Hi all! I'm new to the world of infant nebulizers - my child just got his first cold, which tirggered his first round of wheezing, which I'm hoping!!!! will go away once his cold ends. We are on enough medication without needing to add more on a routine basis. Anyways, I'm wondering if the albuterol solution causes the kids to be a bit restless. I know I take albuterol on occassion as an adult, and it does give me the jitters. I'm asking this since in trying to fit 3 sessions into one day, I realize that at least one will need to be a before bed or middle of the night session. Thanks! Stephanie

Stephanie, it may very well cause him to be restless or irritable. You may also notice that he gets the jitters or gets shaky and his heart rate may speed up for a while. It doesn't seem to last too awfully long, though. I hope he's feeling better and wheeze-free soon.

The jitters should go away once his body gets used to metabolizing the albuterol. This, of course, assumes long-term use. If this is bothersome to your child, you can try Xopenex, which is just like albuterol but without the jittery side effects. It is much more expensive, though.

I have to say that if Rylie gets one dose, she isn't jittery. But when we have to do 2 within 20 minutes of each other and then have to go to the ER and she gets 2 more there........she is definitely shaking as if she was cold. It scared me at first, but after a while I got use to it and knew that this would help he in the end. Hope this helps?

It winds Jack up, but I don't notice him being "jitter"
I'm sure it's different for everyone though.

Albuterol does cause the "jitters" and children to be restless.. well it does it to adults as well. I do have to suggest bringing up xopenex to the doctor if the albuterol is getting troublesome. The xopenex does not affect the receptors in the body that cause the increased heart rate, and nervousness.
However, xopenex is more expensive.
I personally favor xopenex over albuterol in children not only because the side effects are less but the responsiveness to the meds. It seems that the children do better with xopenex.

It did make Connor restless and irritable so we actually switched to Xopenex. It's a lot more expensive but I was told it is more pure. Hopefully your little one will do fine on it!

here's one suggestion that might or might not be helpful. Titus has pneumonia right now, so we started with a neb on Wed. We experienced the same thing with him in addition to the fact that he HATES that thing. No clue why, but it's a fight. The dr. suggested we do it when he's asleep. We brought up the side effects and told her we'd tried doing it at least an hour before bed so that he could get over the effects and then sleep. So, she gave us some samples of the Xopenex to use at bedtime. That way, we can use the albuterol during the day when the jitters don't matter so much and the Xonpenex at night when we don't want him to go nuts. It's a way of making it financially a little more tolerable. If we were stuck on it long-term, I'd probably insist on the Xonpenex, but since we'll hopefully have finished in about 5 days from now, I'm ok with doing both. good luck!

As all the other moms say yes I agree. I also think xopenex works alot better too less jitters and our dr. says we can give it less often. but dr.s usualy sugest albuterol first. try rocking at a quick pace while giving the treat ment that works for us by the end of the treatment Izavy is out. hugs hope lewis getss well soon!