Asthma in Children: Knowing How Bad an Attack Is-Topic Overview It can be difficult to know whether your child is having a mild, moderate, or severe asthma attack. The following chart may help you. Talk with a doctor if you are unable to tell how severe your child's symptoms are.

Gauging the severity of your child's asthma attack

Factor	Mild attack	Moderate attack	Severe attack
Peak expiratory flow	80% to 100% of personal best	50% to 79% of personal best	Less than 50% of personal best
Breathing	Normal or slightly faster	Faster than normal	Rapid, and the child may appear preoccupied with breathing; may want to sit upright to help breathing
Breath	Mild or no shortness of breath; can speak in full sentences	Short of breath; can speak in short phrases or parts of sentences	Very short of breath; speaks in single words or short phrases
Chest	Does not or slightly uses chest muscles to breathe	Uses chest and neck muscles to breathe. The skin between, under, and above the ribs collapses inward with each breath.	Uses chest and neck muscles to breathe and may open nostrils wide; may clutch at the chest
Skin	Normal skin color	Pale skin color	Very pale or bluish skin color; may sweat more than normal
Wheezing	Wheezes while breathing out	Wheezes while breathing in and out	Does not wheeze while breathing. This indicates little or no air in the airways.
Alertness	Normally alert	Normally alert	Not as alert as usual and may appear anxious

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