Asthma inhalers and medicines must be used regularly to help control asthma. A preventative inhaler should be taken every day as prescribed. A reliever inhaler should be taken as needed. If your child is using their reliever inhaler more often than usual, consider arranging a review with their doctor or nurse.
Make sure your child takes their preventer inhaler every day as prescribed. Children and young people should always use their inhaler with a spacer. This is the most effective delivery of medication.
The pharmacy section of this toolkit also has useful tips and information on using inhalers.
If your inhaler does not have a dose counter it is difficult to tell if it is empty. This leaflet from Beat asthma gives you some helpful tips.
Inhaler techniques
A person’s inhaler technique should be assessed at every contact with a health professional.
Examples of how to use different spacers can be found on the Asthma and Lung UK website within the spacers section (use link above) and within understanding your child’s inhalers.
Beat Asthma has some excellent short films on how to use different spacers, as well as other resources, in the ‘videos’ section of their website
The Hands-on Guide to Practical Paediatrics team has put together instructional videos on how to use different inhalers:
How to use a metered dose inhaler (MDI) with a volumatic spacer
How to use an Easi-Breathe inhaler
The Hands-on Guide to Practical Paediatrics team has also developed an instructional video on how to give inhalers to a young child or baby.
West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust shared this short video for #AskAboutAsthma 2022 week where paediatric respiratory nurse specialist Liz and asthma patient Evelyn show you how to use an inhaler with a spacer and face mask. Face masks are recommended for children under five, or as appropriate to the individual child.