My 8 year old son had a cold/virus 2 weeks ago and he subsequently lost his voice. He can talk, but it isn't very loud so he is kind of squeaky rather than hoarse. He is better except the voice thing. No fever, no runny nose, his cough is MUCH better. I'm guessing he has/had laryngitis but how long till his voice comes back. I have a gut feeling that if I take him to the doctor they will just say he needs to rest his voice. Has anyone else's child lost their voice for more than 2 weeks? Advice?
I was given a steroid to help with my hoarse voice when I had bronchitis a few weeks ago, and it helped within days. Maybe ask about this?
I lost mine and was just instructed to rest it and drinks LOTS and LOTS of fluid. If you have a humidifier, run that as well. He might have done some damage to his larynx due to the coughing. That's what happened to me. I hope it gets better!
He's just strained his vocal chords and it takes them time to heal. Tell him to give the ol' voice a rest, after testing him each morning and give him lots of fluids to drink. I had the same thing happen to me and it lasted a whole month because I couldn't simply quit talking with five kids still at home and livestock to call.
Your son shouldn't try to talk and only whisper to give his voice time to heal. I had this for several weeks one time and thought doctor's worried if it was days but they didn't seem too concerned and said it would get better but the advice given about drinking water is very good and that helped me some I think. Don't strain it though and tell him to whisper or write things down for awhile. It probably takes time for the larynx to heal.
He should not even whisper. I've read that whispering strains vocal cords more than talking out loud. He needs to totally rest his voice. I think it's not uncommon to lose one's voice for that long. I would call the advice nurse to be sure.
