Advice needed please!!!! I CANNOT get my toddler to use her inhaler and spacer.

[TheAuntMom]

Last night we were at the ER and given an inhaler and spacer. Apparently she's had this before, but I've barely had her less than a year and am unfamiliar with this. We practiced earlier and she did great with the breathing treatment at the hospital, she was fine, now she refuses. Every stuffed animal in the house and all the pets and the entire family have "used" it multiple times, Ive tried bribes, threats, letting her hold and inspect it , everything I can think of,but she's a stubborn lil girl lol, anyway, my question is can I give the medicine to her when she's asleep, will she get the correct amount? My only other idea is holding her down, and I hate that! Any advice or ideas are welcome. Thx in advance

[Shellc]

Maybe a little bribe , how about doing a sticker chart , she gets a special sticker if she has her inhaler , kids usually to respond to something like this

[TSP2120]

Hi, I remember this phase very well! We tried everything. In the end we had two different types of spacer; a volumatic which was clear and we decorated with stickers, and made it into a game. The other was a Aerochamer with yellow rubber bits and teddies printed on. This one we found much easier and did give him his medicine while he was sleeping, much like they gave him his nebs in hospital while he slept. We let him choose which spacer he wanted each time and eventually his go to was the Aerochamber.

We also found he played me up more in the early days, so if Nana came to visit and was due his meds he would quite happily take his medicine like an Angel. For a while we added it as something he could get a star for on his reward chart, and we also watched YouTube videos together to see how the children take the meds. He has an older cousin with Asthma, and that helped as he loves to look up to older children and be doing what they could do. Good luck

[Minushabens]

Bribery is generally the way forward with this! I'll be honest, I hate using spacers & I'm in my 50s so I can see why kids will find them frightening. I think you need a clear reward system in place & avoid making it a battle at all costs. Pretending to take it yourself (maybe awarding yourself the reward as well) might help. As with all child 'battles', it is really important to stay in control yourself & not escalate it to anything. You don't say how old she is, but I would keep explaining the best you can how important it is to her to stay well & out of hospital.

With regards to administering whilst asleep, I imagine that would work up to a point - I'd get advice on that though as I don't know if it's less effective or not.

One final thing - I'm guessing from your username & description that she has been placed in your care fairly recently. You don't need to go into details if you don't want to, but keep in mind the possibility that she might associate the inhaler with other aspects of her life or troubles, confusion, etc., that she might be having to deal with. Or it might just be one frightening thing too many. If she has experienced trauma or upset recently, that can manifest itself in all manner of ways that you wouldn't expect & managing that is a very complicated business.

No easy answers by the sound of it, but I hope that helps a little bit.

[Hidden]

Agreeing with what Minushabens has suggested above.

When I was a very small child (this would have started before I was five) I had to take a very nasty tasting medicine. This wasn’t for asthma, but for another medical issue I had. Back then in the 1960s paediatric versions of medication didn’t exist. The concoction I had to down (near enough a tablespoon of the stuff) consisted of three different medications mixed together. Suffice it to say that two of them were milk of magnesia (I’m sure there are a few adults on this site who know how revolting that stuff is) and Milpar (also revolting); there was a third one beginning with R which I can’t recall the name of, but that wasn’t pleasant either. I had to take this stuff every evening and it took the promise of a glacé cherry (got out and ready on the table for me after I’d taken the stuff, so in clear sight) to get me to take it. But the promise of that treat was just enough.

The younger of my two sons had really quite bad asthma as a small child (developed it aged three - and was put on a steroid inhaler shortly before his fourth birthday). We didn’t have a problem with the spacer device with him, but I think he so disliked what an asthma flare could do to him (he was otherwise a very lively child) and what he had to miss out on when he was ill, that he was quite happy to take the medication.

As Minushabens has said, there are no easy solutions to the problem, but may be this will give you a couple of ideas.

[HaydiesMum]

Agree with all the other posters, my son has been using inhalers since he was 10 months old and we used a whole host of bribery and distraction. Will add if they are ill and need the medication sometimes you may have to resort to holding her down. I know it sounds awful but if they are struggling the medication is needed, we were told in the hospital that as horrible as it is if they are crying they will get the medication into their lungs really effectively. When we had to resort to this I was really careful about the reassurance I used and would say things like "I know you feel cross about doing your inhalers but it's helping to make your breathing better, you'll feel so much better in a minute". I am sure part of it was his breathing already felt difficult and then I was putting something over his face.

You have my sympathy, toddler battles are never easy and throwing inhalers into the mix certainly doesn't help but keep reminding yourself the medicine is to help her (she just might not know it yet). It will get easier! X