Many kids don’t know how to use their inhaler correctly. Here’s how you can help.
After watching her gravity-defying performances, it’s hard to believe pop music star Pink, has struggled with respiratory problems and asthma since childhood. Ironically, you could even say Pink owes her career to asthma: she took voice lessons early on to help her breathing.
Pink also owes her lung power to lifesaving medications that provide long-term asthma control. These drugs are usually delivered through an inhaler. The first-ever study to evaluate inhaler technique in children ages 2 to 16 who were hospitalized for asthma found 18 percent didn’t use a spacer with their inhaler. (A spacer is a plastic tube attached to the inhaler that helps a child take in the medication completely.) And 42 percent had faulty inhaler technique.
These inhaler snafus up the risk of an asthma attack and can put a kid’s life in danger. So, if your child has asthma . . .
- Use a peak flow meter to measure lung function weekly.
- Have your child use a spacer with the inhaler. It’s essential for any kid age six or younger and for all children taking inhaled glucocorticoids or who have problems coordinating proper inhaler technique.
- Have your asthma doctor go over the best method (with or without a spacer) with you and your child. When not using a spacer, your child should follows these steps: Shake the inhaler five times to mix medication with propellant; exhale; put lips around mouthpiece; begin inhaling and then push canister to activate; breathe in deeply; remove inhaler from mouth. Hold breath for count of 10. Done!
Medically reviewed in May 2018.
