Older Adult Health Care

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4 Tips for Parents on Managing Asthma in Kids

If your child is suffering from asthma, it is your parental duty to keep an eye on it. Whilst many of the symptoms of asthma in children can be quite scary, with the right amount of effort, and a little bit of help from your doctor, you should be able to keep your child’s symptoms under control. Not only will it improve their quality of life, but it will also reduce the amount of stress that you have to deal with when it comes to worrying where and when that next asthma attack will strike.

On this page, we are going to talk a little bit about managing asthma in children.

Detailed records are key

It is important that you keep detailed records of every asthma symptom and attack that your child has to deal with. This serves two purposes. Firstly, this information will be used by the paediatrician to come up with a viable treatment plan for your child’s asthma. Secondly, it provides a good log for you. It will enable you to see what may potentially trigger your child’s asthma and, hopefully, you will be able to eliminate most of these triggers from the life of your child. This will bring the asthma greatly under control.

You want to keep a record of the following:

  • When and where an asthma attack, or even severe wheezing, occurs.
  • Make a record of what activity your child was undertaking when the asthma attack occurred.
  • When you needed medical attention for the asthma attack.
  • When your child needs to take asthma medication to quell their attack.

Keep your home clean

There are a number of potential asthma triggers in your home. It is important that you eradicate them to the best of your ability. For example, you should not be smoking around your child. In addition to this, if you have furry pets then you are going to want to ensure that there is no fur floating about the house. This is a quick path to triggering asthma in your child.

In some cases, your child may suffer from seasonal asthma. For example, some people find that their symptoms are worse in the spring, or even the summer/fall. You want to ensure that your child stays away from grass and trees if this is the case.

Seek medical attention if your child’s asthma symptoms persist

There is no ‘one treatment’ for asthma. Your child’s doctor will work incredibly hard to come up with a solution that is right for your child. However, it is unlikely that they will get it right the first time around. Do not continue with the medication if you do not feel as though it is working. You will need to get in touch with the doctor immediately. The doctor will then be able to devise a new treatment plan. In the worst case scenario, they may have to prescribe oral steroids.

Know what triggers your child

Generally speaking, a child’s asthma will be triggered by a few specific things. It is important that you identify what these triggers are (this is why you need detailed record keeping!). By identifying these triggers, you will be able to keep the vast majority of asthma symptoms at bay. In fact, eliminating these triggers may ensure that your child rarely suffers an asthma attack.

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