Nebulizer Or Breathing Treatments

[momofboys]

i think parents who want their daycare provider to administer breathing treatments are just lazy to be honest. i say this as the mother of a child who was on a nebulizer as an infant. it was ordered 2-3 times daily (and i've never known of anyone to be ordered MORE than that) which meant i could give him a treatment in the morning before going to daycare and again at night after going home. it was definitely a chore since i was working, going to school, and driving pretty far between work, school, and daycare - but it had to be easier for me to do it than it would be for a daycare provider with a room full of other children. i would've felt silly asking my provider to do it. now if it was an anitbiotic that HAD to be administered during daycare hours or something - that's a different story, but breathing treatments aren't so crucial that they can't be done outside of daycare. i wouldn't do it for the simple fact that i wouldn't and didn't ask anyone else to do it.

when i worked at a daycare center there were several children whose parents sent nebulizers and it annoyed the crap out of me. my son was even in the same class with other children who received treatments while at daycare. again, i think it's just rude and lazy.

2-3x a day seems pretty infrequent. Even now when my now-3-year old or my 6-year old (who had RSV, pneumonia & bronchiolitis when he was 2-months old) has a bad cough she will recommend every 3-4 hours which could easily be 4-5x a day. So in my experience it is not that unusual for them to be administered more frequently. I wouldn't do it for a childcare kid though. If they are that bad they need to be home.

[Lilbutterflie]

i agree - it might sound harsh, but honestly - if a kid has trouble breathing even when their parent(s) give them a pre and post daycare treatment then chances are they have more serious issues than simply needing a nebulizer. the thing i noticed about the daycare kids who took treatments that just "had to be given at daycare" is that the parents would "forget" and leave the machine at daycare on a regular basis - or they would take it home and return it in the morning and it would be obviously untouched/unused. if it's not that big of a deal to skip the treatment at night and/or in the morning then i don't see how it would be a big deal to skip it at daycare in the afternoon. i guess i've just seen too much to make me biased.

QualiTcare, I have to say I usually agree with a lot of what you say, but I totally disagree with you here.

I do agree that each provider certainly should decide and do what they feel comfortable with. If giving treatments don't work for you, that's great and send them to a daycare that is willing and able to provide that service.

I do not agree with your statement that if they are needing the nebulizer more often than once in the morn and once when they get home, they must have other issues than just needing a nebulizer. It's called uncontrolled asthma, and when a child developes asthma; it can take months or a year to become controlled on the right medications.

You do realize that most full time children are in daycare for 9-10 hours, right? When my son was an infant and he got a cold, he would need nebulizer treatments every 4-5 hours around the clock. I would have to set my alarm at night to give him the treatments he needed. I would try to stay home with him usually the first 2-3 days, but there comes a time when sick time ran out and I had to go back to work. If he didn't get these breathing treatments after 5 hours, he was wheezing BAD. It's nothing other than uncontrolled asthma. It's not right to assume the parents are bringing it to you out of laziness. Fortunately my son was in a place that had enough staff to take him aside and give him breathing treatments when he needed it. If they had refused to give it to him, I would have had to find another daycare. Or go on FMLA and stay home. Plain and simple. He needed those treatments in order to breathe. Life or death. Period.

I understand how it's not always feasible in a home daycare environment. I'm sorry you've had parents who seemed to not give the treatments on their own; but did you ask if maybe they had more than one machine and that machine you had was specifically for their car and/or daycare?

[gkids09]

I am one of the few who don't mind administering the treatment to a child...The only reason is that my hubby has severe asthma and his inhaler doesn't always work. There have been times when he has to give himself a breathing treatment in the middle of the night, and other times when he goes months without having to have one.

I don't think anyone is WRONG for saying they will or won't administer it. I have only had one child whose parents ever even mentioned it. He had a travel size machine, and we kept it way up high so no children could reach it. We weren't REQUIRED to use it, but were asked to if his breathing became too bad. In the 4 years he was here, I only used it one time with him.

I have a 2 year old dcb now who has severe asthma. His grandmother lives about 30 seconds down the road (literally), and his grandfather works about 5 minutes away. With him, we were told to call one of them to come get him and administer the treatment. We have only had to call once in the past year he's been with us.

I am saying all this to say that I don't have a problem with having them here when kids have a tendency or have a possibility of having a severe asthma attack under my care. Again, not to say anyone is wrong for NOT allowing it. Just my opinion, for whatever it's worth.

[Lilbutterflie]

I am one of the few who don't mind administering the treatment to a child...The only reason is that my hubby has severe asthma and his inhaler doesn't always work. There have been times when he has to give himself a breathing treatment in the middle of the night, and other times when he goes months without having to have one.

I don't think anyone is WRONG for saying they will or won't administer it. I have only had one child whose parents ever even mentioned it. He had a travel size machine, and we kept it way up high so no children could reach it. We weren't REQUIRED to use it, but were asked to if his breathing became too bad. In the 4 years he was here, I only used it one time with him.

I have a 2 year old dcb now who has severe asthma. His grandmother lives about 30 seconds down the road (literally), and his grandfather works about 5 minutes away. With him, we were told to call one of them to come get him and administer the treatment. We have only had to call once in the past year he's been with us.

I am saying all this to say that I don't have a problem with having them here when kids have a tendency or have a possibility of having a severe asthma attack under my care. Again, not to say anyone is wrong for NOT allowing it. Just my opinion, for whatever it's worth.

Your opinion is a good one, and valuable at that!

Thank you for pointing how how serious asthma can be.

[SilverSabre25]

I know nothing about them and will not do them as I have no personal experience. I've never been asked yet.

I have however considered declaring infant snot ****ers to fall into the category of things I am not willing to do...if baby needs their nose ****ed 15 times a day they shouldn't be here...

(ok, 15 is an exaggeration, but I hate subjecting the poor kids to those things when it's not REALLY necessary...and if it's REALLY necessary, they're sick enough to be home)

[Unregistered]

Sometimes breathing treatments can be flexible, yes. Sometimes they can't. A child with severe asthma can't necessarily be flexible with their treatment schedule. 2 - 3 times/day is pretty minor.. I have a son who used it up to 7 times/day. He was on a couple of different medications that couldn't always be mixed, and had to be timed properly.

I'm familiar and comfortable with nebulizers (obviously I guess) so I would have no problem administering the meds unless the child really fought it. I can understand being uncomfortable with it, though.

[Unregistered]

Have you ever heard of a job that would not allow you to leave twice a day every day to give your child a treatment. My child needs his treatment every four hours. I give it to him at 7:30, I have to be at work by 8, he needs another treatment at 11:30 and again at 3:30. I get off work at 4:30 but we sometimes have meetings that last until 5:30 or 6pm. I leave by 5:45 to pick him up before the daycare close. I am not lazy and I love my child. I have asked the daycare to give him the treatments at 11:30 and I will give him one at 6 when we get home and another at 10pm. We wake him up at night at 2. My point is I give my child his treatments and hopefully he will only need them for a short period of time, you should not make such statements when you do not know the story. Most parents have no problem taking off work to give their child treatments when needed but there are a lot of employers who will not allow you to take the time off. And please don't say I need to quit my job. Unless you have one to give me that will provide a home for my family.

[Scout]

I haven't done them for a DCK but since I do them for my own son occasionally I am familiar with the process. My son takes them at night as a preventative aid for asthma (he takes Pulmocort). Anyway, he isn't "Sick" though if that makes sense. I think there is a difference when a child needs to take albuterol all day b/c of constant coughing & a med that is given for prevention & I guess the difference is with my son it is only done 1x a day, so it can be done at home. IMO if the child is having so much trouble that he needs them done every 3-4 hours he should be at home with mom or dad.

I can tell you from personal experience that after a day or two, along with liquid steroids, that my son was better enough to return to childcare. The ped recommended them every 4-6 hours for one week. My provider would give him the breathing treatments. They really do make a world of difference. When i was pregnant i had pregnancy induced asthma & wheezed like crazy in the winter. Breathing treatments made me feel better. I dont see the harm in giving them to dck IF dck does not freak out! My son always took them well but, i think he first got them at 7 mos. He looked so cute watching Handy Manny holding the mouthpiece by his mouth.

[Scout]

i wouldn't say "all" because there are exceptions to every rule, but breathing treatments are pretty flexible and i can't imagine a doctor being concerned in the least if they needed to be adjusted. it's just easier to get someone else to do it and say it's prescribed than it is to consider that option so that's the route many if not most parents will take if given the option.

oh - and asthma inhalers are way different than breathing treatments. that's a whole different thing.

Look at it from the standpoint of BEING THE CHILD WHO IS WHEEZING FROM A COLD or ALLERGIES. Would you want to delay the treatment then? I wouldn't. People wheeze for reasons other than illness. When I am around dogs in an enclosed area I wheeze & feel like someone is sitting on my chest. I wish I had a nebulizer machine available. You can not expect a parent to be able to come to your place to give these 2x during the work day if ordered for every 4-6 hours as I was with my son. It is not practical, neither is missing work for one week when your child is able to return to care.

[MyAngels]

Just an FYI - this thread is pretty old.

[Scout]

I always get ****ed into these old threads!
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