Asthma & my little girl

Being pretty asthmatic myself I’ve always been very conscious of the fact this “trait” could have been passed to my children.  Of course I wouldn’t wish it on anyone and feel guilty at even the thought that one of my babies might struggle in any way with their breathing. 
Ben suffers quite badly from eczema, though it was much worse as a toddler and we’ve pretty much sussed the best way to treat it now (Aveeno is the cream of the Gods if you’re wondering).  He suffers with mild hayfever too but shows no signs of asthma. (These things are often linked)

Chloe doesn’t suffer eczema as yet and there’s no real signs of hayfever however I’ve always felt she might be the one to suffer more chest problems. She is far more prone to coughs and colds than Ben and has been since she was tiny.  Her cold will often drop to her chest becoming a nasty lingering dry cough which keeps her up at night.   I’ve spoken to my asthma nurse in the past and expressed concern that I felt Chloe might be heading down that path and she agreed that we would need to keep a close eye on her.

Weeks later this cough was sill raising it’s ugly head and causing problems during the night – not every night but enough that it was disturbing her sleep and making her very tired.  One night she was sat up in bed sobbing her heart out with it – but still fast asleep so there was absolutely nothing I could do to comfort her.   I could hear that night that she was wheezing so I made the decision that after the holidays I would take her to the Dr. I lay in bed worrying about her, knowing how awful it feels to not be able to breath properly.

On Boxing Day she suffered quite a prolonged coughing fit, she was really upset by it and came to cuddle up on my knee and I could hear she was struggling to catch her breath.  Once she settled down the wheezing passed but of course this prompted me to phone the Dr sooner rather than later and I got her an appointment made as soon as everything was open again after Christmas. 

The Dr we saw wasn’t one I’d met before but she was lovely and listened carefully to my concerns whilst I described the symptoms which I felt demonstrated my little lady needed some help.  The Dr gave her a good check over and couldn’t hear any wheeze herself at that time, she explained that the cough Chloe was suffering could just be viral and left over from her illness earlier in the month.  She said she would prescribe Chloe an inhaler but that they don’t diagnose asthma in children till much later as it was difficult to judge and test in such young ones.  We were asked to keep a diary and make an appointment for the breathing clinic where the asthma nurse would assess the situation.  

Chloe has used her inhaler several times since it was prescribed a few weeks ago.  I’ve discovered that trying to give it to her when she’s asleep isn’t easy at all.  Thankfully when she’s awake she’s very sensible about taking it.  My biggest concern is that she has needed to use it twice during the day – which rings alarm bells for me (as asthma is often worse at night).

We have her first appointment at the breathing clinic tomorrow afternoon so I’ll let you know how things go.