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.