WWYD? Asthma attacks....

[Mamma_Mia]

My 3yr dcb is told he suffers from Asthma. He has a puffer here. Mom arrives this morning and tells me that he's already had 2 puffs today (it's one puff every 2-3hrs) and didn't sleep well because of it. As soon as mom leaves he starts coughing a lot. To the point where I watched the clock and it's every 45sec-1min between coughs. The poor kid has no energy and is sighing or hitting his own leg frusterated with the cough. I gave him another puff at 10am and he hasn't stopped. It didn't do anything....

At drop off mom makes a comment about "these sick kids (she has 3) are going to make me loose my job. My company isn't happy already".

Well I don't know if I should just let him stay, he is miserable poor little guy, or call mom and say take him to the Dr..somthing isn't right?

[Crayola kiddies]

I'm not really familiar with asthma but I know colder air it thinner and when I'm having a difficult time breathing due to a cold I go outside and the cold air helps.... Is there no gramma or other family member that can take him ?

[mamabear]

If he is coughing that badly I would be calling for pick up. He could have bronchitis or worse. He needs to see a doctor, or at the very least be able to curl up with mom and rest.

[kidlove]

mamma, call his Mom now! screw the sick days.....She needs to take care of him/bring him to Dr. I wouldn't mess with something like that, at least have checked by Doc then make a choice.
I know she loves her kid she must :) but I have to say it really frustrates me when parents are willingto risk the health of their child over the "boss".....I know, some employers don't give any leeway, but my job as a Mother ALWAYS outweighed any "job" for a paycheck. ha, that's why I'm here, doing what I do.....cuz my employer tried that garbage, and I told them where to stick it, cuz my babies and my family was worth more. :)

[BrightEyes]

I would be calling mom asap.

[treeholm]

Asthma can be life-threatening. Call Mom now.

[bright sparks]

To much of a liability to keep him in your care as respatory illness can turn nasty quick. It would be my first instinct to say after so many puffers in such a short space of time with no real change is a good indicator that whatever is going on with him is escelating and he needs to seek medical attention asap in order to correct this before he gets worse. I know mum is stressed due to sick days, but she needs to sit down with her employer and explain the situation to give herself some piece of mind when it comes to the security of her job. I would suggest asking her if she's done this to offer her some support. We all know at times being a mum is tough. I can appreciate that you can't stay at home every day with a child who has asthma but it does seem like today would have been a good day to be at home with him especially with the bad night he'd already had. Without knowing her financial situation, I can only imagine what it would be like for me raising 3 children if I was struggling. I'd be scared of losing my job to and people can get overwhelmed very quickly by this kind of thing so don't think clearly, even surrounding their childrens wellbeing. If it had been me, I would have gone to emergency in the night where they could have put him on a nebulizer and then sent him home with stronger meds. But is this parent a one parent family, because that may have been difficult to do if so. Not knowing this parents life circumstances makes it difficult to call her out for sending him to you for the day, but if she did have other resources or a partner able to help with this, then I'd be a bit annoyed too.

Ask her for any additional emergency contacts who can take him at a pinch in time periods when she is taking a higher amount of sick days. I feel for this mother and child. Poor folks

[treeholm]

I do feel badly for the mother, but as a caregiver, I would feel worse if a child died on my watch because I was afraid to call the Mom... I don't mean that to sound snarky. I had severe asthma as a child, and I think people don't realize that it can be life threatening. I'm glad my asthma is only mild as an adult, but it is still a disease I wouldn't mess with.

[sunnydays]

Yeah, i would send him home too. It can really worsen at naptime. I had a little one develop croup at naptime with me and he woke up wheezing and gasping to get air...it was scary. I wouldn't want to go through that again. I ahve a little guy in my care who has asthma and a puffer, but if he were coughing like that I would send him home because I would be really afraid of naptime. What if you don't hear him and he is having trouble braething? Scary :(

[playfelt]

The fact he isn't normally on a puffer at your house and assuming he uses two - the slower 2x a day one and then the emergency puffer which is used more often as needed - so assuming that is the one you are using now. If he is not getting any relief and has tried it at least a couple times - as in at home and again mid morning and now again at nap with no change then he is in need of the meds a different way and may very well need to be in hospital with a mask treatment. And yes if they are all sick then he probably has an underlying illness that is setting the asthma off which makes it more serious.

Mom needs to be told to come and take him to the doctor or better yet the children's hospital and they will put a mask on him anyways till they assess him and that might be just enough to take the edge off. The doctor will likely just send him home to keep uselesslly puffing.

If you do keep him be prepared to call 911 if he shows the slightest amount of not being able to breathe in totally. But at least give mom a heads up of the state he is in and what your option will be - at her expense if she doesn't come and get him. I would be letting him sit up on the couch for nap rather than laying down too.

[Inspired by Reggio]

A cold can severely complicate asthma for sure :(

IME it does not take long for your oxygen levels to get low and dangerously low to cause damage to the brain and other organs ... if he is not responding to the emergency puffer to relieve his symptoms he needs to go to the hospital and get a masking treatment and oxygen supplements!

If his asthma is chronic like that they have portable masking units for home and daycare ~ we use to have kids in centre in the winter months who had to get the machine verses the little 'puffer' for treatment!

[Momof4]

I completely understand that her employer is going to give her a really hard time. I've been there and done that. However, our children are the most important, precious things in our lives and the ladies are right, she has to take the responsibility for her sick child. You were too kind and caring to keep him today. I hope it all worked out well.

[mamaof4]

As a mom, with severe persistent asthma, and a mom of a child with asthma- I would call.

Medically speaking, kids airways are so much smaller than an adults so it takes less inflammation to have a problem.

Additionally, kids can compensate (their bodies work extra hard to stay stable) and then crash so so fast.

The kid needs an asthma action plan with peak flow guidelines and the mom could use some solid comprehensive asthma education.

If he needs it, a nebulizer is a great thing- it can save ER visits and hospitalizations really frequently. If he is the type of kid to get bad fast an epi pen is also a good thing to have.

[Mamma_Mia]

The fact he isn't normally on a puffer at your house and assuming he uses two - the slower 2x a day one and then the emergency puffer which is used more often as needed

Mom says the Dr/Hospital isn't giving her a refill of the 'orange' one for emergencies which I found hard to believe.

So I called mom and told her he has maybe 20seconds of a rest between coughs and he was complaining that his chest/tummy was hurting. So she came to get him (took almost an hour :cursing:)

While she was here boy ws asking for McDonalds for lunch (his treat when they have Doctor appt days). Mom says "ask daddy later mom has no money". She then on her way out says "I even have to stop by my mom's to get parking money". Now it got me thinking do they not have the 'orange' puffer because of money issues.....which I'm angry with, my childs health comes first!

Anyways I know they weren't in a GREAT shape, dcb's pants are short and he's been wearing his sisters socks lately. But they've never been late with payment. I know it's not easy to judge.....dad is 47 and already a grandfather and has the 3yr old with mom. Mom is in her late 30's....her kids are 15, 5 & 3. I feel bad for them....

[Mamma_Mia]

Mom took him straight to the hospital (per my advice) when she got here dcb was wheezing. I told her don't bother going to the clinic, it's just waisting time. She came later to p/u 5yr old. She said they put the mask on him right away and he has a oral steroid to take 4 times a day for 4 days. Still no "orange" puffer.....we'll see how this goes. Poor little guy.

[bright sparks]

Poor Guy, it breaks my heart and I hope his mother has some kind of support, sounds like she could use some. Let us know how he gets on please Mamma.

[Momof4]

Dammit MammaMia doesn't this really tick you off? Be tougher next time for the child's sake, ok? Do these people qualify for subsidy? Tell them to apply. Advertise and replace the family. No matter how badly you feel for this little guy you are taking on a big responsibility and liability and I'm worried for you.

I have a child who is 4 and her Mom gives her a puff when they get here to get through her day, and I know the puffer is in the backpack if we ever need it but thankfully in 4 years we never have had to use it. But there are times when I make her sit down and breathe deeply when she's been running and playing and I recognize that she is wheezing. You have to be careful with what you can handle.

[sunnydays]

Thank you for this post! I have a little guy with asthma in my care and I never really thought it would be a big deal...his mom told me he has astham in such an offhand way that I didn't think it was very serious. I do have a consent form and puffer here for him, but hadn't thought about the fact that it could be life threatening or I probably wouldn't have taken the child! After reading this, I am going to be very careful!

[Momof4]

I also had a child with a peanut/tree nut allergy in care for a few years and I cook most things from scratch but I really had to read labels on crackers and any food I bought in packages. I had to carry an epipen around everywhere we went which was kind of scary but she never needed it thank goodness. All the other daycare children watched out for nutshells for her because people feed them to the squirrels at our park.

For almost 4 years I've carried around the puffer for my little girl with mild asthma. I count my lucky stars that we've never had any incidents, but I know for sure that both of my dcMoms were great and if we ever had an emergency that they would be here FAST. I think that's really important. If you have a child with any chronic illness or allergy make sure the parents work close to you and can get there at the drop of a hat to take the responsibility off your hands and take care of their sick child.

We probably all have the same arrangement in place that we tell parents that if we ever have to call 911 and send a sick child to the hospital they will be responsible to meet them there. We can't leave the other children. Make sure you have a clear policy like that in place.

[dodge__driver11]

In all honestybeing someone that suffers from Lung issues, I would not have kept him :( I went to the hospital in an ambulance with an oxygen level of 77% or so I was told...I blacked out and can't remember much besides calling 911 for help... I would have called an ambulance and had the parent meet the child there.