Sharing a room

[DSCC]

Hi all,

I am new to this and I am looking for some advice please, my son is almost 5 years old and we have a daughter at 6 months old who we have just recently moved our daughter into our son's room in her cot as we only have 2 bedroom's and she's too big for her moses basket now, anyway.. My son has asthma and has done since he was 1 year old. When he has bad flare ups he's up most of the night coughing and we need to give him inhalers the traffic light system way, he can take horrible attacks too and has woken our daughter up several times now, what's your thoughts on them sharing a room? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[ChrissieMons]

You don't have much choice about this, as presumably you can't afford to move anywhere bigger. You must insist on seeing a specialist to get your son's asthma under better control. You and your son are suffering more than your baby, and you need to find out why it's so bad. Maybe an allergy test would help, maybe making him a pillow nest so he sleeps more or less sitting up would help ease the cough until you can get better treatment for him. Have you talked to the asthma nurse at Asthma UK? She can give you better advice than I can.

[DSCC in reply to ChrissieMons]

How would I go about seeing a specialist? my son's gets seen by the nurse and doctors but I feel we keep getting fobbed off, his asthma can be under control for 2-3 weeks then the slightest little thing such as a runny nose can totally unbalance this and it's back to the traffic light system with inhalers and steroid tablets along with antibiotics sometimes. We shouldn't have to live in a damp home and my daughter is very unsettled and crabby during the day as she's getting woken throughout the night as we all are and my husband works shifts as well. We haven't had any allergy tests done yet but I have been asking to get them done for months but no further forward with that either. I'll have a chat with the asthma nurse at asthma UK and see what they suggest 😃

[ChrissieMons in reply to DSCC]

By all means chat to the asthma nurse at AUK, but when it comes to doctors and nurses, insist. Make a fuss - if necessary a loud one - until you get that appointment with a consultant. If your home is damp you must contact the housing office in your area as your landlord must provide you with a safe place to live and the council can force him/her to take action. Might be another occasion for a bit of a fuss. If your house is damp you will all be ill, but your son will be worse, especially if there is mould in the house. Go to the council and get all the help from council agencies and charities that you can. Don't wait to see what will happen - make it happen. It is sad that nothing happens unless you cause a fuss, but it is true.

Meanwhile, try to get baby to sleep in the living room for a few nights, just so you can get some rest.

Very best of luck with the authorities. Don't give up.

[DSCC in reply to ChrissieMons]

Thank you, it's a council house we are in and they've just recently fixed the insulation in the attic and fitted a radiator at the bottom of our stairs (they're hoping that might stop the dampness coming back) we've had a dampness specialist out to our home and he confirmed the dampness/Mould and said we have 80% moisture in the air which should only be 35-40% as for the 2 kids sharing a room they basically said they will share until my eldest is 8 so we've to suck it up. my husband had to make a corporate complain to the head of housing to get where we are now but the insulation and radiator aren't helping, the house doesn't hold its heat and dampness is slowly but surely coming back, my skin is so dry and I barely have any energy, my eyes are itchy all the time and I suffer from an underactive thyroid too. I'll definitely be making a doctor's appointment tomorrow and kicking up a fuss as I just can't take seeing my son so lifeless and in pain with the coughing, he often gets tonsillitis during or after a bad asthma spell or chest infections too. Our rooms are quite small so I'm thinking about buying a travel cot and keeping our daughter in beside us as her cot can't fit beside our bed. I'll keep at them as I'm appealing their decision to give us 0 points to get rehoused as even after what they've done the dampness is still coming back. Thanks for your advice, definitely taking it on board 😃

[freefaller]

If you can invest in a dehumidifier. We bought one just over a year ago as we live in an old converted barn with 3 foot thick walls which always seems full of damp in the air. When we can we open the windows to let fresh air in but obviously that isn't always an option in the winter when it is cold and wet anyway. We live near the sea so pretty much always damp. The dehumidifier has helped a lot. We have one by Eco air which we bought through Amazon as at the time that was the cheapest. It has an ioniser on it as well but have been told as asthmatic to keep that turned off as that apparently doesn't help asthmatics. This humidifier is big enough to use in a 3 bedroomed house and copes well here. Within an hour after cooking in our large kitchen it brings the humidity down form over 80% to about 60%. Same goes in the bathroom as well. I would also recommend buying a humidity sensor - only a few pounds as this will show you what the humidity is, though you may find that now the dehumidifier has this included on it.

Good Luck and continue to make a fuss with the housing office and get to see a consultant.

[DSCC in reply to freefaller]

Thank you, I'll have a look into getting a dehumidifier and humidity sensor today.

[freefaller]

On line they are quite reasonably priced check with Screw Fix too as a year ago they had some on offer and it may be that they are on offer again.