Excessive Coughing and Asthma

[daycare]

One of my rules is that any child that is excessively coughing will be sent home.

However, I have 5 kids that suffer from asthma and one of the symptoms is excessive coughing.

All of the doctors notes that have a written treatment plan say to administer when the child is excessively coughing and make sure the coughing will drastically reduce.

so I am trying to figure out, how do I say you can stay and cough excessively because you have asthma and give you a puff of your inhaler, but you can't because you don't have it.

The kids are starting to get colds and I want to be proactive about it and let the parents know what I will and won't do.

It's just hard, because the kids with asthma have notes that say here is how you reduce it.......

ugh I am lost on even how to explain....any advice on how to deal with this would be helpful. hopefully I have explained well.

[Thriftylady]

It is easy in my book. The children with asthma have a written treatment plan. The ones without it are sick with something that may be contagious. It is night and day. For the record I would exclude one with asthma also if the coughing was way more than normal and couldn't be controlled.

[daycare]

It is easy in my book. The children with asthma have a written treatment plan. The ones without it are sick with something that may be contagious. It is night and day. For the record I would exclude one with asthma also if the coughing was way more than normal and couldn't be controlled.

whats funny is that the kids with asthma are the ones that dont have any symptoms of asthma until they get a cold/ upper respiratory infection.

[Thriftylady]

Yeah my daughter can be doing fine with her asthma until she gets a tiny cold. A tiny cold that makes most of us cough a little makes her sound like she is dying. Difference it though once you are around a child though enough of that, you learn the difference. If I had a new DCK who had asthma it would probably take me months to figure out their "normal" but I have DD down pat. I can usually tell she needs to start on the nebulizer before she does.

[NillaWafers]

Colds are enough to flare asthma up so that makes sense. My asthma makes sickness so much worse, I end up using my inhaler a lot.

I would just stick to the treatment plan if they have one, even if they have a cold. Wheezing I feel is one symptom that doesn't accompany colds a lot that will happen with an asthmatic.

You may not see a huge difference after treatment (like obviously the coughing will not stop with a cold) but there should be a difference in wheezing and ability to breathe.

[Ariana]

I would probably say something like "if asthma symptoms like excessive coughing are not reduced with inhalers then child may be excluded as it is likely being caused by a cold that is contagious"....or something along those lines. With asthma coughs it really should drastically reduce with inhalers but it won't help a heck of a lot with things like post nasal drip or dry throat etc.

Whenever my husband gets a cold he finds his inhalers help him tremendously but there are times when it doesn't.

[mommyneedsadayoff]

I agree with above posters. Just distinguish between asthma, a condition, and coughing from an illness. I would hope most parents understand the difference.

On a side note, my husband used to smoke and he got a respiratory infection and was coughing non stop for a weeks. One night, he was coughing so bad and he was standing our kitchen a coughing fit overtook him and he passed out. Fell straight over on his face and I freaked! I was about to call 911 and thinking I would need to start cpr when he came to and he had no idea what had just happened. Scariest thing ever, so if a child had severe enough cough, from asthma or any illness, I would probably exclude just because it really scares me when they cannot get enough oxygen and I would hate to have that situation happen with a young child.