Tips for Reducing Asthma Triggers in Your Home
- Keep your home and your child’s bedroom smoke-free. This includes keeping tobacco and vape smoke, candles and incense out of the home to the best of your ability.
- Help keep pests away by eating in the kitchen, cleaning up spills right away, and taking out the trash every day.
- Choose gentle, unscented cleaning products, and skip perfumes, plug-ins and air fresheners when possible.
- Wash blankets, sheets and pillowcases in hot water each week to keep them fresh.
- Keep stuffed animals clean by washing them in hot water or placing them in the freezer for 24 hours each week.
- Vacuum once a week using a double-layer bag or HEPA filter, and try to do it when your child is not in the room.
Medications and Asthma Action Plan
Ask your primary care provider for an Asthma Action Plan and give a copy to everyone who cares for your child, including the school nurse. A written Asthma Action Plan lists the medications that your child will take to help control their asthma. Remember to keep the Asthma Action Plan in a place where the whole family can see it – like on the refrigerator.
The Asthma Action Plan is broken down into three sections:
- Green Zone: This section has the controller, or maintenance, medications that your child will take every day to prevent symptoms. Your child should take these medications daily until a healthcare provider tells you to stop. Examples of common medications in the green zone are: Montelukast (Singular), Zyrtec (Cetirizine), etc.
- Yellow Zone: This section has the rescue medication your child will take when they have asthma symptoms. Albuterol is a common rescue inhaler in the yellow zone.
- Red Zone: If your child has increasing symptoms and medications in the yellow zone are no longer providing relief, then they are likely in the red zone. Based on this section you will give your child more albuterol in a shorter period of time and make your way to the emergency room or to see a healthcare provider.
Follow-Up Appointments
Your child should see her or his primary care provider (pediatrician) every three months all year round for ongoing asthma care and planning. Scheduling appointments every three months makes sure that your child will have refills for their medications. Remember to schedule these appointments in advance to talk about asthma and make sure your child stays healthy going into the next season.