bronchalitis

Re: Stubbon chest infections
Asked by Amerlinwinga

Question:
 

My 3yo had bronchiolitis as a baby she has suffered alot with chest infections in the winter. The problem now is that she has a chesty cough that comes and goes..

It will

come and then as she gets really bad i have decided to take her to the doctors it goes. No runny nose no cold but just a barking chest cough for a few days and then clears up by its self .

My question is.... is this normal after having Bronchiolitis as a baby or should i get her checked out????

Thanks Tee

My Advice:

first i am not claiming to be an expert or a nurse/ doctor, my nearly 4 year old daughter however under the age of two was hospitalised twice once at 6 mnths and again at 18mnths. the first time i was told bronchalitis i was told nothing about asthma (i suffer asthma), second admin, i was told that it was the baby form of asthma. i then had a nurse come to my house twice a week to go through some of the triggers and symptoms to work out an asthma plan. You said that your daughter was 3 now, have you noticed when these coughing fits come about, are they regular, for example my daughters triggers are any cold or flu, and tantrums, these bring on her asthma, in general she start coughing (barking), and if i do not attend to it she start wheezing. when your daughter gets these coughing fits lift up her top and check her stomach if she is pulling it in when she breaths in, then more than likely she is having a mild asthma attack. also check her lips and around her mouth for any signs of discoloration (grey/blue) this will aslo indicate that she is having trouble breathing. if you are still not sure put your ear against her back if you hear wheezing, dont panic just calm her down. my daughter when she has all of these symptoms doesnt tend to slow down or even show that she is in distress in anyway, and she stays that way until it has passed (except the first two times in hospital), however when she is around people that get stressed or panicky it makes her worse, so please just stay calm it doesnt sound like your daughter is having serious full blown attacks, if she was you would'nt need to put your ear on her back, you would be able to hear it normally, so my suggestion would be to keep a close eye on her watch for these signs and take note of the day (hot/cold) date, time, what you were doing before she started coughing, how long it took for her to stop coughing, was there any pets around, smoke, etc, write it all down and  keep it somwhere so that when you go to the doctors even if she is fine by the time you get there, you can give this list to your doctor and he can see if there is a pattern and assign the right care if need be.

another trigger for asthma is also dust mites,  i was told to put 'teddy' and beloved blankie into the freezer for an hour (these two items because they were permanately attached to her), this will kill the dust mites. good luck and i cannot emphasize enough not to panic, or stress