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Greatest aid in parenting?
Possibly the greatest aid in parenting I’ve had is that I’ve owned pets. So, as awful as this may sound, I sometimes talk to toddlers the way I do to dogs: short, direct sentences and using my tone of voice to indicate emotion. I use the phrase “drop it” a little oftener than I should. And I’ve had to restrain cats. So this morning, when it was time for me to give Niko his inhaler without assistance for the first time (Nesko’s working a 14 hour shift; look upon him with mercy), I wrapped Niko up in a towel (pinning his arms) and pinned him to the bed. It was mostly successful. He’s supposed to have 2 puffs every 4 hours, and he’s supposed to hold the mask over his face and inhale for 30 seconds for each puff. The first puff, he managed to wrench his face away after only 8 seconds. The second puff I let him up after 20 seconds because he was so upset.
When I was first diagnosed with asthma, I also had bronchitis and the flu at the same time. I had tremendous difficulty breathing. For an adult using an inhaler, one is supposed to inhale while depressing the inhaler’s button (which dispenses the medication), and then hold one’s breath for 10 seconds. I was frequently unable to hold my breath for that long. I had so little oxygen in my blood stream that I needed to breathe, to take many short, shallow breaths. It was kind of like drowning with no water around. However, even the little bit of medication that got in my lungs helped, and soon I was able to hold my breath for 10 seconds… or longer! So I’m hoping that even though we aren’t fully compliant with the inhaler and spacer, it’ll still help; and I’m also hoping that Niko will get more used to using it.
He’s fine holding the spacer, or walking around with it. Sometimes, he presses the mask to his face himself for a few seconds. He’s not afraid of the spacer in and of itself. But he does not want us holding it to his face and using it on him. We’re going to pick up some M&Ms and see if bribery helps.
Again, anyone with experience in toddlers and inhalers/spacers, hit me up.
(For the record, he only coughed twice last night, which is a big improvement.)
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Fair enough. I talk to my pets like small children. Especially Logi... poor little boy... so dim. :)