My son is two-and-a-half years old now and he was diagnosed with childhood asthma. In winter I'm giving him the 100-strength Pulmicort as a preventative measure and I want to know if there are any long term side effects to this. He hasn't been sick at all this winter but he was very ill as a baby.

Dr Michael Pritt replies:

Pulmicort is an inhaled steroid. If the patient is well controlled, he's taking the medicines and the medicine dose is low - which it usually is in children - that medication can be taken for life without any problems.

Our problem with children who are small and have bad asthma is that they don't grow - not because they're taking the inhaled steroid but because the disease is preventing their growth. The moment you control the disease they have an enormous growth spurt.