Would a newborn be diagnosed with asthma, or would some other descriptor be used?

[Orrex]

I mean, asthma is a specific condition, right?

I'm not asking for medical advice.

I'm asking because I'm critiquing a story in which a character is seeking help for his infant daughter's respiratory illness, and at one point he specifically states that it's "Asthma, doctors say."

I couldn't say for sure, of course, but it seems to me that some other diagnosis would likely be given. However, I could easily be wrong. Anyone know for sure?

[Fleshdancer]

1. WE NEED HELP AUNTAGONIST NOT A THREAD LOCK

:hide:

[Orrex]

3. Nice post, Dr. Strange.

:spank:

[lightningandsnow]

2. They'd probably call it "reactive airway disease" in a child under 2 or 3.

In fact, I've heard that used as a synonym for asthma in adults.

I did medical data entry. I know these things. :P

[Orrex]

4. Thanks!

"Asthma" just didn't sound right to me, but I don't have the background to make that assertion on my own.

The writer's treatment of this newborn has other problems, too, suggesting to me that he just lacks first-hand familiarity with babies.

The story is about a guy who has to take his baby to be treated by a wise-woman who lives in a shack in the forest. I'm cool with that, but the mundane facts of the story just don't match reality. For one thing, the guy has to abandon his truck when the road/trail becomes impassible, so he's carrying the sleeping newborn in his arms.

It seems to me that he would certainly opt to carry the baby in her car-seat, since it's made for that!

So when he mentioned "asthma," I thought I should look into it.

Thanks again!

[laundry_queen]

8. I have to differ with you on the car seat thing.

Those things are HEAVY. If the character has to walk for any amount of time, carrying one of those infant car seats is way too cumbersome.

[Orrex]

10. But the character is carrying a sick infant over hilly, overgrown terrain

I may not have specified this earlier--sorry.

The writer makes a point of saying that the child is sick and sleeping for the first time "in days." That means he'd either have to have extricated her from the car seat without waking her, or else she wasn't in a car seat in the first place!

Also, I submit that someone who's spent several days with a sick, non-sleeping infant would be certifiably insane by that point!

[laundry_queen]

11. hmm

The whole story sounds a bit messed up. Maybe he could put the child in a sling carrier and have her fall asleep while he was walking? Why would the baby have to fall asleep in the vehicle? And you're right, no one is going to want to wake up a baby who has been sick and is finally sleeping peacefully, but I still say it would be darn near impossible to carry one of those bulky car seats over hilly, overgrown terrain. Well, good luck! :)

[Orrex]

12. In addition to all of that, it's pretty severely over-written.

Lots of over-the-top imagery and pseudo-poetic piffle.

[TZ]

5. No probably they would refer to it as an lower respiratory issue

Asthma is a auto immune problem and children are rarely born expressing auto immune disorders. If someone wanted to make a believable story they would say RSV infection...
http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/lung/rsv.html
We do a lot of research here on RSV...:)

[clear eye]

6. A close childhood friend of mine had something close to an anaphylactic

reaction to fish when he was only a few months old--his airway swelled and everything. I'm not sure asthma isn't expressed very early in some people. From your own website: "Asthma can start at any age — even in a little baby or an adult — but it's most common in school-age kids." http://kidshealth.org/kid/asthma_basics/what/asthma.html#

And I think it's an allergic or "atopic" condition, not an "auto-immune disease".

[TZ]

7. Oh no, its an immue response

In fact I'm working on several clinical trials which are using a monoclonal antibody to treat asthma. Allergic responses are technically immunity issues...
Edit to say, I don't think you can diagnose a newborn as having asthma. You diagnose them as having respiratory issues. Newborn immune systems are still immature enough...But yeah, after a few months it might be possible.

[laundry_queen]

9. Infants are very rarely diagnosed with asthma.

As another poster mentioned, it can be called 'reactive airway disease' or sometimes 'bronchiolitis' or even just plain croup.