Is It Asthma?

It is hard to say from what you said and not being able to see and listen to your son. Is he weezing? Does he sound like he needs to cough when he is having his fits? My son has asthma, has had it almost since day 1 (he will be 3 in June). I feel the illness is more restricting to us as parents than to our children. My son has pretty serious asthma sometimes enough to hospitalize him but you would never klnow by the way he acts. Kids are strong and are not held down by much. Let your doctor start him on some breathing treatments and meds and hopefully you will know 1 way or the other.

there is a possibilty that he could just have allergies. my son was the same way and they put on steriods, cough meds, name it and it was given. Fianlly they put him on Singulair and occassionaly breathing treatments which slowed it down. but during the cold/flu season i can still notice that he'll cough in the middle of the night. The Dr keeps telling me that he'll grow out of it. We'll see. Good luck to you.

R. - I would not just assume it is asthma. I have a 13 month old son and we have been going through the same thing. I did get an inhaler for him but that is only to help open his airway - to be used on an as needed basis. The season is really bad this year and I think a lot of babies are dealing with this. We just started allergy meds to see if that helps too.

Yes. I have struggled with this myself. Dr wanted my daughter on all kinds of preventative meds. Right now, she's on albuterol with the nebulizer only when her asthma (the cough) acts up. If it doesn't go away after two to three days I switch to Pulmicort through the neb as well. That usually does the trick. So far, no maintenance drugs for us. I am glad I did not put her on any of the drugs my dr suggested. I actually switched peds as well, because I didn't think one round of coughing warranted drugs every day. Let me know if you have any more questions.

My son was diagnosed with asthma at 3 months old. That was scary. He had to have brething treatments at home for the first couple years of his life and it always flared up during weather changes. He is now 11 and does not need an inhaler or meds at all. He has grown out of it... and many kids do. If it helps him, I would go for it.
E-mail me any time at ____@____.com. I could always use more friends. :)
M.

The problem you are describing here sounds very similar to the problem that my son has. He has been diagnosed as having cough variant asthma. It is almost always a problem for him when he is laying down or asleep. It does not really seem to affect him very much during the day when he is in an upright position. And actually ever since we've started to give him Singulair I very rarely have to give him a breathing treatment. So my advice for you is to not worry so much about the "label" of asthma. As long as my son takes his Singulair nightly, then there are no restrictions on his physical activity. He does not use an inhaler or anything like that. You would never know by looking at him that he even does have asthma. Good luck to you and your son. And by all means, at least give the asthma meds a shot. I know that I am so much more relaxed now that I do not have to listen to my baby son coughing his head off.

Hi R.
I am going through the exact same thing as you. My two and a half year old daughter coughed terribly at night,,,sould barely get a good night sleep. I took her to the pedi and they have given her a nebulizer to inhale 3 X a day. With our work schedule we can ojnly do 2 X a day but she has been cough free since (about two weeks), The pedi says that it is asthma but a very mild case. Maybe this is the same with your son. She is able to do everything any other child her age can do...since it is a very mild case...hope this helps.

My son who is eight now has the same thing, mainly at night. It's actually allergies. Hope thats all it is for you K.

If he's wheezing too then it is a good possablity. My son is 1yr and has had asthma since 4 months. It started with wheezing and coughing. We having been doing breathing treatment and going to an asthma doctor ever since.
Yours may not be asthma but very close. If the breathing treatment don't seem to work talk to your ped about an asthma doctor. Mine said that my boy could be off his treatments this summer. We caught it early enough and got the help.
I could also be something that he'll out grow. You can email with any other questions. I also have information about an asthma treatment that we do once a day. It has a video you can get for your son to watch.
As for the treatment. If it is a nebulizer machine get both a mask and a mouth piece. My boy didn't like the mask at all but I could put it on him while asleep. He prefers the mouth piece because he can chew on it.

I am not sure if you should really be worried about the label as much as trying to find somehting to help him at night. My daughter used to get a lot of sinus infections, coughs, etc. Until she got a nebulizer, things were not getting better. Even though they have not officially stated she has asthma, I watch for any signs of the cough getting 'wet' and into her lungs. Since we have the machine at home, it makes it very easy to stop something before it gets too advanced.

Hope this helps!

My son is 23 months old. He was put on zantac when he was 4 weeks old and abuterol etc since he was 4 months old. As he got older we had many colds...almost constant and he was continually on a decongestant as well. A friend recently suggested I get an air purifier for his room. I did, and he has not been sick since! After some research I decided on a hamilton beech product than I couldn't find it in any retail store. Finally I purchased it on line for about $100.00. The sites will come up if you google "air purifier". It's SO much easier than medicine!

PS If you start looking for air purifiers make sure you know the square footage of his bedroom and purchase the product designed for that size space.

I'm sorry to hear about your son. Have you tried a humidifier? That might be misspelled LOL..Maybe a duhumidifier? Not sure..I'm a single Mom well almost 12 weeks to go and could use all the friends I can get!!! I don't know too many people here I 'm from up NOrth and haven't gone out much since being pregnant. It would be nive to meet other mom's who have been in my shoes. Or lack there of LOL good luck hope to talk to you soon!!

Hi R.,

It sounds like it could be asthma, allergies or perhaps a reaction to something. My son, who is now 4, had allergies and eczema. About 6 months ago, I switched laundry detergents and all of my cleaning products to chemical-free products. I also changed the bath products I use on him in case the body wash was causing a reaction. It's made a huge difference for him, he even sleeps better, and I've even noticed that I've been getting fewer headaches.

My daughter, who is now 2, was on a nebulizer for what seemed like forever. Fortunately her breathing problems and wheezing seemed to have gone away as she's gotten a little older and she's no longer on any medication.

I hope things get better for him and you. It's terrible to have to go through that. Good luck!!

My three year old does the same thing and it's so bad that it makes him vomit in the middle of the night (about once every two weeks). I was researching the signs of asthma for my niece's baby and found that if your child has a sever cough at night then it's probably a early indication of asthma. I have not taken my son in to the pedi yet, as I thought he might think I am crazy, but after reading all these posts, I probably should. Just like all the other mother's said, it's worst during season changes. I would at least give it a try to see how your son reacts to it. Also look at Dr. Sears on line and type in "signs of asthma in toddlers/babies" or varations of that search. You will find articles that will help answer your questions. Good luck!