Giving nebulizer treatments to kids




 
 
 

 Do you ever have a hard time getting your kids to sit still while they have a nebulizer treatment? 
 
How can you distract them for 10 minutes? 
 
It was always a challenge when my kids were little, sometimes Teddy Bear would get a "treatment" first. We would hold the mask up to teddy - without Albuterol. We would add a little water to the canister so the kids could hear how the noisy nebulizer worked. 
 
We would tell Teddy what a good job he was doing and how brave he was to have a breathing treatment - even if it was noisy and seemed a little scary.  

But we told Teddy that he would feel so much better after the special medicine helped him breathe better.
 
After Teddy was done, we would fill the medicine cup with Albuterol and it was time for the kids to have their breathing treatment. We would tell them they were being brave too - just like Teddy.
 
As they got older, we would let Daughter be in charge and hold the mask up to teddy, or horsey, or whatever stuffed animal was her favorite at the moment.

Do you let them watch a cartoon?
 
Give them a treat afterwards? 
 
Do you have a good idea to keep kids occupied while they get their breathing treatment? 





Comments

  1. You can use saline, instead of albuterol! It does the same thing (mist) and is much cheaper! We used short DVD's (Strawberry Shortcake and Thomas the Train episodes) when my kids were little. Now, with my 9 yr old, we use a timer. Her neb takes exactly 15 minutes. The timer gives HER control and helps her sit through it. She has developed a severe hatred of the neb, sigh.

    Question for you-
    Did your kid(s) get the Pneumovax 23? Alorah just got it, which I am grateful for. I am militant about the flu vaccine with her and I she got H1N1. She has done fantastic with this vaccine. Just wondering if other docs are giving it for severe asthmatics?

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  2. We kept the nebulizer by our bed and tv. The kids got to watch Elmo or a cartoon of their choice during the nebulizer treatments.

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  3. Krista- glad you found something that works! We used to use Baby Einstein and assorted Disney movies too.

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  4. Reflections-did you doctor advise you to use saline instead of Albuterol? I know that nebulizes can turn saline or Albuterol into a mist, but one is salt water and the other is a prescription medication. I don't see how they are interchangeable......

    We have used the pneumonia vaccine for the kids, but be warned that it doesn't work on all strains of pneumonia nor does it work on all people. We were shocked when Son #2 ended up in the hospital with pneumonia two months after being vaccinated!

    We are careful to get the flu vaccine every year, since I know the common flu kills about 36,000 people every year. I would prefer not to be one of them!

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  5. no no nooooo, not for a treatment. To give a stuffed animal a "Treatment" or a curious sibling you can put saline in it and it mists without the meds!!!

    We have never missed a flu shot. We never will. She did great with pneumovax, no reactions at all thankfully. I was glad she didn't even have a fever. I am hoping it helps. She has had pneumonia a few times and it is scary scary stuff :(

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  6. What a relief! I thought you were giving it to your daughter! (I've heard stranger things.....) I like the idea of using saline in the nebulizer so she can give her stuffed animals a treatment.

    Pneumonia is scary, Son #2 gets it once or twice a year. It's seems routine, we head to wonderful Asthma Doc, then get our prescription for Zithromax and Prednisone. Yet is still nerve wracking! No matter how many time we have gone through it-

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  8. As a med student I have the luxury of time and the benefit of naiveity so i'm trying...starting them from a young age (where I've had more success). With adults I just tell them it's what they're getting because I care about them and the evidence suggests it'll work a little better (stated charmingly of course). And if they have no inspiratory effort then naturally an MDI won't deliver anything to the bronchioles.
    Read More

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    Replies
    1. Jenifer, so glad you are there to help out when people need you.

      I really prefer to use a nebulizer when I am really sick or am having a particularly hard asthma attack. Sometimes it's impossible for me to use my inhaler, because if I try to breathe in, I will have a horrible coughing spell.

      Thanks for taking care of those of us with asthma!

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  9. This is a great article. I’ve read in many other places before that but
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    ReplyDelete
  10. This is a great article. I’ve read in many other places before that but
    I did not get this type of effective and more useful text. It is really important now to
    vary your anchors as this seems more natural to user.
    This article helped me a lot to understand information.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is a great article. I’ve read in many other places before that but
    I did not get this type of effective and more useful text. It is really important now to
    vary your anchors as this seems more natural to user.
    This article helped me a lot to understand information.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I agree it can get a little difficult with kids when giving them treatments with nebulizer machine. So thanks for sharing the information.

    ReplyDelete

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