Does your older preemie have asthma?

[sparklett]

DS will be 3 yrs. next month and was born at 33w1d. He had a few setbacks due to IUGR and was on CPAP.

Yesterday his ped. diagnosed him with asthma. We discussed how this could be preemie-related. A few preemie moms that I know locally said that their babies developed it at the same age and grew out of it.

Does your preemie have asthma? What's it like? How is it treated? Do you know anything about this idea of growing out of it?

Thanks!

[aris99]

My 4 yo (born 26 weeks, 1.5lbs) doesn't have asthma....but I have heard that it is VERY common to outgrow it! Hope your little one does

[SativaStarr]

My former 35 weeker, now 4 yo has mild athma despite being born without any respiratory issues. He's on Flovent (inhaler) as controller, Albuterol (inhaler) as needed (not often at all), and Singulair, as well as Zyrtec because of some allergy issues.

My former 34 weeker, now 3 yo has no respiratory issues at all (and didnt at birth either).

My former 32 weeker (now 17 months) has chronic lung disease and has pretty major respiratory issues. He will most likely get the asthma diagnosis at age 2 (the Pulmonologist said this). He is on Advair (inhaler) as a controller, Albuterol (inhaler), Singulair, and Zyrtec for allergy issues as well. He was just taken off of Atrovent (inhaler) as well. We used to do nebs but with 3 different meds 2-4 times a day we were spending an insane amount of time doing treatments so we switched to inhalers. He also winds up on oral steroids (prednisalone) every time he gets even the siplpest cold becasue it flares his respiratory issues big time.. he's also had 15 respiratory related hospitalizations in his 17 months of life.

[sparklett]

Thanks so much for your reply, SatviaStarr!! I'm really, really sorry your baby is going through this...

DS has been pretty healthy up until recently. In Feb/march he came down with a cold that blew up into something serious over just a few days. He ended on on albuterol syrup, pred, and antibiotics. It took him a month to get over it.

Then just last week, he had a runny nose one day and 24 hours later, it was a deep-chest cough, wheezing, and shortness of breath! So he went back on the albuterol, steroids and some sort of mega-antibiotic. We're expecting the nubulizer to arrive today.

He doctor was really surprised that we didn't get the asthma diagnosis sooner, but really, DS has only been sick a few times and only once did it turn into bronchitis; until last month I've never had to put him on any antibiotics or any other meds.

We're going to the pulmonologist next week and I have to bring his NICU records along so they can see what kinds of issues he had with his lungs.

Anyway, thanks for your insight.

[CallMeMommy]

You know, now that you mention it, my 31-weeker's respiratory issues seemed to peak at around age 3-4. I think the most that came out of it was a reactive airway disease diagnosis, though. Any little cold would go straight to his lungs, and by age 3 he'd had 3 pneumonia and 2 bronchitis diagnoses. We got a neb machine for home and did the treatments there, but haven't had to use it in quite a while now (he's almost 6).

[LaughingHyena]

My 34 week DD does, but then with our family history (both DH and I have it too as do most of my siblings and my dad) I would have been surprised if she didn't. DS was 2 weeks late and he has it too. Fortunately for all us it is very mild and tends to only flair up after colds and things.

As to growing out of it I seem to remember my GP saying something about 7 year cycles. So children may well grow out of it for 7 years but then it can flair up again. I've not researched it myself but it does seem to have been the case for me. I had a bad spell as a child and again around 18 but I haven't taken any medication now for about 5 years.

[Bokonon]

My 32-weeker almost-5 year old has never had respiratory issues since having RDS at birth and CPAP for a day. I did have the steroid shots before he was born, but finished them only a day before his birth.

Knock on wood, my 34-weeker almost-1 year old has not had any respiratory issues yet.

[justmama]

My former 34 weeker had a rough first year with RSV and bronchial infections frequently but outgrew it and is completely and 100% normal at age 5.

My former 33 weeker was diagnosed a few months back with asthma despite having no respiratory issues at birth. She is the kid who has multiple bouts of pneumonia and bronchiolitis every single winter who has to live in a bubble just to survive and her sisters don't get to have friends over or go out in public places. We are doing daily pulmicort and when she needs it prednisolone and albuterol inhalers and neb treatments. I have to say though that the pulmicort has been wonderful for her. Since we started pulmicort back in January, we have not been to the ER even once. Before it, from this past September to January we were at the ER twice a month and had pneumonia twice and bronchiolitis twice and croup once. And she turned 2 in January. So she's not an infant preemie who still has that dangerously fragile immune system.

[Peony]

DD2 was full term but had a severe respiratory infection as a newborn that resulted in her being very much like a preemie. She was on O2 for 6 months, had delayed development, etc... She is 3.5 now and has asthma. She has been on inhalers since she was 1, this our third winter with two inhalers daily. She gets pneumonia at least once a winter, we've done RSV twice, croup several times. She is ill all winter and we have to be careful about her lungs, I've got all the medical debt to prove it. We keep hoping that when she gets older, things will get better, and it is much better then what it was once upon a time, but more of an improvement would be great.

[MJ13]

My former 28 weeker was diagnosed just a couple weeks ago with asthma. He was born with "lungs of a 24 weeker" due to pProm.

We've been really lucky up until this point but we've had an absolutely horrible pollen season and it was just too much for him.

[WednesdayO]

My daughter was a 29.5 weeker and was born breathing on her own! She went from blow-by to CPAP to being on a ventilator briefly then back to CPAP and then to a canula for ages. She even came home with oxygen after 6 months in the NICU.

Anyway, now she's 5.5 and her pediatrician said he doesn't want to diagnose her with asthma, but he is treating her as if she has a mild case. When she gets a bad cold, she usually ends up needing Xopenex in her nebulizer, but that doesn't happen very often now that she's older. We realized last year that she seemed winded or out of breath after physical activity, so they did a pulmonary function test on her. She started taking Singulair every night, and it has really helped.

As far as growing out of it... The pediatrician seems to think she might. BUT Her cousin was a 30 weeker and hasn't really grown out of it. She was only on oxygen briefly and is turning 10 this month but still gets pretty bad off with colds etc. I guess it just depends on the child.

[Cinder]

Janelle, born at 34 weeks, has asthma. But, Travis, 38w, has a diagnosis of RAD and if it isn't gone by 5 he will also be diagnosed with asthma, and River, 36w, has needed neb treatments with a few illnesses already, and most likely will also end up with the RAD diagnosis. Kincaid, 39w, also had RAD, but outgrew it before 2.

I have asthma, dh has asthma, my brother had asthma as a kid...it was kinda a given here that at least 1 if not all of them would be asthmatic... I don't know how much medical opinion has changed from the 90's, but our allergist we saw as a kid said something like 75% of boys diagnosed with asthma will outgrow it if not before, then during, puberty, it's less likely for girls to outgrow it, but still pretty common. A lot of men who had it as a young kid have issues of re-occurrence as they get older though, like mid to late 30's on.

[mistymama]

My 7 year old ds was born at 34 weeks and had very few issues. He was under an O2 hood for a few hours, but otherwise did well.

He developed a wheezing asthma around the age of 3 whenever he would get sick - otherwise he was fine. But let the slightest cold come on and he had trouble breathing.

This last year was the first year we didn't deal with it all winter long. Not sure I can quite say he's outgrown it .. but we didn't keep him on Singulair this winter, and he didn't have any breathing issues, even when he was sick.

[sparklett]

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies. We're dealing with this on a weekly basis right now and it's a bit overwhelming. Getting the nebulizer was just ridiculous thanks to insurance red tape. He's developed some problems where he seems like he's gasping for breath at times, so next week we're off to the cardiologist and the pulmonologist. Lovely, lovely, lovely.