11 Month Old and "asthma"...what Else Can We Do?

My son had constant ear infections when he was little. He also has asthma and allergies. When we stopped drinking milk his ear infections stopped completely. I've also found that eliminating sugar has mitigated his asthma almost completely. Those would be two things you could try. If you're concerned about calcium, you can introduce an almond drink, although he might be a little young yet.
Best,
L.
http://susannasapron.blogspot.com/

I would also recommend cutting out dairy.
In addition, use only non toxic cleaning and laundry products.
If you would like to know the products I use including supplements, let me know. The wife of the owner of our company has written a book called Green Goes with Everything. She tells how she helped her son, who almost died from his asthma and is doing great now. I have extra copies and would be glad to give you one.

I know this will probably sound crazy but go and try a chiropractor.
I am a physical therapist so I am usually against chiropractors, but I was in your place a few years back with my son. We went to allergists, gastroenterologists (they say reflux can cause these problems too), pulmonologists, ENT's (he had multiple ear infections with need for ear tubes x 2!), etc, etc. At one point he was on Pulmicort, Xopenex, Singulair, Benadryl, Zantac and at least 1 more medicine all at the same time!!! I got fed up because all these medicines did not change his congestion. the only thing they did was prevent him from getting bronchitis when he got sick.
So I finally decided to go with an alternative route and went to a chiropractor. Being a PT, I grilled him to death and everything he explained on how physiologically he could help made complete sense. We started at 3x/week x 4 weeks then went down to 2x/week x 4 weeks then 1x/week x 4 weeks then we got down to once every 6 weeks and now we don't need to go at all. But within 3 months, we were able to take him off ALL the meds!!! We started when he was 3 years old.
the only symptoms he has right now is when he gets a cold he sounds a bit junky, but if he coughs he is usually able to clear himself.
Just like all the other gals here said, we were told to take him off all milk products. That includes products that contain casein and whey (which are milk products in disguise). You will eventually be able to get him back on milk, but slowly.
Good luck!!

I highly recommebs seeing a pulmonologist. Ours helped my son dramatically. I wish my pediatrician had suggested it at a much younger age.

We dealt with something VERY similar to this when our daughter was an infant. It seemed as if she could not get over a cold on her own and we spent the first year of her life at the pedi's office for wheezing. She suffered from wheezing, night time coughing, milk sensitivity, and eczema so the pedi dropped the "a" word throughout that year. When she was 14 months the pedi had been doing some research and put her on inhaled Pulmicort 2x a day for a month, thinking that maybe, just maybe that first cold she caught at 2 mos old was RSV and she just hadn't been able to kick it with the Albuterol alone. No joke, the first cold she caught after the Pulmicort treatment, she shook herself. She's now 3 and it's been a year and a half and she's been eczema-free, no wheezing, no need for the inhaled corticosteroid, and she can get through the few colds she's had on her own. Have you considered seeing a pulmonologist?

Update:
I should add, I cut dairy from my diet when she was 3 mos old and she drinks soy milk. It seems as if there could be a dairy link after reading the other responses.

If you have a cat it must go. If you smoke or your husband does it is over. If you have wall to wall carpeting pull it up.
I was asthmatic for 29 years. Then I found by trial and error a great and I do mean great homeopath. This is my fifth year asthma free. No cat. I can break out from one and it is a common cause of asthma. No wall to wall carpet. Molds live in and under them.
Cockroaches are commonly implicated in asthma and you do have Palmettos in your area. Do not spray against them. There are organic methods. Go online to find them and they do work.
I see another mother suggested a chiropracter which is a good way to start as I used to see one to relieve me of the terrible attacks I had before all the modern medicines were available in America.
One more thing if it is genetic asthma (mine may well have been) it is a chink in gene 51 passed on from a common ancestor 3500 years ago. I am not the only one in my family who has had asthma.

Does he drink any milk (dairy)? If so, I would try tossing that and see how he responds. My son would get awful croup regularly. My sister mentioned milk. I thought she meant only around the times he had croup, so I'd stop then, then give him more again when he was better. He kept getting sick. Anyway, I finally tossed milk for good, and he no longer gets croup unless he's sick with something else...so very rarely. I would try that and see if it makes any difference.

Take him off all soy and cow milk products! I would be curious about egg and wheat as well. Your child is at risk for all kinds of developmental delays when they have allergies because that means the right hemisphere of the brain is working overtime and is not that strong. Give your child plenty of movement experiences to mature that right brain. Medications interfere with developing brain waves so try NAET treatment instead of regular drs. It works and it is completely natural allergy elimination.

When my son was young, he had a lot of the same problems and the doctor would not call it asthma yet as well. He was constantly sick. I got a lot of recommendations for this chiropractor, who adjusted him and put him on a supplement. I had to crush it up and give it to him 3 times a day for about 1 1/2 years. But while on the supplement, he stopped getting sick!!! AND he has since been cured on the asthma. He was 1 when he was put on the supplement, and he is not 11 and has never had a problem since! If you want any help as to how to find a chiropractor, let me know I can give you some hints. As they are all NOT the same. I hope this helps.

I am sorry to hear about your son's health challenges and the allergies that run in your family. The first thing I thought of when you described your son was "food allergies." Soy is also common allergin! Please check out the nutritional wisdom of www.LivingFuel.tv It is VERY important that you take action through a nutritional approach ASAP. This can be a life-long problem if you don't address it. If you are able to build up the immune system, you and you son will be less inclined to allergic response. I am speaking from personal experience. May God guide you and bless your family!

Have you taken him to a pediatric ENT and pulmonolgist. My son had all of the same problems. After more than a year of near constant issues, they recommended we have tubes put in his ears and his adenoids taken out. It's made a HUGE difference. He has not had a single ear infection in 9 months. He still occasionally gets a runny nose, but we use Zyrtec daily during the "high" allergy season and cold/flu season. This seems to do the trick. He is also on twice daily puffs of Qvar (long acting asthma med) which seems to be working, as well.
But, see if your pediatrician can recommend a good ENT and Pulmonologist. Ours were a godsend.

Good luck

If you have carpets I would recommend shampooing them all, spraying them with the febreeze allergen after and then vacuuming really well before and after. We had a similar situation, and this helped our little girl so much! We couldn't afford at the time to rip all of the carpets out! However, we did eventually and it did help, but you have to sweep daily! Also vacuum your vents and and returns... Our son also had a similar situation, and he had his tonsils and adnoids removed. It made a world of difference for his immune system! He NEVER gets sick, although he still has asthma. He has been diagnosed with a corn allergy and we have to avoid ALL corn and corn derived foods: corn starch, high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, dextrose, etc. Just a thought. It has improved his quality of life, happiness, eczema, asthma, etc. He has also been diagnosed with allergies to pumpkin and outdoor molds.

Good luck. We didn't get our sons issues "fixed" until he was 3! And it took lots of effort (and still does).

Your son sounds like my son at that age.
It seemed like he was always getting sick, being sick or recovering from being sick.
He only had a few ear infections, but he had pneumonia right after his first birthday - we did the whole nebulizer/albuterol routine.
We took him to an allergist and had him patch tested and nothing out of the ordinary turned up for allergies.
I got rid of curtains/carpet in his room and just had plastic pull down shades and a small throw rug to keep the dust mites down.
By 2 yrs old he really got much better.
We had his tonsils/adenoids out right after his 4th birthday (they were just huge, not infected) and he hardly got sick at all after that.
Today he's 12, has no asthma, can eat everything (and it sometimes seems like he does, but that's just par for the course for teenage guys) and is perfectly healthy.
Their breathing passages are just so small when they are babies that any little thing can irritate them, but many of these problems go away as they get bigger.
Hang in there!

I would look into a holistic peditrican in your area. Also, check for mold/mildew in your home. Poor thing, I hate it when they are sick!!

I have 3 asthmatics (sigh)... add to the list no stuffed toys, keep his room as clean and dust free as possible )avoid dustr ruffles and wash all blankets etc regularly). Also.... invest in a good cool-mist humidifer, AND a 'Vicks Waterless Vaprozer'.... it is a tiny little machine that heats up a little pad (thumb nail size) soaked in Vaporub... the cool air mister and the Vicks works wonders during naps and night !!! I have 3 of each of each to survive winter