neb treatments - she HATES it

DD (19monthsold) was wheezing this morning and so we took her to the pedi's office....she said her wheezing is being caused by her cold that is viral and that we have to give her neb treatments every 4-6hours for the next 7 days!!!

I am a nurse and I give neb treatments all the time - to ADULTS (people that you can reason with)!! We gave her the first one at the doctor's office and she literally acted like we were stabbing her in the eye she screamed and kicked so much....

how in the world am i going to do this to her over and over again for the next week?? and her sweet sister cried too because she thought we were hurting her....

anyone have any advice on how to get through this?? or how to get her to stay calm??

 

we give jake a bottle or his favorite book.....but he has been getting the treatments since he was six months old.

We also don't use the mask...we just blow the medicine in the general direction of his nose mouth.

Right now we can still put him in his bucket seat, i fear the day when he won't fit in that anymore.

 

Actually, the more she screams, the more effective the treatment will be...............she has to breathe deeply to scream and carry on.....the deeper she breathes, the better the meds get into her lungs, the more effective the treatment.

 

I used to wrap mine up in a large towel (almost like swaddling!) to keep them still. Then I placed one hand on their forehead to keep them still. If they did cry at least they were still getting the steam and like the PP, the deeper the breathes the better so screaming is ok. I do feel for you, it's hard. My two have been on a neb on and off since 2 months old so they are old pro's now. We are currently during treatments as they have a cough due to cold and their mild asthma always makes it worse.

Hope DD is feeling better soon!

 

High chair or carseat is great for keeping them captive. Does she have a favorite show?
My girlie loves to do hers now that she saw her favorite kids using one. There was an episode of Jon& Kate +8 where the kids are getting their treatments. Since that episode she loves to neb, even asks to do it! Crazy I know, but you go with what works!

 

all 3 of my kids have had to have neb treatments but they are much younger.. I agree with the PP the more she screams the better.. Deeper breaths.. Also with DD1 we didnt use the mask either.. It freaked her out..

 

We've never used the mask with my 3 girls - just held the attachment adults put in their mouth up to their mouth. All of my girls ended up sucking on the thing soon as they felt the cool air anyway.

 

QUOTE(HT @ Jan 19 2008, 02:31 AM) [snapback]579214[/snapback]
We've never used the mask with my 3 girls - just held the attachment adults put in their mouth up to their mouth. All of my girls ended up sucking on the thing soon as they felt the cool air anyway.



We also never use the mask. I set them in their highchair & I will often give them a treat (sometimes m&ms or a lollipop). They usually do pretty good until the last 5 mins or so. I was told crying was good too...but who wants to watch & listen to their little one for all that time !

Btw, we had to treat my ds starting at 9 months & then the twins just went through a bad cold & had to have treatments. Best of luck!

 

My neice has had to do these every night since she was about a year old. What her mom did at that age is put her in the highchair and let her watch her favorite show for about 20 minutes.......sometimes that would work.

 

My boys began these at around 8-10 months... forgive me, I forget b/c they are old now, at age 7 1/2... anyway, they were into baby einsteins at the time, so either in their exersaucers, or stroller in the playroom, w/ a video playing loudly so that you could hear it... the machine part was as far away as possible, for less noise. They would calm down after less than 1 min. We did and still do the masks. I've even done it when they are sleeping. The machine portion in the closet, (door closed) and place the mask on the child... they never woke up.

 

We also went through the same thing so I can share with you how we dealt with it. Arwen completely freaked out in the office, the first time they did it. She hates the peds office as it is so putting on this loud machine with smoke coming out of it and holding some foreign object to her face was more than she can handle. We had to continue the treatments at home and it was torturous for her the first couple of times. Dh had to help me. We sat in front of the tv, put on a show that she LOVES and I literally had to hold her down. She was screaming and crying which was ok because I at least knew that she was sucking in the medicine with every deep crying inhale. She cried for the first couple of minutes and then out of exhaustion she sort of just calmed down and didn't resist as much. The next time, she started to cry again but not quite as intensely. The third time, she cried a little bit but each time it got less and less until about the 5th or 6th time, she would just kind of whimper and then stop. I never put the strap of the mask around her head. I always sat with her in my lap (the back of her head against my chest) and held it for her. I also realized that the initial sound of the machine going on was a bit scary and she would always jump so now when I have to do a treatment (she's been diagnosed with childhood asthma and whenever she gets sick with a cold or worse, I have to start giving her daily treatments), I put on a show for her and then sit her on my lap and say, "Ok, the machine is going on. Ready? 1..2..3 on." and turn it on. She is pretty used to it now and doesn't cry or anything. I actually let her help me squeeze the medicine into the little vile and then she gets to hold the empty plastic thing that the medicine comes in until we are done. It's really hard at first but believe me, she will get used to it. You may have wrap your legs around her and hold her head with one hand and put mask with other but she will most like get used to it after several uses. We actually got a mask from the peds office and one from the perscription for the machine so it also helped that dh would put one of the masks on and make it look like the plastic tube was connected and pretend that he was doing it too. She thought it was kind of funny and it helped her to see daddy doing it with her. HTH

 

i am so thankful that i have this website to access when i need help!! you all are awesome!!! thank you so much for the advice and keep it coming......

 

Hi - your child is old enough to use a spacer and metered dose inhaler. You get a regular inhaler (ped dose) and stick it in the end of the spacer. Put the mask on and push. They need to take 6 breaths. If they're yelling, less than that since they breath deeper.

We had to do several rounds of nebs with our girls since they were 6 months old. I was complaining one day and a Pedi friend of mine was amazed that I was still using the neb. She feels the MDI works better amd is more effective. If you have another bout (I so hope you don't) ask about the spacer and MDI.

So sorry your LO is sick.