Acute Bronchitis

Baby Umar (10 months) had bronchitis last Wednesday. Only after 5 days his condition got better. Alhamdullillah.

Being a mother.. i learn new things every day. Now, i have a new found knowledge on Acute Bronchitis. I'd like to share my experience and knowledge with all new mothers out there, in case your child has the symptoms of Acute Bronchitis.

WHEN YOUR CHILD HAS ACUTE BRONCHITIS

Acute bronchitis occurs when the bronchial tubes (airways in the lungs) become infected or inflamed. Normally, air moves in and out of these airways easily. When a child has acute bronchitis, the tubes become narrowed, making it harder for air to flow in and out of the lungs. This causes shortness of breath and coughing or wheezing.



WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF ACUTE BRONCHITIS

Acute bronchitis usually comes on suddenly, often after a cold or flu. Symptoms include:

• Noisy breathing or wheezing
• Mucus buildup in the airways and lungs
• Slight fever and chills
• Chest retractions (sucking in of the skin around the ribs when your child inhales, a sign of difficult breathing)
• Coughing up yellowish-gray or green mucus (may indicate a bacterial infection)

HOW IS ACUTE BRONCHITIS TREATED?

The best treatment for acute bronchitis is to ease symptoms. To help your child feel more comfortable:

• Give your child plenty of fluids, such as water, juice, or warm soup. Fluids loosen mucus, helping your child breathe more easily. They also prevent dehydration.
• Make sure your child gets plenty of rest.
• Keep your house smoke-free.
• Use "children's strength" medication for symptoms. Discuss all over-the-counter products with the doctor before using them, including cough syrup.
• Never give a child under age 18 aspirin to treat a fever unless your doctor says it's okay. (It could cause a rare but serious condition called Reye's syndrome.)

But sadly my poor baby breathing was bad. He was wheezing pretty badly and his chest retracted every time he breathe. So the Doc put him under the nebulizer to open up his airways. The Doctor measured the oxygen level in his body and it was really low!They wanted to admit him straight away. Me being me, i refused. They made me sign a 'Refusal of Admission' Form and directed me to a Specialist Pediatrician. Dr Paranjothy was very understanding when i told him I cant imagine this little active baby on a hospital bed. Keeping still with an iv on his arm.. he'll just ripped it off!! Anyway i live just across the street. I can come every hour if i have to. (It was Assunta Hospital).

So he gave us an Aero chamber with Ventolin. (People with asthma knows what is it) and should be used on him every 3 hours. An antibiotic for the infection. Yeah, he was diagnosed with a lung infection. Causing his airways to be swollen.



So we cared for him at home. 24 hours monitoring. Gave him the gas every 3 hours. I gave him a constant tapping on his back. This is to loosen up the phlegm build up in his chest area. 3 days later he couldn't sleep at night. Coughing was getting worst and the sound of his phlegm was bad. He was panting and he had to stop for breath while drinking his milk. Gave him the gas and the breathing eases. I was ready to get him admitted the next morning. Even packed my overnight. Saw Dr Paranjothy and he said, "He is doing so much better! compared to the 1st time i saw him". ..????!!!

So its good that he's coughing. It brings up the mucus from his lungs up to his throat. The tapping on the back really helps.

The ordeal is over. He lost 0.8kg within 5 days. Poor baby. But now he's doing much better. Now he started to move around and blabbing as usual. He has moved on from creeping to crawling. He can even stand on his own, by holding on to something. And wave bye bye.