ideas to make the chamber exciting for frightened baby ..

Hi there, DD has just been discharged from hospital yesterday after another episode. she was on hourly neb to begin & then reduced to 4hrly, anyway woke this morning to find her back to the runny nose&eyes and a strong enough wheeze, she is on singular/ventolin & becotide but we have been told NOT to give her the inhaler until she is taking it calmly/willingly as otherwise we risk tensing her airways even more plus giving her a bad assositation with the chamber... so i was left with two options a) re-admit her for neb or b)pray for a miracle with the chamber as she DISPISES it! DH came up with the idea of covering the chamber with a puppet so the mouth piece comes out his mouth & then asking her for a kiss.. this has worked & she has taken four breaths with it which has somewhat relieved the major wheeze .. but i know it will only work for a period so im looking for any other ways to make the chamber exciting...any ideas?? she is 13months & we have tried turn taking,getting teddy to take it, making it an aerplane etc but she will only leave it to her face for one breath before she challenges us/cries... any ideas appreciated !

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my dr told my to buy a dvd that ty would like a really funny one.then to put it on to give him his inhaler and to keep it on if he sit's and has his puffer.if he did't have it then the dvd go's off and away for another time.keep the dvd just for puff time's well used to call it the ""puffer dvd"".she will give in soon.just stay calm and chilled take your time.and it will work out soon.also have the chamber lieing around the house low the the floor so she can see it all the time, and let her play with it in her own time.

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My daughter has only just been given a puffer. She is 12 months and absolutely screams with the puffer. She coughts for hours at night and then screams if we try to give her her puffer. The only way we can do it by pinning her down. From reading your post it seems that this may not be helping either. Going to see an asthma nurse next week, but in the mean time we're just struggling though. Have tried propping up her cot, and hayfever medicine to see if that is the trigger but doesn't seem to have helped much. Poor little thing sounds like and old man struggling for breath.

Will try the puppet idea, as she likes giving kisses!

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My son was 10 months when he first started using an inhaler and he screamed like he never did before. Since he was ill we had no choice but to sit him on my knee, pin his arms with one arm and his legs between mine and use the other to do the inhaler. It was hard work and awful to witness but he did get use to it eventually.

I think it took less than 2 weeks of several times aday and he was fine since then so I'm affraid the only thing I can suggest is to percivere (sp?) It *will* get easier to give as they get older and use to it.

We did have a spare areochamber that he gave to all his teddies so I think that helped. Even now (he was 3 in jan) he still plays with the spare one when he plays doctors.

Good luck and I hope your DD is on the mend soon.

Sarah

ps if you spray on the intake of breath when she is crying she will get a good lung full of the inhaler!

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hi i used to cover my baby's baby haler in sickers let him have a play with it and the inhaler

cos joe was the same scream bellow cry u name it he dun hated it even in hospital being nebbed we used to strapp him as tight as we could in his pushchair me and a nurse holding him down this is at a year old just to get it in him

but the best wasy i found was to hold him on my lap his bk to my chest one arm round his body and one hand holding the baby haler (our consultant won't have the kids use aero chamber ) singing and counting the number of breaths etc swaying side to side this did eventaully help but the one thing i did find that help was letting them hold the unit not to take away and say don't touch

my son is now 7 and uses the spacer with out the mask but out of the 3 kids with asthma if we have to use a mask that is wot does the crying the oldest is 14 she still hates the masks but accepts them 7 yr old joe he will accept if if he hospitalised and baby well actually 2 1/2 now he still hates the mask

hope u make head way with it all but i have always bin told doesn't matter if they kicking and screaming its going into them cos the the breaths they taking imo i think its us that gets more upset the adults

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Hi Bree,

Sorry to hear about your little one.

AS a specialist nurse who deals with children with asthma I appreciate your problems.

You are right, actually holding them down just frightens them more & they wont cooperate next time at all.

Crying does not increase the amount that is taken in as the breaths are quicker & on the whole more shallow & the medicine need to get to the lower lungs which have smaller airways.

Try the video, sticker route but also have it out on the table all the time, get the family to pick it up and do it to show her how it is done but dont ask her to then do it as she wont, they are not daft & they know what your doing.

Let her see how you do it & she may start to do it herself & in which case go overboard with the praise. Also play trumpets with it, use it to pour bubble water throught it in the bath, anything to de sensitize her to it.

You can if it is a large volume spacer tip it up & put the mask onto face gently when she is asleep. At 13 month she needs a mask. Is there a definate diagnosis of asthma as she is a little young.

A

Good luck

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Puffers struggles

Blimey I now realise how darn lucky I am to have my twins 'remind' me to give them their puffers twice a day at 23 months old. My sympathies, you must feel soo stressed..big hugs to all.

As said already build up to making it a big game, pulling faces and putting the mask on yourself and making farty noises worked for us (boys of course). We did this repeatedly but didn't always follow by putting the mask on the babies everytime (it seemed to make them want to do it more if we held it back sometimes). Also 'treating' a fav toy helped with our two. One puff for teddy etc.

When on the odd occassion they have refused or resisted their inhalers we have instantly removed the spacer and gone back 15 - 30 mins later when things are calmer and 9 out of 10 times this has worked on the 2nd try. We rarely have refusals now 6 months on. I think having to stressed out rescue dogs with hang ups before the twins arrived broke me and Brian in nicely..the pshycology (sp) seems very similar in both cases.

Don't be afraid to try anything no matter how odd or bizarre..after all you know your child best and their little quirks can work to your advantage sometimes. It will become easier I promise just hang in their and the more you can laugh about it the easier and relaxed it will all become....very easy for me to say I know but you will get there.

Much love

Jane

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bumped up for new poster needing ideas

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