs where over his body gently and just restain him while doing the inhalers. It hurt me like crazy doing this but without doing this he didn't get all the inhaler because of the struggle he put up. He did cry which is good as it means he was taking deep breathes and funny enough crying for short periods is good for a good as it helps strneghten up there lung muscles. I was told this by a ped but told them to stop being so stupid but it was the only way ot get the meds in him and once meds was done I always gave him a long reasuring cuddle. After so long he thought what had just happened and was back to his normal happy bubbly self it hurt me more than him and still to this day I hate myself for having to do this to him but I know deep down it was the best I could do. When hubbie was home we both used to tag term him so to say. Hubbie would hold him facing me and we would turn medication time into a game. Hubbie would tickle him dueing the whole inahler period to make him laugh and w eonly did one puff at a time then the spacer would be removed and I would kiss him all over his face then do anothe rpuff on the inhaler and keep repeating the process until all the puffs was done. This would be one of the times when he wouldn't cry as he enjoyed this mummy, daddy, baby play time so much it 3was like he didn't even notice that he was having his inhalers. As he got older we called space-man time and he would be allowed to dress-up in his space-man suit with his cardboard box space-pack on his back and he loved it. We told him that all space men had to have this special medicaion so they didn't get sick on there journey to space and once he had his inhalers we had half an hour play where we would carry him about and go on space adventures aroudn the house to see if would find some space treasure. Space treasure was always the chocolate coins or something wrapped up inside silver foil so he got a reward at the end of it all as he could eat all his space treasure once we where back home.
My little girl was diagnosed at 8 months and is now 17 months. She has Ventolin and Seretide through the spacer, Montelukast in her food and then she has Piriton and Pred through a syringe! It took a few weeks for her to ebcome used to it all but it has soon become part of our daily routine.
She too cried alot when she saw us getting the inhalers ready and used to thrash around as we held it to her face. It was a case of giving her a bear hug and trapping her hands and legs. Was heartbreaking.
Her older sister (aged 3) used to have hers first so our baby would watch. It didnt take her long to see that it was ok to use a spacer and not scary after all. It was good to give both our girls their meds together as they were going through it together if that makes sense.
Just a thought, we were told that a big Volumatic spacer was the best to use, even for babies as it works like a vacuum and directs the medication faster to the lungs whereas the childrens spacer hasnt got such a big chamber and therefore doesnt force the drugs so quickly to where it needs to be. I know all pct's are different though and advise different techniques, but it may be worth a go. We certainly saw a good result when we changed ours.
We had a few tricks with out little boy. Practised it on his teddies, on ourselves, played with it putting it on our face without the inhaler, made silly echo noises etc, instead of counting we listed vehicles and soft fruits or whatever thing he was into at the time, did it in his sleep. A good one is to let them observe someone who they like taking their inhaler - are there any older children they can watch? You know what they're like about older children, all gooey eyed and love-struck they'll do anything to be like them! Keep at it and he will definitely get used to it, but like everything, it's always on their terms.... hope something helps! xxx
My daughter was diagnosed at 18 months with 'asthma' which we are starting to question for various reasons, but she also hated the spacer to start with and got that upset she used to vomit. Thankfully within a day we managed to get her to used it without too much fuss and get the doses she needed.
We called the spacer a rocket and sang a song, which she knew from a local library playgroup...
Zoom Zoom Zoom
Were going to the moon
Zoom Zoom Zoom
Were going to the moon
We'll climb aboard a rocket ship
And go upon a little trip
Zoom Zoom Zoom
Were going to the moon
10,9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2,1... Blast off!
There's probably the tune somewhere on the internet if you don't know it
We changed the countdown to 10 to represent the number of seconds to hold the spacer over her mouth, but it completely worked for us.
Regards
Hi,
It's horrid being a parent sometimes, even though we know it's good for them it still feels mean doesn't it. I am severely asthmatic and all my 3 children have asthma to some degree with my eldest being the worst. My only consolation I find for the guilt I feel that they inherited from me is that at least I know how to deal with asthma and can empathise with how the children feel.
With mine when they were younger I used to sit them on my knee with their back to my tummy and cuddle them with one arm while doing the inhaler with the other hand, that way they can't back away from you or the spacer. Also have tried giving your son his meds when he's asleep, that way he doesn't get distressed. Even if it's only the morning and evening doses, it might save on the stress levels. It's quite useful to let your son play with the spacer just for him to get used to it, it won't be long and he'll be imitating his sister and himself. Hope that helps. If you've got any more questions feel free to PM me x
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