General asthma tips for parents

Do I need to take extra care of my child?

Can my child play sport? Will she be safe sleeping at a friend’s house? It is natural for parents to worry about their child’s asthma and it is stressful watching your child have difficulty breathing. The whole family may have many disturbed nights. Perhaps you fear the attack will get very serious or that you won’t know what to do.

At these times try to remember that death from asthma is extremely rare in children. There is a far greater chance of them dying on the roads than dying of asthma. So while your anxiety is justified, the right to a normal childhood is also important. It is important for children to “fit in” and to be one of the crowd. Feeling left out or different can lead to feelings of isolation.

Its a juggling act and obviously the rules are going to vary according to the severity of your child’s asthma. With sensible care an asthmatic child should be able to lead a normal life. Once a children has become frightened about their asthma then they may lose confidence and stop doing physical exercise or going to places where they have had asthma attacks in the past.

Other asthmatic children develop a different attitude and go all out to show others that they are just as good as non-asthmatics and can over do it sometimes proving this. These children may become sensitive or embarrassed about taking their medication in front of others and refuse to acknowledge that they have a problem.

To help your child have a life which is as normal as possible, try the following:

Find out about your child's medication - what it does and when to use it
Use the reliever medication only as it is needed - do not use it as a preventer
Use medication through a spacer or aerochamber because (A) this lowers the chance of oral thrush from inhaled steroids and (B) it read more