Bronchiolitis
in Babies
While this disease is most often mild,
"it is extremely distressing for parents"
Bronchiolitis is characterized by coughing, difficulty breathing and wheezing in the chest.
It affects 30% of babies under the age of 2 each winter, i.e. 480,000 cases per year according to official estimates.
Caused by a virus, it is particularly contagious.
You have to "get out of the "idea that bronchiolitis = physiotherapist", explains the pediatrician Christophe Marguet, who participated in the drafting of the new recommendations.
A practice whose effectiveness has not been demonstrated, recalls the High Authority for Health (HAS) in its new recommendations for babies under 12 months.
These recommendations "do not mean that the role of physiotherapists is diminished", assures the president of the HAS, Dominique Le Guludec.
“This role can change” and become “a supervision and monitoring role”, thanks in particular to the Bronchiolitis networks – structures put in place during an epidemic.
In general, the new recommendations base management on "regular nose washing and monitoring for signs of worsening".
Nose washing is necessary for babies to breathe because they are unable to blow their nose on their own.
To evacuate snot, you must empty a dosette of saline solution into the nostril of the infant lying on its side.
Easier said than done, of course, but "there is a technique and it is important that health professionals teach it to parents", emphasizes Professor Druais, according to whom physiotherapists have their role to play in this training.
Bronchiolitis networks in France
Reception within the Bronchiolitis Network by health professionals, masseurs-physiotherapists,
doctors and community pediatricians during winter bronchiolitis epidemic periods.
