Symptoms of Childhood Asthma

Definition of Asthma in Children

Asthma is an obstructive respiratory condition with characteristic frequent attacks of wheezing, shortness of breath, rapid breathing and an irritated cough, in other words, asthma can be defined as a chronic illness in childhood. At the age between 3 and 8 years asthma can be found in children.

Description of Asthma in Children

Our lungs are one of the most important respiratory organs in our body; they are responsible for the exchange of gases between our surroundings and the body. When air enters into the human body, it is filtered, warmed and humidified. It then passes through the trachea into the bronchi of the lungs branching out into bronchioles and alveoli.

When a person suffers from an asthma attack, these airways narrow swell and produce excess mucous.

Symptoms of asthma in children:

Wheezing is a whistle type sound and is caused when the air flows into the lungs during an asthma attack. When the child exhales mild wheezing occurs and when he exhales out his whole breath more severe wheezing sounds can be heard. Sometimes in case of extreme asthma wheezing may be absent as no air passes through the airways.

In asthma a cough may be of chronic or recurring and worsen mostly at night or in the early hours of the morning. Sometimes a cough may be the only symptom of asthma especially in any type of asthma that has been aggravated by exercise or asthma occurring in the night time only. In nocturnal asthma a cough occurs mostly in the early hours of the morning.

Tightness and pain in the chest are found mostly in exercise induced asthma, the child may feel tightness and pain in his chest and there may be no other symptoms of asthma. The other symptoms of asthma are as follows,

· Breathlessness
· Flaring of the nostrils when breathing in
· Interrupted talking
· Rapid breathing

Symptoms of asthma can be different depending on whether the asthma is mild, moderate, or severe:

Symptoms during a milder episode of asthma: Children during mild asthma attacks may feel breathlessness during an asthma attack, or after a simple physical walking they may feel restless.

Symptoms during a moderately severe episode: During this type of asthma attacks, a child may feel breathless while talking, A baby with asthma may have a softer shorter cry and the child may not be able to finish the usual quantity of his feed.

Symptoms during a more relentless episode of asthma During this type of asthma attack, children may feel out of breathe while resting, they will talk in words not in sentences; Infants will not feed in this situation or may feel restless during the time of feeding.

Symptoms indicating that breathing may stop during an asthma attack. The child may feel sleepy and confused, older children may stop breathing, and infants will stop feeding.