While there is no certain way to prevent asthma, you can take steps to reduce your child's airway inflammation and the likelihood of asthma attacks.

No one is sure if breast-feeding affects a child's risk of getting asthma. Some studies show that breast-feeding protects a child from getting asthma.^{10, 11} Other studies show that breast-feeding, especially when mothers with asthma breast-feed, may actually increase a child's risk of getting asthma.¹² Two large studies found that breast-feeding had no effect on the development of asthma.^{13, 14} Mothers are still encouraged to breast-feed their children for all the other proven health benefits that come from breast-feeding.

Preventing asthma attacks

The main focus of prevention is on reducing the number, length, and severity of asthma attacks. The best way to prevent asthma attacks in your child is to follow your doctor's recommendations and make sure your child takes asthma control medications as directed. By doing this, it is possible, in most cases, to prevent asthma attacks. Also, by avoiding triggers, your child may be able to prevent or reduce the severity of symptoms. For more information on identifying your child's triggers, see:

Identifying asthma triggers.

Below is a list of specific triggers. If you know that any of these triggers cause your child's symptoms to become worse, you should avoid or limit your child's exposure to them.

Upper respiratory infections

Upper respiratory infections, including the common cold, cause 85% of asthma attacks in young children.²² Basic preventive measures include the following:

• Avoid contact with other people who are ill. If there is an ill child in the home, separate him or her from other children, if possible. Put the child in a room alone to sleep.
• If you have a respiratory infection, such as a cold or the flu, or if you are caring for someone with a respiratory infection, wash your hands before caring for your child. Hand-washing eliminates the germs on your hands and the spread of germs to your child when you touch your child or touch an object he or she might touch.
• Do not smoke. Secondhand smoke irritates the mucous membranes in your child's nose, sinuses, and lungs and increases his or her risk for respiratory infections.
• Children with asthma and their family members should have a flu shot (influenza vaccine(What is a PDF document?)) every year.

Irritants in the air

Common irritants in the air, such as tobacco smoke and air pollution, can trigger asthma symptoms in some children.

Controlling tobacco smoke is important because it is a major cause of asthma symptoms in children and adults. If your child has asthma, try to avoid being around others who are smoking, and ask people not to smoke in your house.

• Pregnant women who smoke cigarettes during pregnancy increase the risk for wheezing in their newborn babies.
• Exposure of young children to secondhand tobacco smoke increases the likelihood that the children will develop asthma and increases the severity of symptoms if they already have the disease.