My 12mth Old hates taking her medication - HELP.

A couple of months ago my daughter developed a really bad cough first thing in the mornings and during the night that just did not seem to ever get any better. After taking her to the GP he has said that he thinks she may be developing Asthma as she already suffers badly with Ezcema.

She has to take Ventolin a few times a day through a Volumatic Spacer device. At first she did not seem to mind but over the last week she has really started putting up a fight, she screams hysterically and pushes away the device before I even get a chance to use the spray and I am worried that she is not inhaling anything.

I have been told that you can but smaller travel spacer devices - is this the case? If so does anyone know where I can get one as could this help? If not if anyone has ever had to deal with a baby this young with Asthma that could give me any advice I woul reallly appreciate it as I am so worried for her.

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Hi, that sounds really stressful. My daughter was on inhalers from 12 months also but has been ok with them luckily. I might not be much good at suggestions but might be worth trying ie to use the chamber as a toy in the bath and play with it to get used to it being around. I also used to use it on myself first while my daughter watched, which meant she wanted it too! I would try chocolate buttons as a bribe. You could decorate it, choose a pretty ribbon and tie it around the chamber. role play with teddies. My daughter is now 3 and gets bored so instead of counting I sing her favourite songs which seems to keep us going at the moment and passes the time quickly. It is scary expecially as it is the very thing to keep them well. I did find the asthma nurse at my local hospital very helpful on technique too. They suggested holding my daughter on my lap facing away from me when giving the medication, that way you can have more control and they can rest their head against your chest. Good luck with it all though. Jx

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hi i know what you are going through ! my son is exactly the same! he started his inhalers at 16 months and it was a real struggle we tried everything from giving it to his fav teddie and sticking stickers on it but it never seemed to work u have just got to keep perservering. ifound it easier if my partner was about has he use to hold him and i use to give him the inhaler even though he use to scream the house down! now at 2 and a half he is a little bit better he doesnt scream half as much but it is still a struggle sometimes. . hope this helps i do know how u feel though!!

claire x

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Hey

You can get an aerochamber with a kids mask on it for littlies, and a bigger mask for the biggies aswell. Ask you GP, I have one as I tend to cough more when I'm bad and find it works better

vicky x

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I know this may sound harsh but if your daughter gets upset while using the spacer her breathing rate will increase so actually she may inhale the ventolin better than when she is calm.

At her age it must be very difficult but definately ask your GP about a kiddies aerochamber- the mask is soft and seems better tolerated by alot of kids(once they are used to the mask )plus its not a huge object in thei line of vision.

Good luck and keep us posted.

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My 15 month old hates having her inhaler... breaks my heart every time I have to give it to her as she screams so much. But evey one has said that as long as she is taking deep breaths (which she generally hasto if she screams!) she is getting the inhaler into her lungs. Ask your GP to prescribe the areochamber. It's much smaller and easier to use...

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Hi

I had the same problem with my daughter years ago so I gave my partner at the time a empty inhaler and told her to when my daughter is sat around in the same room make out as if she was taking the same meds, that way it was looked at as the normal thing to do. Low and behold within 2-3 weeks my daughter seemed to copy and all was OK after that.

Peter

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Thank you everyone for your kind advice its so nice to know that others have experienced what I am going through.

I am trying some of the suggestions and am hoping they will work, will let you know. x

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Hope I am doing this right - first time ever on any forum/discussion. You can buy a smaller chamber with teddy bears on, I got one from boots, however I was advised not to use it all of the time, I think because it was so much smaller than the other ones. My daughter was 18 months when she was diagnosed. She decorates her spacer's with various stickers, which helps. Also she likes counting along, we were told to count to ten when using spacer. Also in between puffs its her job to shake her inhaler, all these things tend to distract her. Hope this helps.

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Aw bless. I had similar problems when my daughter was first given inhalers and the aerochamber at 10 months, for a particularly nasty and persistent cough she came home from hospital with!!! She is now 13 1/2 months old and has becolazone twice daily and had a period where we were giving her ventolin regularly last month. We found letting her play with the aerochamber was helpful and we've renamed the whole lot her 'puff puff'. She was also able to watch her cousin take her inhalers with ther same inhaler and spacer and also her Dad and paternal grandparents are asthmatic so she has seen other people take theirs too. Her Grandad also uses a spacer. We would make a game if it, putting the mask to our faces and taking deep breaths then putting the mask lightly to her face and taking it quickly away a few times before we puffed her inhaler and held it there. The worst thing for her seemed to be having the mask loom in front of her face and would set her off crying immediately. We encouraged her to take deep breaths by doing it ourselves and getting her to copy. She also likes holding one of the inhalers while we give her the other one and has been known to put the inhaler to her mouth like daddy does. I hated it at first as I felt awful when she cried but with patience and persistence, I'm sure your little one will soon get used to it as our daughter did. They need to see you being strong for them. I'm sure you know how easily they pick up on your upset. I'd sooner speak to the asthma nurse and see if there is a different spacer they can give you. We have the orange infant aerochamber with an asthma teddy on the side although there is a bigger one with yellow rubber ends for older children. Is the volumatic spacer the big one in two parts? If it's the one I'm thinking of I'm sure my daughter would be scared too as it's almost as big as her head!!

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We used the TV

A bit late with this reply, but no one has yet mentioned the TV. My son hated his form about 9 Months and so I stopped and then got a good talking to by the asthma nurse when he was 18 months. This may not be the best advice for a child who has really gone off it, but for newbies it might help.

A friend suggested the sitting on lap position, facing away as they can't rock back. The lying-on-the-floor-between-my-legs position I think truly terrified him. In the upright position we were free to try distratcions and it was then we started to use the newly acquired Thomas the Tank engine DVD to its most corrupting effect. He only got to watch an episode while having the inhaler. If he got in a state, I paused the DVD and waited until he worked it out. he's quite a placid chap so this may differ to others and also we paced it very slowly and with lots of calm chatting (meanwhile thinking how crap it all was) and using it on teddy etc and just putting the mask on at odd times. After two weeks of building up his tolerance (a luxury if your child needs lots of medication immediately) he now takes his inhaler anywhere and without the TV inducement.

I'm not sure whether the larger spacer or the smaller aerospacer is the most effective ( in terms of doage delievery to the right bits of the lung/tubes) in a younger child. I keep meaning to ask so if anyone knows??