Asthma is a disease that is present all around the world. People from all age groups get affected by it. There are studies which indicate that asthma is hereditary in nature so there are greater chances of offsprings catching the disease if their parents have it. Also there are indications that anyone at any age and stage may catch asthma even if they may not be having any prior family history of the disease.

Asthma may be caused as a reaction to certain allergens present in one's atmosphere also. And it is also a well known fact that a person may develop allergy for a certain allergen quite all of a sudden. So asthma can also be termed as a disease that is mainly an outcome of exposure to different kind of irritants and allergens, which one encounters as a result of modern day changing lifestyles.

Asthma is a very frequent occurrence among children. One in ten infants suffers with the disease. Usually the children outgrow the disease as they grow up but for that to happen smaller children should be treated properly and the diagnoses needs to be done effectively. Usually childhood asthma is very different from adult asthma. During childhood the symptoms are mainly of cough and wheezing. In some severe attacks the accompanying symptoms may also be of fever and breathlessness. The symptoms may usually not be in the form of a paroxysmal attack.

Asthma has to be recognised clearly and diagnosed properly because there is a danger in children of developing chest deformities if the situation remains undiagnosed and untreated. Although there are so many cases of asthma in children and even so many infants suffer from it, the doctors are still hesitant in telling parents if they see a wheezing child that their child may be suffering from asthma.

The main reason behind this is that it is difficult for a doctor to tell the parents because asthma is associated with a lot of psychological factors and mostly it is considered to be chronic and incurable. Many parents do not even accept the situation of their own child well. But in reality this is not incurable. This disease can be very well managed and with little precautions a person is able to live a very normal life. In kids it is diagnosed with a lot of associated symptoms also. These are called premonitory symptoms. On the other hand it can be also said that the kids with these premonitory symptoms are more likely to get asthma and if the child displays these symptoms it is better to get him checked thoroughly rather than wait for a full blown attack to happen.

These symptoms can be recognised as:

1. Unusual and persistent colic.

2. If the infant is on formula feed there may be a need to change it frequently. This shows poor adaptability of the infant towards the feed.

3. Frequent unexplained diarrhoea or constipation.

4. Extreme likes and dislikes for certain foods.

5. Excessive vomiting.

6. Sudden and unexplained rashes on the skin.

7. If one or both the parents have had allergies of any kind the children are also prone to allergies and many-a-times this manifests in some or the form of asthma.

8. Sudden pain in the chest or complaints of a nagging dull heaviness in the chest.

9. Persistent loss of weight.

10. General lethargy and cranky attitude towards everything. This can be very easily interpreted as a lack of enthusiasm. This is a very easily overlooked symptom because of the fact that these days the kids are perpetually bored of almost everything all the time. This is very easily interpreted as short attention span.

Many times the children who may be having asthma may not have evident signs of wheezing, coughing and difficulty in breathing. So when the situation remains undiagnosed for a long time looking for one or more of the above mentioned premonitory signs makes a lot of sense.

Treating the asthma in children takes more or less the same path as the adults. Usually bronchodilators are used in kids as well. These just have to given to the kids in smaller dosages and for ease of administration they come in the form of liquids. Generally corticosteroids are considered to be best avoided and they are used in very extreme cases like after an attack of very vicious fury. Antibiotics are also generally avoided in kids and they are given only when the evidence of an infection is overwhelmingly strong.

It is very important to find out all that one possibly can about allergies that may be present in child before giving him any kind of medication. This exercise also helps in finding out the allergens and subsequent hyposensitization if the allergen is really unavoidable. General precautions as in any other case are also to be taken in order to get control o the situation before it aggravates to alarming levels.