My son, Jaxon, was only four months old when he had his first asthma attack and it was the most terrorfying thing that I have ever experienced. Here's this defenseless little baby, relying on you to take care of him and keep him safe, but you can't make him better...you
can't take it away from him. I remember watching his little chest heave in and out as he struggled to take the shallowest breaths. I panicked, and looking back now I can safely say that it was the worst thing I could have done. Not only did it affect my judgement to a certain degree, but Jaxon picked up on my anxiety and this made him more upset.
I took him to many doctors in the next 12 months and all of them said that it was just a viral infection and to keep giving him lots of fluid and panadol if he got a fever and he'd be allright. But he wasn't allright. We would end up in the emergency room at least a twice a month, more if he was sick with a cold. We'd usually have to stay in the children's ward for about a week before he was well enough to go home. So as you can see, the hospital was our second home.
It was so frustrating and I found myself becoming more irate with each doctor's visit. I knew that this was not normal, that something was wrong but I was told that it was just a bug going around. Finally I came across a doctor that knew what he was talking about. He said that babies can develop asthma, especially if there is a family history. He told me that doctors don't like to diagnose asthma before the child is about 1 or 2 years old and that ventolin is not very effective for babies. Finally some answers!
He gave us a script for a steroid to open up Jaxon's lungs. We could only us it for three days and only a few times a year. He said to keep trying ventolin anyway as it may do a little bit of good. So we invested in a mask and spacer. The mask and spacer is meant to be very effective, but it wasn't very good when Jaxon was distressed and wouldn't take a proper breath in whilst trying to wrip the mask off his face. We looked around for an alternative and found a nebuliser. It's a machine that also has a mask and it uses a liquid form of ventolin which it turns into a mist that the child can inhale through the mask. This was our saviour! Jaxon would sit with his mask on and breath in the ventolin mist over about 20 minutes or so. It still worked if he was upset as the dose was spaced over a period of time unlike the spacer.
Some other things the doctor advised us to do were:
- cut out any pre-packaged food to avoid any harmful preservatives.
- vacuum every day to get rid of dust mites, (dust mites are an asthma trigger).
- change his pillow case daily to eliminate any dust mites.
- try to avoid any dogs or cats, even birds, as their fur and feathers harbor mites.
- don't let him exercise in the night air or in very cold or hot air. Also, avoid extreme temperature changes.
- always avoid taking him near any smoke.
- start giving him omega 3 capsules (only for children one year old or older)
Over the years Jaxon has had more asthma attacks than I can count and those early days were deffinately the worst. My advice to any mother who has a child with symptoms such as: wheezing, coughing, fast breathing rate, fast heart rate, struggling for breath, mottled skin, is to keep seeking help until you are satisfied. Sometimes doctors tend to look at mothers like they are worriers who are prone to over-reacting. Just remember that you know your child best and you know when there is something wrong. I was once sent away from a doctor's surgery with nothing but the advice to keep giving him panadol, and I found out later that afternoon in the emergency room that he had consolidated pneumonia.....so doctor's don't always know best.
Asthma is managable and your child will most likely have a very normal existence and will be able to do anything he or she wants to. Jaxon is 5 and a half now. He takes a preventer puffer every morning and night and he hasn't been back to hospital in over a year. Many babies that develop asthma grow out of it before their teenage years. It's really important to seek the advice of a good doctor and develop a good asthma management plan. Once you are confident in implementing your management plan you won't look back.
All the best and good luck.
(November 21st) (
