When can you start using a peak flow?

hello everyone hope you are well! can you start using a peak flow meter at 4yrs old if so which one?as a nures ask me today if we were using one.any info would be greatfully recived thanks

[yaf_user681_32991]

i told my 4yo when she could hit 100 on my PFM then i'd give her £1.. .she's been trying off and on for the past 6mos and last time still only got to 60 LOL.

they DO make a lower range PFM but with the new one starting so low i don't know how often they're prescribed these days.

hmm. off to see if said 4yo can hit 100 yet for £1 in her piggy bank!

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hi hun

my no 3 asthmatic is 7 and can just about get a consistant reading on his we don't do peak flows at home with him just as and when for regular checkups mind he will have a go on his sisters as she regularly does peak flows

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Hello Tys mum,

For consitent & accurate PF or any spirometry the child needs to have reached a certain level of development & 4 is too young for that.

We start our patients on PF meters & spirometry at about 6 to just get some practice but dont expect anything useful until about 7. Obvioulsy there are always exceptions to the rule but a good professional can use other means to assess therefore should not be relying on the PF & you as his mother will know he is ill even before he coughs, I bet!

There are children's one that only go up to 400 & are a little smaller to hold but they have to be ask for when the dr/nurse prescribes tehm & not all chemists will have them in stock but they are out there.

Hope that helps

A

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OK either I am an amazing teacher or my son was a genius but by the time he was 4 he was doing PF's that were consistent. As with getting him to swallow slo-pyhlin I suspect we pulled it off cos we did not get het up about it or make a big deal of it I showed him how to do it he practised a few times and woohooo we were away.

Just asked Mike about PF's he says that apparently I told him fill your lungs until they want to burst and imagine they are a huge whoopie cushion, then now blow all the air out really, hard and really fast is it would make the loudest fart noise ever. I even brought him a whoopie cushion to demonstrate the process. I don't recall that but I guess he would know!