No kids with asthma on the buttom bunk?!

This follows under "My Asthma Doc is a genius!" I learned so many things from him over the last 19 years since my kids and I were all diagnosed with asthma and allergies. 

In fact, we REALLY miss him since he retired :(

My kids are all college aged now, but when they were little, we had a tough time controlling their asthma - especially with Son #2. He was in the hospital 8 times (2 of those were ICU.) 

Asthma Doc had tried everything he could think of. In fact, he was thinking about sending us to National Jewish Hospital in Denver to see if they could figure out how to treat my son. (They specialize in respiratory care.)

Asthma Doc asked us many questions about our home - such as:

• Does anyone smoke?
• Is there mold in our home?
• Do we have pets?
• Do we have carpet or wood floors?
• Do we have a fireplace?
• Do we burn scented candles or scented plug ins?
• Does our son sleep in a bunk bed?

I have to admit I was a little puzzled when he asked about the bunk beds. Since it was our first (and small) home, our sons shared a room and did sleep in bunk beds. 

Asthma Doc said that anything from the top bunk can fall down into the bottom bunk (dust, dust mites, etc), and that child can inhale it - causing problems. Especially if that child is already sensitive because they have allergies and asthma. 

In fact, the National Institutes of Health says:

 "Sleeping in bunks constitutes a greater risk of developing asthma for subjects sleeping in the bottom bed. Bunk sleeping should be discouraged in families with an atopic background and sensitized subjects should use the top bed."

   

Well, we were stuck because both of our sons had asthma, so one of them had to sleep on the bottom bunk! And we couldn't separate the beds and put them anywhere else.

Asthma Doc explained that controlling allergies will help control asthma. And our kids were allergic  to dust and dust mites. 

So, we did the only thing we could - made sure the mattress was covered in a dust mite proof mattress pad cover. And we also had dust mite proof pillow case covers for their pillows. 

We washed their bedding once a week in hot water, limited stuffed animals on their bed (and also washed those frequently.) We also made sure the wood floors and area rug in their room was VERY clean.

And, when we moved to our next home, the boys were able to have separate bedrooms (so no more bunk beds!)

So, did separating the bunk beds help? Well,  Middle Son needed to start on a biologic for better asthma control. But, I feel like the mattress pad covers and lots of cleaning helped too. Every little thing you can do helps, right?!

If you have little kids and are struggling to control their allergies and asthma, do a little research about how bunk beds affect asthma.