My 17 month old DD was diagnosed with asthma a few weeks ago. After severe RSV as a newborn and chronic bronchialitis her pediatrician made the diagnosis. We are waiting to get into the pulmonologist right now to seek further help in controlling her symptoms.

Right now she is on Xopenex to control her symptoms. She started on generic Albuterol but it was not controlling her symptoms well. The Xopenex seems to work but only so long as she is getting all three breathing treatments a day. What I am wondering is whether there is a better option than using a "rescue" med so often to control her asthma?

Yes, you can also use a steroid/nebulizer.. For a child that size/age you could use, pulmicort respules 0.25mg/2ml about 3 times a day. This is a preventive med to help lessen the number of attacks she gets but it can take up to 2 to 4 weeks to start seeing a difference with any type of steriods.
Her rescue meds are needed and for sure on time every day till you can get it under control with a steroid, it's just not safe to let her go without a rescue dose.
You can manage this condition... It just takes a little time to find the right combo of meds. Albuterol will cause fast heart rate, cause you to shake, jittery, etc...
Xopenex/levalbuterol is MUCH better because is doesn't give you the shakes 1/2 as bad and does not cause the racing heart, etc....
It's best to have kids do all their treatments via the nebulizer to make sure they are getting the whole dose.
Good luck! :-)