Asthma is a common breathing condition. It affects the small and medium-sized airways (bronchi) in the lungs.
In asthma, your child's airways are inflamed and there is:
These changes cause narrowing of your child's airways. This leads to wheezing, cough and difficulty with breathing.
Wheezing is a musical, whistly sound that children make, usually when breathing out. It can also happen when they breathe in. The sound comes from the chest, not from the nose or throat.
One in 4 children in New Zealand will have asthma at some time during childhood.
It is not clear why some children have asthma when others do not.
Asthma in children is more likely if:
Modern Western lifestyle may play a part in the rise in asthma that has happened over the last few decades. Changes in housing, diet and a more hygienic environment may contribute. Outdoor environmental pollution may make asthma symptoms worse but it does not actually cause asthma. Experts continue to study the reasons for the increase in asthma.
Children with asthma have airways that are sensitive and react to certain triggers.
Some children have asthma all year round. Others may only have it in certain seasons or situations.
Triggers which cause an asthma attack include:
Asthma symptoms and triggers may differ from child to child and from time to time. It is useful to know your child's triggers. Keep a symptom diary and keep a record of possible triggers.
Make sure your child's environment is smoke-free, wherever they happen to be. Asthma increases in children whose parents smoke. Tobacco smoke also triggers asthma attacks and makes a child's asthma more severe than it would otherwise be. Many environmental factors contribute to asthma; cigarette smoke is one that you can avoid.
If you want to give up smoking:
You should see your doctor and ask about asthma if your child:
These are some of the symptoms of asthma in children. But, these symptoms may be due to other less common conditions. Talk to your doctor.
You will need to use the blue inhaler with a plastic tube called a spacer.
If your child is still not improving:
You need to take your child to your family doctor, or an after-hours clinic, or the hospital:
Check out Signs that children are struggling to breathe [2].
Keep your child sitting up and give them 6 puffs of the blue inhaler through the spacer and see a doctor urgently if your child has any of the following symptoms:
In severe asthma it is usually better to dial 111 rather than drive your child in your own car to the hospital.
Keep your child sitting up and give them 6 puffs of the blue inhaler through the spacer. Immediately dial 111 within New Zealand (use the appropriate emergency number in other countries) and ask for emergency medical help if your child:
In severe asthma, it is usually better to dial 111 within New Zealand (use the appropriate emergency number in other countries) and ask for emergency medical help, rather than drive your child in your own car to the hospital.
While you are waiting for the ambulance, keep giving your child 6 puffs of the blue inhaler through the spacer every 5 minutes.
Asthma is a long-term condition. The majority of children with asthma have less troublesome asthma as teenagers. Symptoms can appear again in adulthood. If your child has severe asthma, it is more likely to continue or return in later life.
Your child should learn about asthma and gradually take over responsibility for its management, as they become a teenager, with support from you.
This page last reviewed 15 June 2020.
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Links
[1] https://quit.org.nz/
[2] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/signs-children-are-struggling-breathe?language=en
[3] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/node/1569
[4] https://www.asthma.org.nz/pages/download-brochures
[5] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/node/2286
[6] https://www.asthmafoundation.org.nz/resources/child-asthma-plan
[7] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/node/1570
[8] https://www.schn.health.nsw.gov.au/parents-and-carers/fact-sheets/passive-smoking
[9] https://www.schn.health.nsw.gov.au/fact-sheets/asthma-and-your-child-a-resource-pack-for-parents-and-carers
[10] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/node/1571
[11] https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Asthma/
[12] https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Asthma_Use_of_spacers/
[13] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/node/1572
[14] https://www.asthma.org.uk/advice/resources/#children
[15] https://www.kidshealth.org.nz/contact?from=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kidshealth.org.nz%2Fprint%2F30