Connor's got a nasty cold that has gone straight to his chest. He has a barky cough and is very congested. My question is, when would I need to do his breathing treatments? Only if his cough becomes wheezy or mucusy or do I need to start them now?

My son Andrew has that all the time. He gets a cold and then starts the barky cough and the next thing y ou know - he is wheezing.
I usually start the treatment as soon as he starts "barking". That helps to break up the congestion and prevent the wheezing part.
Oh, I hope he gest better soon.

As a mommy new to breathing treatments...I'd say start now to prevent (hopefully!!) the cold from getting worse. Linda-Marie still has a bit of a cold with cough..but no wheezing (thank God) so we're sticking with the treatments for now.

I'd go ahead and start Kim. **sigh** if it's not one thing it's another.

I went one day w/out giving Jack one, on accident, and his cough came back with a vengence.

what treatments are you using?

Doctors have had Brooke on ventolin....does nothing, ready-pred, does nothing, pulmicort, does nothing.........nothing is working on my baby.
So what are you all using?

I would go ahead and start them now. Brianna has been doing breathing treatments since she was two. I usually start tehm right away when she gets sick.

As for what do we use we use xopenex and that works better then anyother one we have used in the past.

We are *supposed* to be giving Iain his flovent in a small dose each day as a prophalaxis, but we do not. He has had so much of the stuff that I am sure it lingers in his veins anyway....

Our direction was that at the first sign of him going "chesty" we were to increase flovent to 2X daily and then slowly increase the dose as required. We have 2 different strengths of it in the house and know our max out amount for it. The flovent takes a few days to work and we are to continue it in increased amounts for up to one week past the symptoms to prevent relapse. The ventolin is only as required.

I have to brag and say we have gone a few months now without requiring either. **struts around for a short time until looking at the calendar makes me realize we are in the high season for needing the stuff again...**

what treatments are you using?

Doctors have had Brooke on ventolin....does nothing, ready-pred, does nothing, pulmicort, does nothing.........nothing is working on my baby.
So what are you all using?

We use Xopenex here. We started out with albuterol and he did really bad on that (real fussy and jittery) He was also on Pulmicort but I took him off for the summer)

Albuterol does make them jittery, or it can. I haven't seen it affect Jack that way, but he does get a little more talkative after a treatment. ;)