My 19 month old has had a bout of croup, and broncholitis for the 2nd time. Last night we saw the doc and he said poor DS is starting to get asthma, so they put him on the ventilator machine. I was told to buy a ventilator and spacer.
My hubby wants to get a 2nd opinion re the asthma. I can hear his chest is like 'noisy'. I have no idea if and when he would be having an asthma attack. Tho' hubby is asthmatic and he is telling me the more I use the Ventolin spray, the more prone he will be to it.
If you are not certain about the Dr's diagnosis then you can get a second opinion, it is rare that they officially diagnose Asthma under the age of 2, unless there have been 3 attacks where ventolin makes a difference. Prior to this it is referred to as Infant Wheezing and unfortunately there is not a lot of research in this area, and all of our Paed's and Dr's have said that it can really be a guessing game.
The infant wheeze is often closely connected to Croup, and secondly but less comonly Bronchiolitis, we discussed this with one of DD's Paed this week.
There are some clear signs when your child is struggling to breathe, and the Dr should have gone through this with you.
Some children have an audible wheeze and others and in auidible wheeze, my DD's is inaudible, but when it is audible we need to be at the hospital as she is usually having chest recessions by that stage.
You look at the base of the neck at the front and if the skin is being drawn in the round bit between the bones this is referred to as a Neck Tug, so the baby or child is having some difficulty breathing so you would administer Ventolin as per the asthma plan or recommendations given to you by the Dr. And then take them to your Dr or if they are not open to the ER.
The next level is chest recessions, this is where when you look at their chest that is is not there belly moving in and out as they breathe, it is their rib cage/chest. This is severe and the child needs to be taken to an ER quickly via ambulance to be seen by professionals.
All of DD Dr's and Paed's (ah yes we have a few ) all say it for us to give her as much as she needs, and as per her "astham" plans, she has not been officially diagnosed, as she has to have another severe attack or two, and she has a pre exisitng lung condition, resulting from either her prematurity or it has been caused by a series or respiratory infections (8 this winter so far ).
She is on Ventolin every day, usually just 2 puffs every 4 hours as needed, and at the moment she is on 6 puffs every 2 hours due to another infection, everything goes straight to her chest.
She has had up to 6-12 puffs every 20 minutes, in hospital, but at that stage she needed o2 as the ventolin stopped working. They don't become immune to the effects of Ventolin, but with asthma there do become times when the Ventolin just isn't enough.
This is not the opinion first hand from a Medical Professional, this is all of our experiences and the Dr's and Paed's we deal with directly in relation to our DD's issues, every child is different and the recommendations for you child will very likely be different to ours. If you are ever unsure please seek medical assistance as it s better to be safe and know that everything is ok than leaving it too long.
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) all say it for us to give her as much as she needs, and as per her "astham" plans, she has not been officially diagnosed, as she has to have another severe attack or two, and she has a pre exisitng lung condition, resulting from either her prematurity or it has been caused by a series or respiratory infections (8 this winter so far 
). 
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