Monday, December 03, 2012

Compliance with Asthma Meds, or How Do You Get an 8 Year Old to Take His Flovent?

OK....I know there are some moms and dads who read this blog who have kids older than mine. So here's my question for you:

How do you get your kids to take their asthma meds?

My Ozzy is 8 now, and getting him to take his Flovent (which he can now administer himself) requires something just shy of an act of Congress. I have to take his digital toys away every morning until all his to-dos are done, and even then, Flovent requires three reminders. And if I forget to remind, he forgets to take. 

And let's not even talk about the rinsing after!

I'd love to say I could be there every time to administer, but I have two other kids and myself to get ready in the AM - and one of those other kids requires my nearly constant supervision.

What works in your house? I'd love some suggestions!

6 comments:

My Life as an Asthma Mom said...

That's a constant battle for all of us. All 3 of my kids have asthma, 2 are teenagers and 1 is an adult now. But it has always been a problem.

I just listened to a telehealth presentation sponsored by the Utah Asthma Program. They had a child psychologist named Deedee Caplan from Primary Children's Medical Center talk about kids, developmental stages, and how to talk to them about taking their medicine. Instead of "Why aren't you taking your medicine??!!" It's better to say, "What happens if you don't take your medicine?"

It's a great presentation that I can't do justice to paraphrase.Here's the link to the the Utah Telehealth Network http://www.utahtelehealth.net/education/asthma.html

The site is down today, they are fixing something, but it should be back up on Thursday.It's about 45 minutes long but WELL worth your time.

Good luck!!

Aimee said...

Awesome!! Thanks so much for sharing this advice!!

Unknown said...

I love your site, I am about to share it with my own mother; because even though I am the only one of her children with a severe case of asthma and allergies, it has affected her life sooo much! I was wondering if you would be interested in sharing my most recent post (on 12/21) to help to spread the word on how severe and extreme the condition can be and how it can affect one's life. (I am currently spending my third night in the hospital due to my asthma issues, ugh.) Please let me know if you would be interested in sharing my story! Thank you!

http://apinksunset.com

Anonymous said...

Also 8 is old enough for a kid to have his own motives for doing things and to take some responsibility for acting on them. Together with the "what happens if question?" one might also want to ask "what would help you motivate yourself to be more consistent? How can I (mom) help you?"

The window of time when you can "make" him do anything is closing. As he moves into his tweens and teens what will help him most is all the coaching you've done so that he can name and stay focused on the things he knows are good for him.

david said...

I Love your site... Asthmatic kids need more attention by moms.. It is our duty to ensure asthma attack can be treated as soon as possible

Aimee said...

Thanks, David!