Am I the only parent who thinks that breathing treatments are the new black?
I mean, it seems like every family has a little breatherizer* these days. I was patting myself on the back that we'd escaped this particular rite of passage, but Darth Toddler woke us up at 3:00 this morning and it was time to call the doctor. One lunchbag-sized mechanism and a couple of prescriptions later, we have our very own medieval torture device.
For those of you disinclined to click on the aforementioned link, let me clarify How To Administer A Breathing Treatment:
1. Promise the receipt of A Treat at the conclusion of said treatment.
2. Pin toddler's legs using your inner thighs - channel Suzanne Sommers, if necessary.
3. Restrain toddler's arms with left arm, hugging closely (and in a fully vertical position) to chest.
4. Place toddler in gentle but firm headlock with right arm, positioning mask roughly in the same hemisphere as sniffly little nose so that at least 1/10 of vaporized medicine can enter nasal passages.
5. Sing "The Eyes of Texas" in a continuous loop for ten minutes, praying that the repetition of toddler's favorite lullaby will induce tranquility
6. Turn steely glare upon supervisory brother's cries of "STOP! HURTING! MY! SISTER!"
Repeat every 3-4 hours. Follow up with steriod droplets which "may** cause irritability and hyperactivity," according to the pediatrician, the nurse, and the pharmacist.
So, that's why I haven't posted in a few days.
*probably not the correct medical phraseology
**"definitely will, so for Pete's sake, don't give it to her within earshot of me"
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10 comments:
ahhh, the benefits of albuterol (gotta love hyperactivity and racing hearts in the wee ones...) steroids more or less make them want to eat anything that isn't nailed down.
as the Queen of All Things Nebulized, may i suggest you contact your pulmonary specialist (if you have one, if not, pediatrician or even health care supply company) to ask for the mask set-up that has the blue button on the top - the child can push the button on the top of the canula and the "smoke" comes out at the end of the tube and into their little mouths for them to inhale and -- get this -- they actually think it's a game!!
call me *been there, done that, still doing it* - it works. any port in the storm, too.
prayers going up for you and yours.
Yes!
I have raised four children over twenty years, and all of a sudden, right before our trip to Rome, we were told to get a nebulizer and start doing treatments.
I mostly did it when he was alseep...
While he was asleep?
You are either a genius, or a masochist. My fear is that she will wake up while I am giving her the treatment and then I'll be out another installment of sleep units.
She actually wanted to hold the mask on her face "all by SELFT!" this morning, so that was good...
We go w/the whole "you're a fighter pilot" thing. I also had my kids years apart and this albuterol trend is new to me -- I have a hard time seeing the benefits, but I'm a pretty compliant patient.
My husband's co-worker has an infant in daycare who needed a nebulizer recently. She (the co-worker) persuaded the daycare people to give the 11-mo.-old the treatment. The first day the daycare calls her up and tells her that the little girl is up and running around, but that she's pale and has dark circles under her eyes and something seems wrong. "We don't know what's the matter," they said. "We gave her the dose -- 3 units."
Well, they misread the instructions. The dose was 0.3 units (of what, I can't remember now). So baby got ten times the prescribed dose and mom's out a lot of money for the wasted medicine.
So in the end there can be some remote part of your mind that takes some comfort in the thought that at least you're doing it yourself so that you know it's being done correctly. The rest of your mind can be occupied with making sure you don't strangle the resisting child who doesn't seem to realize that you're only doing it for her own good.
Yep. James has had this since he was 2. (It's a lifesaver to have this instead of a trip to the emergency room for them to administer it. 75 dollars later, he had the same medicine as we could have given at home...) We told him that he was a steam engine. Seemed to work for us. Oh yeah, that and lemon drops.
jen
MrsDarwin, that is SCARY! Was the baby okay?
See, I figure these dosage instructions are already calibrated based on the assumption that snifflepants will only inhale about half of the medicine because she's so obstreperous about the whole operation...so she would get a WHOLE lot of extra meds if we overdosed!
I do take comfort in the fact that I am the one doing this. Of course, I have used up all of my leave for the year, so I missed out on a day of pay by not going to school today...but I didn't have to pay the sitter, so it pretty much evens out. (not exaggerating - I net almost nothing under the current arrangement - ergo the need for a new arrangement next year)
Yeah, the co-worker's baby came out okay.
Man, though. Talk about panic time...
I found that turning the TV on while administering the medication at least subdued the sibling, if not the screaming toddler. Also, Xopenex caused less jitters than albuterol in the nebulizer. I've heard that the reverse has been true for other kids, so take that as you will. It stinks when you have to do an inhaled steriod with the bronchial dialator. Twice as much medicine. Twice the terror.
Thing that saved us though was an inhaler and a spacer for the small one. Same meds, and it only takes 10 seconds. I would ask about that option if you need it again. It's much more portable as well.
Our son had his first run-in with the Nebulizer this morning and successfully thwarted all attempts to administer the prescribed Albuterol. I've come to realize that this demon device wasn't devised to help children breath, but rather to train them on how to become the next generation of pro-wrestlers.
What ever doctor came up with this contraption should be forced to take 6 continuous breaths from it every 3 to 4 hours for the rest of his/her life. Idiot.
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