Coping with your child's asthma: the secret of controlling asthma attacks was not in overprotecting our children, but in knowing when to administer medication.

Doctor, my baby is wheezing!" My voice shook as I spoke to our pediatrician at 4:00 a.m. that rainy winter morning. The day before, I had noticed a slight tearing in Brittnye's eyes and thought perhaps she had brushed against my wool sweater. But now, in the predawn hours, my infant was sneezing, coughing, and wheezing.

We rushed her to the pediatrician's office that morning and watched tensely as he examined her and then administered the necessary medication. in a few days, with repeated doses of the prescription medication, she recovered from the frightening incident.

Yet it was only a few months later that Brittnye began to wheeze again, suffering from the same symptoms as before: runny nose, tearing eyes, and that tight, gasping wheeze. Again we made an emergency trip to the pediatrician's office.

"What are we doing wrong?" my husband asked. "We hardly take Brittnye out of the house. We follow your suggestions to the letter. Yet she seems unusually prone to breathing problems."

The doctor, after explaining that some children are more susceptible to respiratory problems than others, asked, "Do either of you have asthma? Have either of you ever been hospitalized with breathing problems? What about the rest of the family-Brittnye's uncles, aunts, grandparents?"

To most of the questions we had to answer yes. We both had suffered from asthma as children. Bob had been hospitalized with the problem when he was in elementary school. Many of our relatives were also plagued with lung problems. I had to admit that my own allergies were under control only on very clear days.

The diagnosis. Again young Brittnye recovered quickly from this acute breathing attack. The doctor was careful to not label her condition as asthma, but instead called it "an asthma-like wheeze." However, as our baby moved beyond her first year of life and caught additional colds, each virus seemed to go straight to her bronchial tubes. Finally, at age 2 1/2, Brittnye was diagnosed as having bronchial asthma.

By that time her new sister had arrived, and we waited in fear for her first cold to turn into that now-familiar wheeze. She was diagnosed with bronchial asthma at the age of 2, and our son, who was now 7, was beginning to have asthma-like symptoms.

More than 6 million people in America are estimated to have asthma, and 2.5 million of them are children. In our family all of us are plagued with the condition. Although asthma is not said to be hereditary, you can inherit the tendency to develop it. Causes and effects. In an asthma attack the air tubes of the lungs are narrowed by tightened muscles, mucous plugs, and swollen tissues causing the asthmatic child to have difficulty breathing. This difficulty happens in episodes, or "attacks." In the very young child, asthma attacks can be set off by a cold virus or even by an allergy to certain foods, such as cow's milk. As our children entered into their toddler years, they had to eliminate milk and milk products from their diets and supplement with soybean products. Cigarette smoke, plant pollen, windy days, weather changes also to trigger coughing and attacks.

When our children began having the asthma symptoms, my husband and I would alternate staying up the entire night. Some nights I would hold the child upright so he or she could breathe without choking on the thick mucus. The pediatrician suggested elevating the bed so the child's head was higher than the body, allowing the mucus to drain instead of puddling in the throat.

On the really rough nights when the cough and wheeze became uncontrollable, we would take our little one into the bathroom and make the area into a steam room by running a hot shower. We would hold the coughing or wheezing child near the door, away from the steamy mist. Once the room was filled with steam we would run a cold shower. After a period of time, the hot and cold extremes helped to open up the bronchial tubes, and the child began to breathe more normally.

With a child who has the tendency to wheeze, the parents often become overly cautious. We protected Brittnye from crying or getting too excited for fear she would stop breathing during a coughing spell. When a child with a cold came near her, we instinctively held her away, trying to protect her from the germs. On guard for attacks. As our children entered toddlerhood, we began to learn that the secret of controlling the asthma attacks was not in overprotecting our children, but rather in administering medication before their wheezing or coughing became too severe. Some doctors recommend that the medication be given with the first cough or signal that an attack is approaching. Prescription drugs such as Theodur, Ventolin, and Proventil opened up the bronchial tubes so the child could breathe without gasping for air.

We also stopped holding our children back from physical activity. We learned that exercise was vital in developing strength in their young bodies. According to the American Lung Association, swimming is one of the best exercises for a person with asthma because of the moist environment. With the proper medication our children were able to run, laugh, and even cry during their worst colds, without the trauma of uncontrollable wheezing.

Keeping your own emotions and reactions in check is vital when raising a child with asthma. If you make the child feel sickly, he will act that way. We warned grandparents and friends not to treat our children differently. We worked hard not to overreact, even when we drove to the hospital emergency room with a wheezing child. It seemed that the more uptight and nervous we became, the more frightened the child became. And with this fear came tension and more difficulty in breathing. Children can anticipate. We began teaching our young children to understand their bodies and to recognize symptoms of asthma-a slight cough, a tightness in the chest, noisy irregular breathing. We encouraged them to tell us if they felt a need for assistance.

As our three children entered nursery, preschool, and elementary school, we gave teachers the necessary information and medication. Each teacher became familiar with the signals that preceded a coughing spell and could administer lifesaving medication immediately. In fact, this information saved our youngest child from many emergency room trips as the teacher called during the day, telling of a "dry cough that would not quit" or difficulty in getting her breath at recess." We knew to immediately authorize the school nurse to give the appropriate medication and to be on call, if necessary, to pick the child up.

Even though they live with asthma, our children have developed normally through their formative years. We have worked diligently to keep them from feeling different, and we have given them the same kinds of responsibilities that other children have. Learning about the signals they give has helped us avert many upcoming asthma attacks.

All three of our children now have a special inhaler that "puffs" medication into their lungs when they feel an attack coming on. This device eliminates the need for constant oral medication and allows each child to treat his or her condition immediately. The slogan "Never leave home without it" definitely applies to their special inhalers ! Our youngest child, whose asthma is most severe, also uses a preventive measure-an inhaler of cromolyn sodium. This medication has been useful in calming the bronchial tubes so the coughing attacks do not begin, and has been found to decrease the incidence of asthma attacks. Special appliances are also available that are used with the inhaler. One, called an aerochamber with mask, is intended for young children and elderly patients who may have difficulty breathing deeply as the medication is puffed into the body.

Our family has also learned to cope with asthma by following these important recommendations from the American Lung Association:

1. See your doctor for a proper diagnosis and effective treatment and follow-up. Thousands of dollars are wasted each year on fantastic and absurd "cures." Don't spend any money on unprescribed medicines, over-the-counter treatments, or quack remedies.

2. Don't give any medicines or sedatives without your doctor's permission. Something your child takes, even aspirin, may affect his breathing, perhaps bringing on an episode or making an existing one worse.

3. If you consider moving to another area, think twice! Any change should be made on a trial basis, and the trial should be a number of months or even years, not merely a few weeks or a month. You may escape one cause of asthma only to find another in a new area.

With proper medical care, people with asthma, young and old, can lead comfortable, normal lives.