My son Timothy had it at 8 months old; a tapering course for about 8 days. Other than marked crabbiness (but he was a crabby baby to begin with) he handled it fine. He had a severe infection that presented as an acute emergency and it was clearly indicated. He had the highest dose for 3 days and then a little less daily for about 5 days after that. It was something we gave in a dropper.
Emily is much older than your daughter but has needed it- but it's been because her albuteral, even when given 4x/day at twice the dose each time she usually gets when she's healthy (in other words, up to 16 puffs a day vs. the 4 she gets when healthy combined with 4 vest treatments a day) wasn't enough to control the wheezing, chest pain, shortness of breath and a new kind of cough she developed after a severe bronchitis about 9 months ago. (She hasn't needed it since introducing a daily inhaled steroid & Pulmacort for when sick.)
In my personal opinion, I think these kinds of meds, regardless of age, would have to be handled on a case by case basis by a good, knowledgeable CF dr (not the ped.) Some kids with cf have a strong asthma/inflammation component and need the steroids even from a young age. Others do fine without them and/or might need more antibiotic treatment, etc to keep their symptoms under control... other kids are just in general sick more often and seem to need everything thrown at them all the time to keep well.
In any case... anything the ped rx'es, from abx to steroids, etc, I'd want to run by the cf dr first if there is ever that situation.
Emily is much older than your daughter but has needed it- but it's been because her albuteral, even when given 4x/day at twice the dose each time she usually gets when she's healthy (in other words, up to 16 puffs a day vs. the 4 she gets when healthy combined with 4 vest treatments a day) wasn't enough to control the wheezing, chest pain, shortness of breath and a new kind of cough she developed after a severe bronchitis about 9 months ago. (She hasn't needed it since introducing a daily inhaled steroid & Pulmacort for when sick.)
In my personal opinion, I think these kinds of meds, regardless of age, would have to be handled on a case by case basis by a good, knowledgeable CF dr (not the ped.) Some kids with cf have a strong asthma/inflammation component and need the steroids even from a young age. Others do fine without them and/or might need more antibiotic treatment, etc to keep their symptoms under control... other kids are just in general sick more often and seem to need everything thrown at them all the time to keep well.
In any case... anything the ped rx'es, from abx to steroids, etc, I'd want to run by the cf dr first if there is ever that situation.