1 Year Old with Asthma

Hi,
something similar happened with my niece and she was too young for allergy tests and they suffered through a fall and winter. this year an allergy test revealed an allergy to eggs - they have removed that from her diet and she is so much better, no nebulizer or meds. may be a place to start?
good luck

I feel for you! My now 19-month-old spent 13 total days in the hospital by the time she was 7 months old. It is so scary, especially when you find out what the O2 stats mean and watch them losing oxygen. So scary.

I will say that I would recommend you ask different doctors, even ones in the same practice if you have to. I had one doctor come in and put Sofia on steroids. The next doctor (the one she usually sees) came in and said he wouldn't have done that because of the side effects and the fact that modern drs don't use steroids as much anymore. Also, there is question as to whether or not it should be called asthma.

My best suggestion is to get a referral to a good pediatric ENT, and possibly a pediatric pulmonologist. That way, those who SPECIALIZE in childhood ailments like these can be advising you best. Sofia went to both. Last July (at 15 months old) she had her adenoids removed and ear tubes put in. She began walking for the first time that day and after about a month, she stopped getting sick. She has now gone almost 4 months without a single cold (even when her big sis gets them from school), and better yet, without ever needing her nebulizer!

Good luck. And don't stop until you are comfortable with the care he is getting!

Hi M., I can't tell you how very sorry I am that you are going through this with your little boy -- it must be heart-wrenching to watch him suffer this way. First, I need to let you know that I have dealt with this myself (not with a child, but with myself)for the past 10 years using Combivent and Pulmicort plus a nebulizer at the first sign of a cold, because (like your son) it drops right down into my lungs and I end up with bronchitis or pneumonia. I have been rushed to the hospital several times with a mucus plug that was obstructing my airway also, and it is soooo scary. Three years ago, I became a Shaklee Distributor and began researching their non-toxic cleaning products. A little over a year ago, I purchased the entire Get Clean Kit and gave all my current cleaning products to my church to help with their budget. I also became very serious about taking Shaklee's all-natural vitamins & food supplements on a regular basis. For the past 10 years, I was on a strong antibiotic 4-6 times a year, and I knew that was not good for me. The last time I took an antibiotic and had bronchitis/pneumonia was in September of 2007!!!! This is HUGE for me. I have actually had a few head colds, and they went away without dropping down into my lungs - that just doesn't happen to me. About 5 years ago, I was sent for the battery of allery testing to see if I had developed some allergies that would be contributing or perhaps even causing these issues; however, the tests were all negative except that I had suddenly developed a severe allergy to Penicillin (which I have been taking all my life). Soooo, I cannot promise that your son will have the same results; however, isn't it worth a try? Using non-toxic cleaning products will make all of you healthier. Now, you can buy some of these products in local markets, but (and this is a big "but") Shaklee's products are very heavily concentrated which makes them much cheaper to use. The other products have already been mixed with water and are provided for you all mixed up in a spray bottle. With Shaklee's products, you purchase them in concentrated form, and then you provide the spray bottle and add the water. One example -- to clean windows & mirrors - take a 16 oz spray bottle, add 16 oz of water, then add TWO (2) DROPS of Shaklee's Basic H2 - that's it!! Your windows will glisten! If you just used this bottle of concentrated Basic H2 to wash windows & mirrors, this one bottle for about $12 would outlast more than 400 bottles of Windex!! How's that for savings! The best part is that you use this same bottle of Basic H2 to wash floors, walls, countertops, appliances, etc - it is just a different dilution; i.e. 1/4 teaspoon Basic H2 to 16 oz of water. We also have a germicide called Basic G that kills all the bacteria that bleach does, but it is safe for us to use and breathe as opposed to toxic bleach. I have a DVD that explains all the cleaning products & would love to send it to you if you wish. Please give me your physical address if you would like it. You might also want to visit my web site www.emilytaft.com and click into "Home" on the left-hand menue and then browse through the cleaning products. Please contact me if you want more info on this - E. Taft ###-###-#### ____@____.com I will help you in any way that I can. I have ten grandchildren and would be heartsick to think of any of them going through this. We also sell an air cleaner (I just thought of this) called Air Source which we also bought and have it plugged in 24/7. When one of my grandchildren was about 18 months old, he began having issues and needed to use a Nebulizer for heavy congestion. They bought the Air Source also and I gave them some of my cleaning products. Within one year, his symptoms ceased. He just turned 5 and has probably only needed to use the nebulizer once a year at the most since they got their Air Source. Just to let you know, I have one Get Clean Kit left at my house that originally sold for $159.99 (has all the products plus all the containers, etc.) I am offering it out for $89.99 + tax, because they now have a new kit that has a couple of other things added to it. I wish you only the best and hope I can be of some help to you. E. Taft

Hello there,
My sympathies to you. My daughter (now 10) started her attacks when she was about that age. she was actually almost 18 months old. It was awful. I feel for you. Her only trigger is having a cold. Nothing else brings it on. So at the very first sign of a cold she goes on azma cort. It helps for the most part. We also learned early on that the cold air aggrivates it so she uses a bandana around her head to cover her nose and mouth (like a bandit) when she goes out. That cuts the aggrivation way down. She used to hate it but now whe she has a bad cold she wont leave with out it. It is alot better now too. She is out growing it or something because she used to have a couple episodes a year. Now it is once every year or two. Good luck to you and best wishes. They have good childrens books about it which will help you help him later on. Lots and lots of TLC!!!

Merry Christmas

Wow! Shades of our family's past! Our now 12-year-old used to get asthma whenever he got a cold...and he got colds A LOT. He never got to the point of hospitalization, but we nebulized him many, many times. And one time he went to pneumonia, but we were able to care for him at home. It wasn't extreme.

A few questions for you. Does he have any indication of asthma when he doesn't have a cold? Does he get eczema easily? Is he in full-time daycare? What size is the daycare?

Our son got sick frequently when he was little, but we never had him on his nebulizer all the time. It was only when he got sick and he seemed to be wheezing. We used albuterol. (I'm not familiar with Pulmicort or Orapred.) The albuterol would occasionally jazz him up but not always. More often than not, it just helped him breathe better. The effect was amazingly immediate. When he was out of the woods, though, we did not nebulize him. We just used it episodically.

Every child's level of asthma is unique, but if your son just tends to get it when he gets a cold, he may be a good candidate for growing out of it as he grows older. As their wind passages get larger, some kids grow out of the tendency towards asthma. Fortunately, our son grew out of it. I hope your son is that lucky as well. (Even my niece, who was 3 months premature and had asthma pretty consistently when she was young, has grown out of it as an adult. But that's not the case for all situations like that.)

You may not have this option, and our doctor may have been a little old-fashioned, but he recommended that one of us go part-time if we could swing it, so that our son wasn't in childcare so much. I have to admit that that change made a huge difference. With our son not in the germ soup on a daily basis, he got sick much less often. We switched to just 2-3 days a week, with me home the rest of the time, and he faired much better. Like I said, you or your husband may not have that flexibility, but it might be something to think about.

One other thing...are you sure it is the medicine that is making your son vomit? The reason I ask is that our son rarely vomited but it was usually when he was really mucousy. I think he just would gag on the mucous and that led to his vomiting. We deduced this because most of what he vomited was mucous.

I also ask about the eczema because our son had it A LOT when he was little. Sometimes his skin would get so raw. We used Aquaphor (sp?) for years, and occasionally we used hydrocortisone when it was really bad. But the thing we found later that worked wonders was Hydrophilic Ointment. It wasn't a prescription drug, but it was behind the counter at our pharmacy. You had to specifically ask for it. It had a Noxema consistency and feel to it, and it worked great on our son. Once we started using this new product, we rarely needed to use hydrocortisone.

We never really were able to peg what would set off our son with the eczema, so we tended to just address it when it appeared. But I suspect it is some sort of allergy.

Years later, our son became notorious for getting nosebleeds. My husband and I used to get them a lot when we were young as well. Our son's doctor suggested that it might be allergies and he put him on Flonase (or a generic version of it), which I also use. It seemed to really help him for a while. He is no longer using it, but it seemed to do the trick while he was using it.

Back to work and daycares...the daycare our son originally was at was pretty large. It was a great facility but it probably had 40-50 kids spread out over several classrooms. The germ pool was profuse. Later, we found a smaller daycare with just about 15-20 kids and only 7 kids in his particular class. Whether he was just getting older, or the class size reduction was the trick, he seemed to get sick much less often. If your son is going to a daycare that is large, it might be worth it to explore what other options you might find in your area. It could possibly make the difference.

I hope some of this helps. It's hard seeing your little one get sick and have a hard time breathing. Best of luck and happy holidays!

I am so sorry to hear about your little man! My niece who is now 19! Had asthma really bad (still does) as a little kid and was also hospitalized several times around the age of 2 or 3 when she was diagnosed. She & her mom (my sister) lived with me, my mom & dad so I remember going through it with them all. My poor little niece I felt so bad she was so little & helpless. The medicine also made her hyper and miserable. My son who is 24 months now ended up with bronchitis with asthma just once but it was very scary. The treatments were no fun he hated them and fought us not to have them done. But he has not had bronchitis or asthma since then thank God! Hopefully he won't ever have it again but my husband (his dad) still has asthma so I still worry with every cold he gets. I will keep your son in my prayers. God bless and happy holidays.

Oh I can so empathize with you. My daughter was diagnosed when she was 1 and is now 5. Sounds the same - no allergies, but viral induced. I never knew that asthma existed like that - the nonstop coughing, vomitting, etc. Unfortunately, the fear we feel never goes away. Year 2 and 3 only got worse, but we are seeing some slight improvement this year. She takes daily singulair, daily nasonex, daily inhaler, and pulmicort 3 times per day during flare ups, and xoponex during flare ups. And the effects on behavior are negative as well. (FYI - we took her off albuterol because that had horrible effects on her - it seemed as though she was having seizures - the xoponex has less effects). I felt that the medicine was neverending and I hated drugging her so much, but I did a lot of research and found that there really is no other treatment and that supposedly there is no long term negative effects. That being said, there really is no "cure" for the cough, or instant relief like there is for kids who have the wheezing/activity induced asthma. So, the best way to handle it is to start the meds as soon as you see even the slightest symptom come on. It is very frustrating, because even that doesn't seem to work at times and it took us a couple of years to really get the protocol of the meds down pat. I truly feel for you. I hope you have a great specialist - that makes all the difference. And they say that the kids will likely grow out of this. I hope so. Good luck with the long months ahead - oh, one other good piece of news. Come May/June, my daughter has never had a symptom and has been medicine free (except the daily maintenance meds) through about October. So you may see some relief when the virus season is over.

M.,
Here's another camp heard from who has been there. I'm sorry you and your son are having to go through this.
My son was diagnosed with RSV which resulted in his asthma when he was a baby. That was our first weekend long hospitalization. Each time he got a cold we were right back in the ER as his neb treatments wouldn't work.
As he got older, he seemed to have an easier time of it.
Just wanted to let you know I sympathize.

THis sounds like absolute torture - I have friends who went through this with their one year old - sick for 3 weeks, well for one, then sick for 3 again. He was on the nebulizer way too much. They found a wonderful nutritional supplement that was so successful, their son has never been on the nebulizer again (he's now 5). With their doctor's blessing, they used it as a prenatal with their second child, and she has never been sick. If the kids get a little cold, it's minor and only last a day or two. Neither kid has been on an antibiotic. The company that makes the supplements has been around for 20 years, is highly research-based (rather than out to make a quick buck) and they have a great humanitarian mission feeding 43,000 people a day through their charitable foundation. There is no warning label on their products because everything is totally safe - it's great nutrition in the right balance (that's key) and in a highly absorbable form (that's also key) so you totally get your money's worth. If you would like to know more, let me know and I will connect you with my friends and some other parents - there are thousands and thousands around the country - whose kids have beaten asthma, food allergies, and other illnesses. If you'd like an alternative to misery, hospitals and drugs, there's hope! My family has also had life-changing results on the products but we use the adult formula.

We went through this with our daughter at 10 months. She actually didn't have asthma, she had RSV, respiratory simplex virus. We did the nebulizers and meds for a while, but she got past it, I know exactly what you mean about scary!!! It sounds like you are doing all the right things, I would suggest going to the pulmonary clinic at Children's Hospital in Boston. It sounds like your son has a very reactive airway, meaning his airway is sensitive to small changes like getting a cold, going out into the cold air, possibly allergens, etc. A medication to help him reduce the reactivity of the airway may be what he needs. It may help you to have him evaluated by a specialist, living in fear of the next attack isn't good for any of you. As for cleaning products, I like the Clorox Green line of cleaners, all natural and they work really well. Avoid bleach at all costs, the bleach fumes cause high reactivity of the airway. I'll be thinking about you. Hang in there.

I don't know how you feel about alternative type medicine, but I have several friends who have essentially eliminated their children's asthma (no more attacks, and no drugs at all!) through diet changes and homeopathy. Removing dairy seems to be especially helpful. You may want to find a naturopathic physician experienced with asthma - I know there are things that would help your little guy and not have the horrible side effects that the drugs do.

Hi M.. How are you? I am so sorry you have to go through this. Poor little guy!
My hubby has asthma and we used special bedding as sheets, pillow covers and even blanket covers. We also switched to a temperpedic mattress as it does NOT get dust mites!

There is a company that makes such bedding for infants for allergies and asthma: http://www.achooallergy.com/kids.asp

I would check with your pedi just in case, but it just might help. I sure hope it does.

I agree with Joanna too that there can be some foods that can aggravate his symptoms.

Good luck with Evan and happy holidays!

Hi M.,
I'm sorry to hear about what you are going through. I had asthma growing up and my three year old has it too. He was hospitalized last year right before Christmas. He honestly went from having the START of a runny nose at night to being taken by ambulance from the pedi's office to the hospital the next day. It can happen so unbelievably fast. The signs with him are usually a runny nose. Now as soon as I see that I start him on his albuterol inhaler. He is already on flovent daily. The orapred is a lifesaver once it gets too out of hand. It does make them crazy, as well as the albuterol. Hang in there. You will learn to notice the signs very early on and you will be a pro at this very soon. Do your research on the asthma meds. My son was on Singulair and I took him off of it because there have been a lot of issues with it recently. Once I started reading about it I took him off it the next day. Have a great Holiday! Don't worry, you will get this under control!

Hi M.-
My 2 year old has asthma - and we just took him to an allergist last week to discuss our plan. One thing he said is that typically asthma in children this young is aggravated by viruses/colds - not environmental allergies (I was worried about dust, etc. -and he did test fine for all that). He was diagnosed at 8 months, although I knew something was up earlier than that. He is currently on Pulmicort, with albuterol treatments as necessary. My best advice is to stay on top of it. We currently do 1 Pulmicort neb treatment every day through the winter (and will probably keep that up for Spring and Fall as well) - then we up it to 2 Pulmicort treatments at the onset of a cough (or constant runny nose) - which causes nasal drip and typically leads to a cough...and sets off the asthma. If he begins to wheeze, we start the albuterol treatments as well - every 4 hours (on top of the Pulimort twice a day). So, basically when he's sick, we are stuck in the house keeping up on the treatments. I commented to the doctor that I didn't think the albuterol did much when he gets to that point, and he said that it works better in children a little older. The hospital (and I'm sure you've done this) adds ipratropium to the albuterol-which seems to work better than albuterol alone) - and I did get a prescription for it at one point. I hope this helps - good luck!
T. S

Hi M.,
When I read your note I started to cry b/c it reminded me so much of what I went through with my son a few years ago. At 9 months old (beginning of Nov)he came down with what the Dr told me was a cold. Well the head part of the cold went away but he alway had a cough then about 3 weeks later my husband was home with him and notice it was 10:30 in the am and our son wasn't up yet so he went in to check on him and our son was struggling to breath so he went straight to the DR where he was treated for pnumonia. The Dr big concern was not only was our son sick but loosing weight. He was put on pulmicort , albuterol neb treatments every 4 hours and orapred. I can remember being up at 2am after a treatment watching our son bounce over my husband and I on our bed. This continued until he was 15 months old (in May). All winter it was back an forth to the ER and the DR office. I was told b/c of his age they didn't want to do an allergy test or classify his as asthmatic but finally after a really bad episode they sent us to a pulminolgist who tested him for CF which came back neg. and gave him a few basic allergy tests. We now know he is allergic to dust mites, dogs and oak pollen. All the DRs felt that he just got a cold that he couldn't beat until the warmer weather came and he needed extreme measures to help him through the winter. My son is now turning 5 in Feb. he sees a pulminologist 3 times a year for monitoring. He is on a Flovent inhaler daily in the winter and pulmicort at first sign of a cold. We are hoping that if this year is as good as last we may be able to take him off of everything by next winter. His Dr says the age of 5 is a big turning point for alot of kids. I don't know where you live but we always went to Hasbro ER in RI and they were WONDERFUL with us. I have a name of 2 pulminologists in RI and in Boston if you ever need them send me an email. The RI lady was the first one that we went to. We were warned that she is great but has a terrible bed side manner but she does know her stuff and they were right. SHe was abrupt but she was willing to give me her home number when we went on VAC so if our son got sick while away she would talk us through everythign over the phone instead of going to the ER. Unfortunaltely our Insurance changed and she was no longer under our plan so we swithc to a DR at Childrens Hospital and he and his staff has been great also. We really lucked out. Good luck and hang in there it will be a long winter and countless trips to the DR office but gopefully in the spring things will get better. Take care.
C.
____@____.com

I sympathize with you. My son had bad coughing symptoms from birth. He was finally diagnosed around 8 months & we started with the nebulizer of albuterol & pulmicort & the orapred. It seemed like he was on steroids more then he was off. We had to deal with frequent emergency room visits, ear infections, pnumonia, bronchitis & bouts of croup as well. I tried acupuncture and chiropractic care with breif (maybe a day or 2) periods of relief & homeopathy with little to no relief. We had him allergy tested & most of his allergies were outdoor allergies that I couldn't control. At age 4 he finally saw an EMT who tried singulair with him. It made him depressed, so we couldn't use it. At that time we also discovered that his adnoids are enlarged. We then started with daily Claritin & Nasonex. For us, we had finally stumbled on something that worked. He's now 6yo & takes Claritin every day & Nasonex whenever he seems to be getting a cold. He still has episodes that require the albuterol or pulmicort & last winter we needed orapred for another bout of croup, but just once all winter. I know it's tough, I remember sleeping sitting up on the couch holding him upright night after night just to lessen the coughing & vomiting so he could sleep. It's a scary & terrible thing to suffer through, but you just need to keep trying different things until you find something that works for you. Good luck & happy holidays.

I'm so sorry to hear you have to go through this. I have had asthma my whole life, so hopefully I can offer you some tips that will be helpful. Even though mine was also non-allergy related, I think you are wise to get rid of as many allergens as you can. They only aggravate the situation. My mother even went so far as to get rid of all pets and stuffed animals. And she was a fanatic about dusting my room...she even dusted the walls! I also know from experience that sleeping with the head of the bed elevated helps me tremendously.

Also, at the first sign of congestion, she would turn on the shower as hot as it could go and sit me in there to breathe in the steam. I often vomited up a lot of stuff out of my lungs, but it helped clear them out without relying heavily on medication to do the trick.

I hope this helps!

Hi M.,
i wanted to recomend the health & wellness company i work for. There are over 400 products for everyday houseld use that are mostly natural. I don't know if they will help but it might be worth a shot looking into. If you would like more info go to my website www.themoneymakingmom.com & leave your contact info & i will be in touch shortly. Good luck.
E.

Just a quick recommendation: I have a good friend who's been through hell with her son's asthma. At age 2 they were using the inhaler multiple times every night. They were all miserable. At some point she decided to try removing all dairy (that means not only dairy products, but anything containing casein or whey and their derivatives)from his diet because she'd read it helped some kids. Amazingly, his symptoms completely disappeared! Needless to say, they've given it up permanently and the little guy is a new kid--no more inhaler or breathing treatments or other meds. The results were so profound I'm recommending it to anyone struggling with this issue.

Good luck to you and your little guy!

Hi M.!
So sorry your little one has asthma. My 7 year old son also has asthma and his trigger happens to only be UDI's (apparently the most common asthma trigger, I've been told). He's been oin singulair every day since age 3 and the Flovent daily since he was 2...we just switched the Flovent to Symbicort this fall. And yes, I agree about the Orapred...the side effects are nasty However, when it's bad enough it seems be the only thing that helps...The good news is that, at least in my som's case, once his asthma got well enough control,he's just went 4 years w/o the oeapred....NTW: watch out for that extra cold dry winter air...doesn't seem to help...
You may want to go to an allergist just to make sure (some peace of mind)...
Feel free to contact me if you want...It's so heartbreaking to see our little ones feeling so miserable...but it does get better, eventually,hopefully
M. M

you can try aromatherapy, burning eucalyptus oil might help him breathe easier and it helps clean the air. people have also told me manuka honey with a umf 8+ might also help with asthma or allergies, you can look into that. also, try baby massage, it will definitely help with general immune system. i was concerned about my son developing asthma so i cut out cow's milk from my 4 year old son's diet completely and after 2-3days when his system was completely clear of the milk, his mucous problem disappeared and his appetite exploded (mealtime battles were also no longer an issue!!!)

I can sympathize. I have a 4 yr old and a 1.5 yr old with RAD/asthma. About the drugs, from personal experience, when your child doesn't react well to a medication there are others to try. Ask your doc about trying something else. As far as the cleaning products, all you really need is baking soda and vinegar. Not only will you save a ton of money but everything will be clean and healthy. In our family one of the important things for us in the winter is airing out the house regularly (esp if you have a fireplace/woodstove). I'll open up the windows when we're going to be out for a short bit. It makes a big difference. Mold is another thing to consider. My girls have food allergies as well. It's the rain barrel effect. They're little immune systems are on overdrive due to allergies and add anything taxing, teething, being overtired, a cold and they're down for the count. Hang in there. Become as educated as you can. You're definately not alone!

I'm so sorry to hear your son has asthma. My son has cold induced, so thank gos it doesn't come around often. My ex whom I was with for 5 years had the most horrible asthma. We were at the ER at least once a month for breathing treatments and all, and it usually took almost 6 hours to get him well again. :-( My son is on Pulmicort and Albuterol when he gets colds, and it seems to help quite a bit. I would get a second opinion. If he is to the point of vomiting, it doesn't seem like he's getting enough preventative medication.

hi M.
So sorry about your son. It is nerve racking my son had his first problem with breathing at 6 weeks old. Over the first year we were in the hospital what seemed like every other month, winter is the hardest time!They diagnosed him with Ashtma at 10 months.His trigger is a cold as well. He to is on Pulmicourt and albuterol. The Pulmicourt helps tremendously!! The second year seems to be going a lot better. No trips to the hospital (fingers crossed)His lungs seem stronger he still whezzes and when he has a cold I bump up the pulmicort 2x a day.( We have gotten through three colds and a sinus infection) Seems to be going well. You do learn to live with it, the anxious felling is still there but it dose get better. Just give the pulmicort regularly and things should get better!!!!
K.

Hi M., my son also was diagnosed with asthma at a very young age, 14 months old. it is scary. i was a wreck. We also were in the hospital with bronchiolitis 3 times, orapred etc. same as you. i felt like i was reliving it all reading your post. He is now almost 3 and I took him off the pulmacort daily, since he no longer has needed it. In addition he has had colds that typically induced the asthma and has not had to (knock on wood) have the nebulizer with the albuterol. So with luck your son may outgrow asthma. I knew that one of my boys would probably have asthma because i have several famly members with asthma including my brother who had it as a small child and my mom was diagnosed as an adult. We also had a hard time giving him the medicine on a daily basis because he was so little. But we made it very comfortable for him. "We are going to give you the choo choo" He eventually would hold the face piece to himself without our help. It became a part of our daily routine and finally had gotten comfortable with it until we learned that he really didnt need it anymore. BUT if he has at least 2-3 colds where he needs the albuterol we have to go back to the pulmacort daily. As far as the alergies are concerned..I have 2 cats and this doesnt appear to bother him. We vacuume (our house is carpeted) every week, I still clean with regular products. We keep a humidifier in his room and run it daily thruout the year. He also has ezcema. Keep up the good work you are doing the right thing. It is hard but you will get thru this and hopefully he will outgrow it.

Well, it's been over a year since this was written. How is your little boy doing? My little girl is almost 12 months and she has been dealing with the exact same thing for the last 4 months. She has stayed in the hospital 2 times and the ER once. She visits the doctor monthly. She now is on pulmicort for the rest of the winter. The doctor's only explaination is she may has asthma. I am soo frustrated. She just gets a little runny nose and it all comes back. Do you have any advice?

Thanks
C.

HI M.,
All 3 of my kids were EXACTLY the same way as your son. A simple cold would be debilitating. We spent a few nights at the hospital too (with pneumonia). Just follow the doctors orders and use the pulmicort every 12 hours throughout the winter months and use the albuterol every 4 hours for at least a week after the coughing starts to lighten up. You can also demand your son get Xopenex. Its the same as albuterol but is safer for babies.
The trick with orapred is to give it 20 minutes after he has eaten some crackers. I used ritz (maybe 4-6) and the kids never vomited after taking it. The orapred is actually the best thing for him as it works on strengthening his lungs so don't stop using it. Its only for a 7-10 days anyway.

good luck
ps the only other thing I can think to suggest is to get into a handwashing habit. It is the only way to prevent a cold. I make everyone wash up when they come into my house and again before eating, after potty, ect. I also have germX to use when we go to the library, park and stores. (or just for the fun of it) ;)

Cleaning - you can clean an amazing amount of things with vinegar and/or baking soda. Both my and my son's asthma are triggered by many cleaning products - and the formulas change often so just because it was okay one time, doesn't mean it's okay the next bottle.

My son was a preemie and on a monitor and supplemental oxygen (when eating and sleeping) for a year after he was born - and he still has asthma. It has gotten better over time. Giving neb treatment while Alex was asleep helped a little with the hyperactivity from meds - but not always possible. My husband insisted the doctor try other fast acting meds that made Alex less hyper. We're lucky that Xopenex works (with pulmicort during bad times). Yet my full term nephew, Evan, has the asthma like you described. Every little cold goes to his chest and he winds up in the ER several times a winter. It's so hard.

Get a indoor thermometer and humidity reader. Keep the humidity balanced (use humidifiers in winter, demhumidifers in summer, but clean them every day). Use dye-free laundry soap. The NICU told us to keep our cats, as growing up with the pets seems to help lessen the allergies for children.

Ask you doctor if a pulmonologist is in order. We see Regina Palozzo out of Yale and L&M - she's great. She spends lots of time with each patient (and thus is often running late). Maybe synagist might also be in order too. It helps prevent RSV.

The biggest thing is to reduce exposure to germs. We had a sign on our front door asking everyone who entered the house to wash their hands upon entering. Most everyone understood and complied. Those who didn't weren't invited back (we'd see them elsewhere). Have everyone in your family wash hands often, especially when coming in from the outside world. I'm not usually big on antibacterial stuff, except in the cold season I have a small bottle of Purell attached to my purse and use it often on myself and my son (especially after touching door knobs).

It is hard and my heart goes out to you!

My Niece has asthma, you need to switch to all natural products! They help the air around her to be clean and easier to breath. It helps al lot. But obviously medical treatement still continues. Many things can stimulate an attack. Check out natural products like Sol-U-Guard disinfectand versus Lysol. Lysol is horrible. Contact me for more info, I have a ton!
M.
____@____.com

Have you tried seeing if he has a food sensitivity like dairy? You could try elimination diets and see if any one group of food aggravates his symptoms.

Stay away from 'cleaning products' and make your own! Instead of spray cleaners, fill a bottle with water, vinegar, and a bit of tea tree oil. Warm water and baking soda also make excellent cleaners. I've been making my own stuff for a few years now and it's MUCH cheaper. The smell is not nearly as strong and toxic as it is with commerical cleaners.

Also, this is probably a bit obvious, but make sure he's not around any smokers. Even when the cigarette is not lit, smokers leach toxic chemicals that aggravate healthy airways, let alone little babies with asthma.