My YS was very severely asthmatic from the age of 18 months until he was about 10 - every cold would trigger an attack and he was admitted to hospital several times. Things that helped were:

1) A nebuliser - makes the inhalation so much more effective and easier to do. YS used it daily for his steroid treatment and when he needed it for the ventolin.

2) My GP explained to me how to use steroids - prednisolone -then trusted me and gave me a standing prescription for them, As soon as an attack became acute I would give YS a tablet and the effect was very very quick. We then had to carry on with them for a couple of days, then cut back gradually. That kept him out of hospital.

3) Swimming, because of the breathing control.

4) Taking control of his own medication regime as soon as he was old enough to understand and manage it. (I still kept the steroids, but I let him judge when he needed something).

I would have liked him to give up dairy produce - he was so allergic to it as a small baby that when I was nursing him, I had to cut it out of my diet and he had soya milk until he was three or four, but he preferred cow's milk.

Try to reassure your OH - asthma treatment has improved a lot. But also, your son needs you both to stay calm and reassuring, however frightened you may be. I hope that your son soon learns to manage the asthma for himself - I think that will give him more confidence. Good wishes to you and to him.