Parents often find it difficult to decide whether to keep a child home from day care or school, in part because it usually means Mom or Dad will lose a day of work. If you've spotted symptoms early and have immediately started taking the treatment steps in your child's asthma management plan, it's probably okay to send him to school. Just be sure he will get his medicine on schedule at day care or school. In general, your child should not go to school when any of the following situations apply:
When he had a restless night due to coughing or wheezing
When he is having difficulty breathing and is not responding to
quick-relief medicines
When he is using neck, stomach, and rib muscles to breathe
When you are uncomfortable about how he is breathing
You should consider keeping your child home:
When he needs quick-relief medicines more than every six hours
When there is a field trip that will expose him to known asthma triggers (unless you can make other arrangements)
It is usually not necessary to keep your child home:
When he has a scratchy throat
When he is in the early stages of a cold.
When he shows early allergy season signs
If you're in doubt, it is probably best to keep him home for the first few hours and call your doctor's office. For an older child who has established his personal best, you may use the peak flow meter reading to help determine whether he should stay home. If the reading is getting lower, or if it is in the red or danger zone, he should be taken to see a doctor immediately. Unfortunately the peak flow meter is effort dependent, which means that if your child doesn't want to do well on the peak flow meter, he won't.
The opposite situation may also arise. That is, your child says he feels fine but you can see symptoms. He might do all he can to avoid school, but when it comes to playing or an activity he really wants to do, he may insist he's perfectly okay even when he's wheezing. For an older child, the peak flow meter may help you determine if he is having trouble breathing. If his reading is normal, he can play outdoors; if it's below normal, it's time for quiet, indoor activities. With younger children, watch them breathe while they're engaged in some activity. If you notice that they're working harder to breathe while they play, you may want to direct them to quieter activities.
Some parents use pollen counts as a measurement guide for staying indoors when the child has demonstrated pollen sensitivity (itchy nose; watery, runny eyes; sneezing). Decide with your child on a cutoff point, and you should both agree on what you will accept as a reliable source for pollen count information. Below the cutoff, he can play outdoors; above it, it's better to play indoors.
Cutoff numbers can be useful guides, but they vary with individuals there isn't a definite number for all children-so parents have to rely on common sense and their child's past experience with pollen related symptoms when using pollen counts to determine outdoor or indoor limits. Unfortunately, the pollen counts reported by TV, radio, the Web, and newspapers usually lag behind today's pollen by a day or two. A good Web site for interpretation of accurate pollen counts approved by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology is www.aaaai.org/nab/index.cfm?p=reading_charts.
Asthma Management Plan: Making It Work At Home
An asthma management plan is essential to help you monitor your child's use of medicines. It is important to place the written plan where both you and your child can see it. When your child feels that it's time to begin the asthma management plan for a flare, he should let you know. Whenever you have a new baby-sitter or care taker in your home, be sure to point out the plan, review it to be sure it's understood correctly, and point out where medicines are located. It is also important to take your child's plan with you to every medical visit and review it with your physician or nurse practitioner.
With these suggestions, your home can be a healthier, more trigger-free environment, and your entire family will be more confident about controlling your child's asthma. Hgh facts, articles, and news on HGH, weight loss.
