Pediatric Spirometry Testing: What Is It and What to Expect for Your Upcoming Test

One of the toughest things you go through as a parent is your child’s anxiety. Medical anxiety is especially challenging, as you know the importance of the doctor’s visit, but you also don’t want to dismiss your child’s fear.

Pediatric spirometry testing is essential when it comes to childhood asthma and severe allergies, but it’s also scary to a child. They hear “doctor” and “test” and fears of pain and being told they’re sick dominate their thoughts.

Premium Allergy and Respiratory Center has helped many families through these tests. We offer this guide to help you understand what pediatric spirometry testing does, how it works, and how best to help your child have a stress-free experience.

What’s a Spirometry Breathing Test and Why Does My Child Need It?

A spirometry test is a simple way to measure how much air your child can move in and out of the lungs. It measures how fast air moves when they breathe in and when they exhale.

Depending on the results, it may be repeated after using a bronchodilator, which is a medicine that helps open the airways by relaxing the muscles. It’s a common medication used to treat asthma attacks.

Why would your child need a pediatric spirometry test? It’s used to determine if your child is having breathing issues that require treatment or careful monitoring. Asthma is one of the most common, but other temporary or permanent lung conditions can impact children, including:

• Bronchiolitis
• Childhood interstitial lung disease
• Congenital lung disorders like alveolar capillary dysplasia
• Cystic fibrosis
• Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• Pneumonia
• Sleep apnea

Once your child is diagnosed with a lung issue, pediatric spirometry testing is also used to ensure the medications prescribed by your child’s pediatrician or respiratory specialist are working correctly.

There’s one more reason that a spirometry test is performed. If your child must undergo a surgery, some surgeons want to make sure the child’s respiratory system can handle the procedures followed during the surgery.

How Spirometry Tests Are Performed

Spirometry tests are not painful at all. It might not be comfortable, but it doesn’t hurt. The steps to this test are simple.

• The doctor measures your child’s height and weight.
• Your child finds a comfortable position, sitting or standing.
• A clip is placed over the nose to prevent breathing through the nose.
• Your child breathes in and out as hard as he or she can by blowing into a mouthpiece that’s connected to a computer.
• That computer measures the force of the air that the child exhales and inhales.
• The test is repeated a few times to get consistent results.

While it’s not a painful test, it does take up to half an hour to complete. It can be hard for a child to sit still for that long.

Tips to Prepare Your Child Before the Pediatric Spirometry Test

All children experience fear from time to time, and fear of the unknown is a biggie. You can help your child by doing practice runs on what will happen. 

Start by being honest about why the breathing test is important. Your child coughs a lot or cannot catch his or her breath. This test will help determine what’s wrong and how best to stop those coughing spells from repeating.

Get your child used to standing on a scale to see how much he or she weighs. Practice standing straight and tall against a wall to measure height.

Have your child plug his or her nose and blow bubbles through a straw into a glass of milk. It’s not an exact match to the spirometry test, but it’s close enough that your child will see it’s not scary. Plus, the bubbles that form are a lot of fun for a child to experience. 

Blowing a feather across a table using a straw is another way to practice blowing. Blowing up balloons is also helpful. You turn something that could be scary into a fun practice session.

As the nose clip might be uncomfortable to wear for the first time, consider purchasing a nose clip and have your child wear it in the bathtub or a swimming pool. Knowing what it feels like helps a lot.

Reassure your child that you’ll be in the room during the test. Your child will have to sit or stand near the machine, but you’re close by for support. A comfort item, like a favorite toy, is another way to make your child comfortable.

On the day of the test, avoid large meals. If your child’s stomach is full and pressing against the lungs, it can make it harder to get a deep breath. Have a small meal and get lunch or breakfast after the test. 

Make sure your child wears loose clothing on the day of the spirometry test. You don’t want a tight waistband making it hard to take deep breaths, especially when checking for lung function in the event of asthma or allergies.

Encourage Your Child During the Test

On the day of the test, your positivity helps your child stay positive. If you’re feeling nervous, take deep breaths. Share how you help ease tension by showing your child how you use deep breathing to reduce anxiety. It can help kids know that their fears are not abnormal and that everyone gets scared sometimes.

Remain encouraging throughout the test. As your child completes each task, let your son or daughter know that you’re proud of how well your child is doing. Even better, praise the attempt to ensure your child doesn’t feel sad or upset that the attempt failed.

If you notice your child is starting to give up, breathe along. As you’re doing it with your child, it’s a supportive way to get them to keep trying. After the test is done, have a reward ready. It might be a new pack of Pokémon cards, a new book, or a favorite snack.

You need to encourage your child to keep trying, but you also need to know when to stop a test. You can read your child better than anyone. If you know that the child is overly fearful and breaking down, ask the doctor to stop and take a break. 

If you push your child too hard, the appointment becomes something that your child fears. That fear can make future appointments harder for the child to handle.

Keeping Positive if the Test Results Aren’t What You Hoped For

Here’s the hardest part of a pediatric spirometry test. You were hoping for better test results than your child got. You cannot let your disappointment show. Stay positive and offer praise for how well your child did following directions and completing the test.

At this point, you’ll want to ask the breathing specialist questions on what you and your child need to do next. If there are medications or lifestyle changes recommended, make sure you encourage your child to follow those instructions.

Pediatric spirometry tests can be scary to kids, and Premium Allergy and Respiratory Center knows this. Our team works with you to make the test a fun, positive experience. Arrange an appointment today and ensure your child’s lung health is properly managed.