Dealing with an Asthma Attack

"We were held captive in the exam room for half an hour!" The contents of a purse and the exam-room scale are interesting for about ten minutes. After that, things can get ugly, quick. One solution: "If the visit doesn't involve weighing or measuring, ask if you can stay in the waiting room until the doctor is really ready to see you," says Maureen Miles, a medical assistant with Pediatric Associates in Westfield, New Jersey. If that's not an option, you might wait until you're in the exam room to pull out a new book or toy. Another idea: The white paper on the exam-room table makes a great canvas -- so whip out those crayons stashed at the bottom of your diaper bag and let your toddler go to town.

The shortness of breath that characterizes an asthma attack can be frightening, but there's no need to panic if you're prepared. To help a wheezing child:

Give him his medication. Kids 3 and under usually get a nebulizer, which turns medicine into a fine mist that opens airways quickly. By 4 they can often use an inhaler, which propels medicine into the lungs.

Go to the emergency room immediately if you don't have medicine  -- or if you use it and your child still can't catch his breath or is breathing really quickly. Also head to the ER if the reading on your child's peak flow meter warrants it. Once there, he'll be treated with a nebulizer that contains albuterol to open airways quickly and given steroids to help prevent another attack.

Follow up with your pediatrician to see what triggered your child's attack and to refine your plan for dealing with future ones. Attacks can recur, but next time you'll know what to do.

Learn how to identify an attack, even if your child hasn't been diagnosed yet. If your toddler or preschooler tends to wheeze, has trouble breathing when he gets a cold, has a persistent cough, or gets short of breath when he's running around, let your pediatrician know. He may prescribe a medication that can prevent an asthma attack.