Bronchiolitis in Babies

StitchesGr8Fan

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
So, DS (7 months) got diagnosed with bronchiolitis after he started wheezing on Friday night. He’s getting a nebulizer treatment every 6 hours, we are keeping a cool mist humidifier going in his room, suctioning his nose.

Some of you probably recall that I’ve been posting about having anxiety issues regarding his and my health and the bronchiolitis is the newest trigger. He’s still wheezing after 48 hours. Even though the info they sent home from urgent care says wheezing can last for up to 5 days, the anxiety monster is telling me he should be all better by now.

Parents who have been through this with your babies, what did you experience?
 
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Ugh... I feel your pain. Both of mine were wheezers and we were at the urgent care and/or ER with bronchiolitis or RSV more times than I can count the first winter with each of them. It is scary and it does seem like it takes longer than it should to go away. With my daughter, they ended up putting her on preventative nebulizer breathing treatments through the winter months. She hated them, but they worked.

In good news, neither of them had long-term issues (no asthma, etc). They "grew out of it" around 3 years old. They're now 17 and 13 and (knock wood) exceptionally healthy kids. I tend to be on the anxious side, too... but hang in there, you'll make it though.
 
My 20 year old had RSV and bronchiolitis about that age. The nebulizer and advice of your doctor will help.

He did develop asthma as a child, but grew out of it and after about age 5 he rarely was sick.

Can't tell you the last time he went to Dr.

He's in 3rd year of college and very healthy.

These days where you are are tough, but they will be long distant memories in the blink of an eye.
 


I don’t know where you live climate wise, but we would take our son out into the cooo night air for about 5 minutes (2-3 minutes if it was under 40 degrees) and that would help with the wheezing. It did take about 5-7 days to clear up.

Wheezing sounds so horrible that it was always scarier than it should have been.
 


Try to relax. It will take a few days. My son had it with some frequency until about three. He would use an inhaled steroid and ventolin. The inhaled steroid would be taken until he was two weeks post symptoms. You might want to book a follow up with your own dr to discuss a detailed action plan for when he gets sick.

For us it would be that at the first sign of illness we would start the inhaled steroid. Ventolin as needed (3 times a day). Steroids until he had been well for two weeks at a slowly reducing dose. That regimen was designed to reduce inflammation.

By the time he was five, he had outgrown the condition, as most kids do.

It's scary, I agree. I never got used to it, but it helped knowing what to do.
 
My youngest got this every time he got the slightest virus, from about 6 months until he was about 5. Just keep doing what you are doing because it can take a couple weeks to clear up.

This could be a one-time thing or it could reoccur. Mine eventually was diagnosed with illness-induced Reactive Airway Disease (RAD) which is really just asthma without officially being diagnosed with Asthma. He did Pulmicort and Albuteral breathing treatments daily for about 3 years. By about Kindergarten, his immune system was strong enough to take care of the viruses without the daily nebulizer treatments, so we switched to an inhaler. He has literally used the inhaler maybe 4-5 times since he was 5. He is now 11, going on 12 in Feb, has played football, lacrosse, basketball, a season of soccer...a season of baseball...swimming...runs around like crazy....and is now a 5 feet, 96 lbs 6th grader. His poor little baby lungs grew strong and healthy!

When he was little and got sick, we would give it two weeks, and if he didn't get better, we would go back to the Dr for a check to see if the infection had turned bacterial. If it did, he would get an antibiotic. They would look for a non-productive cough, certain colored/thickness mucus, fever, lethargy, etc. Sometimes it just went away on it's own after a week or so.

Hang in there, you've got this! Just keep remembering that every time your little one gets sick, his immune system is getting stronger. He will be the one that breezes past the inevitable colds and flus that all his classmates come down with. So all of the braggy moms out there that say their babies never get sick will pay for it later when their kid is the one who comes down with every virus and infection that is going around the Kindergarten classroom!
 
Thanks for all the replies so far. We have a follow up with the doctor in an hour because he is not getting any better.
 
Thanks for all the replies so far. We have a follow up with the doctor in an hour because he is not getting any better.
Good luck. What's really great is you are on top of things. That's the best way to keep your son safe and healthy. My dr always said, "Never be shy about bringing the kids in." I had twins and an older child who brought every bug home from school. There were winters where I had someone sick literally every day of the cold and flu season. One year, we saw the Dr every week from October to March. Not an exaggeration. You'll get through these years, but it is really tough.
 
I had premie twins. That first winter was brutal. We were in the ER a lot due to wheezing.

Listen to your instincts and never feel bad about bringing your child to the doctor.

:hug:
 
Good luck. What's really great is you are on top of things. That's the best way to keep your son safe and healthy. My dr always said, "Never be shy about bringing the kids in." I had twins and an older child who brought every bug home from school. There were winters where I had someone sick literally every day of the cold and flu season. One year, we saw the Dr every week from October to March. Not an exaggeration. You'll get through these years, but it is really tough.

Agreed! I told my pediatrician once that I felt like I was there every other week when my kids were little. They were 5 1/2, 19 months and a newborn, and each one of them had an "issue". DS17 had ear infection after ear infection (tubes in twice, tonsils and adenoids out, probably 50 rounds of antibiotics over the years) He still "feels" it in his ears when he gets sick before he even knows he is sick, and airplanes are torture for him (but he is also a 6 foot, 200 lb smart, athletic healthy HS Senior, so don't worry!) DD13 seemed to attract every baby and child illness possible from 5th's disease, pink eye, strep throat, roseola, hand/foot/mouth, chicken pox, ruebella, croup....you name it, she found a way to get it! And of course DS11 had his asthma issues, so we were at the Dr. often!

He very calmly told me - "You have 3 kids and kids get sick (enough to go to the Dr.) on average 3-4 times a year, so times that by 3 kids and I would worry if I *didn't* see you in here once a month!

lol I felt better after that!
 
My nephew (my sister was a single mom so I took care of as much as she did) had it when he was about 6 months old. It was very scary. I worked at the daycare that he went to and they brought him into me to keep him calm until my sister got their because he was wheezing so much. He ended up in the hospital for a few day. After about a week he was back to his normal self. He is 18 now and is a healthy, active college freshman.

I do tend to get anxiety when my kids are sick too. you are doing the right thing by taking him in to your dr. He will get better. Hang in there.
 
My youngest got this every time he got the slightest virus, from about 6 months until he was about 5. Just keep doing what you are doing because it can take a couple weeks to clear up.

This could be a one-time thing or it could reoccur. Mine eventually was diagnosed with illness-induced Reactive Airway Disease (RAD) which is really just asthma without officially being diagnosed with Asthma. He did Pulmicort and Albuteral breathing treatments daily for about 3 years. By about Kindergarten, his immune system was strong enough to take care of the viruses without the daily nebulizer treatments, so we switched to an inhaler. He has literally used the inhaler maybe 4-5 times since he was 5. He is now 11, going on 12 in Feb, has played football, lacrosse, basketball, a season of soccer...a season of baseball...swimming...runs around like crazy....and is now a 5 feet, 96 lbs 6th grader. His poor little baby lungs grew strong and healthy!

When he was little and got sick, we would give it two weeks, and if he didn't get better, we would go back to the Dr for a check to see if the infection had turned bacterial. If it did, he would get an antibiotic. They would look for a non-productive cough, certain colored/thickness mucus, fever, lethargy, etc. Sometimes it just went away on it's own after a week or so.

Hang in there, you've got this! Just keep remembering that every time your little one gets sick, his immune system is getting stronger. He will be the one that breezes past the inevitable colds and flus that all his classmates come down with. So all of the braggy moms out there that say their babies never get sick will pay for it later when their kid is the one who comes down with every virus and infection that is going around the Kindergarten classroom!
Same story, times 2 (twins). After ending up in a pediatric ER one night in a snowstorm because the albuteral wasnt touching dd’s wheezing, I always had oral steroids on hand, just in case (which made them crazy so truly a last resort if we couldn’t get to the doctor right away). They had inhalers through elementary in the nurses office, but knock on wood outgrew it, I think. They had viral induced asthma, and they rarely get sick now (were always sick back in the day).
 
Agreed! I told my pediatrician once that I felt like I was there every other week when my kids were little. They were 5 1/2, 19 months and a newborn, and each one of them had an "issue". DS17 had ear infection after ear infection (tubes in twice, tonsils and adenoids out, probably 50 rounds of antibiotics over the years) He still "feels" it in his ears when he gets sick before he even knows he is sick, and airplanes are torture for him (but he is also a 6 foot, 200 lb smart, athletic healthy HS Senior, so don't worry!) DD13 seemed to attract every baby and child illness possible from 5th's disease, pink eye, strep throat, roseola, hand/foot/mouth, chicken pox, ruebella, croup....you name it, she found a way to get it! And of course DS11 had his asthma issues, so we were at the Dr. often!

He very calmly told me - "You have 3 kids and kids get sick (enough to go to the Dr.) on average 3-4 times a year, so times that by 3 kids and I would worry if I *didn't* see you in here once a month!

lol I felt better after that!
I had all of mine in 6 1/2 years, all of them had every single childhood illness (except no hand foot mouth for the twins, go figure), and by the time I got to the twins, unless I suspected step, ear infections, or they were unresponsive to the nebulizer, I never took them to the pediatric. It was mostly viral, I didn’t want them catching anything else!
 
I had all of mine in 6 1/2 years, all of them had every single childhood illness (except no hand foot mouth for the twins, go figure), and by the time I got to the twins, unless I suspected step, ear infections, or they were unresponsive to the nebulizer, I never took them to the pediatric. It was mostly viral, I didn’t want them catching anything else!

Yes! Going to the dr/ER is a double edged sword. If they werent sick before they went, there’s a chance they could pick up a nasty bug.
 
Ugh...BTDT, too. ((Hugs to you)). Here's hoping for a quick recovery.
 
I went through this with my DD. It was horrible. Hospitalized 3 times as a baby and I will spare you the doom and gloom.

For RSV, ask them to do saline nebulizers and suction the nose a lot. And watch carefully for pneumonia. That is the scary part. Good luck and prayers for you
 

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