Hi, From what you said, it seems like your kid is is having an allergic condition called ASTHMA, where inflammation of airway causes their episodic constriction on exposure to cold, dust, microbes etc. For children with only occasional symptoms, we need not give inhalers. But those having frequent or sever symptoms will definitely benefit from inhalers. I will explain why. When child develop asthma, airway constrict and when we give nebulization, it relaxes back. But when he gets repeated episodes, slowly the relax-ability decreases and finally a stage will reach, where we wont get adequate symptom relief even after nebulization. It is very important to regularly administer inhalers to indicated cases to prevent this irreversible damage. You need no worry much about side effects- compared to repeated courses of oral drugs during each episodes, regular inhalers are much safe- they are given at very low doses and no much systemic side effects compared to oral medications. Also, some children stop wheezing by 5-6 years and your doctor may try tapering and stopping the inhaler after a period of good control Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Muhammed Aslam TK, Pediatrician