Sick Toddler

Hi K.,

I am the Mom of two boys ages 9 and almost 6, they too suffer from these symptoms a couple of times a year. Sometimes if they wake up coughing like that in the middle of the night you can take her outside for some cool air. I know it's summer and that's almost impossible, so you can also try opening the freezer door and have her breath in some cool air. I also try running the shower, and filling the bathroom up with steam, sitting there right by their side so they don't get near the water. Sometimes I also prop up their mattress by putting a rolled up towel or blanket between the box springs and the mattress. This helps keep them elevated so they aren't sleeping on their backs entirely. Believe me I know what you're going through.. I've been told "chest colds, allergies, croup, asthma", you name it. The antibiotic should kick in soon, and she'll be feeling a lot better within a day or two!! Good luck

Hi, I remember when I had the same experience and it took our dr 2 months to determine my daughter had an ear infection. We were told the night cough was caused by ashtma,RSV and everything but an ear infection. My daughter eventually spiked a temp that caused a seizure and we went to the ER and got proper dx. The irregular coughing is usually a sign of post nasil drip being caused by and ear infection. After 2 days of antibiotics the baby should be able to sleep thru the night. I also took a bed pillow and placed her on it on her side to slightly elevate her head it helped.Wish you well.

oh my dear- i dont want to scare u but when my julia was only two weeks old i went to my sisters home (she had 13month twins) and julia became sick in a couple days. Everything u listed and the list grew longer till proper help came. Here i was at the er and was overlooked. If it wasnt for me going to her home dr we wouldnt of known julia had RSV. Deadly to small children. This can be tested with a simple test. My sisters twins and my infant where hospitalized and made it through. Alot with julia being only two weeks she had to be on life support to support her little body while it passed. The twins a bit older wherent on as many "wires" as mine. It was sad but i was able to catch it before it was to far in. RSV look it up and see ur feeling and thoughts on if u feel it could be a possiablity. I hope thats not it but just to be safe i wanted u to ck it out for ur little one.God bless-~R.~

K.,

I belong to a wholesale online company that has an oil you can put into you humidifier that works wonders. Also sometimes after they get this way they develop this thing where whenever they get a cold they get like these asthma symptoms. I wish I had known about this company along time ago because it has also helped my family to change my cleaning products because these made my son's worse. Every time I would clean the bathroom not only would I get this awful cough but my son would too. I do not know if they have an over the counter product you could put in the humidifier. If you would be interested in the oil let me know and I can give you the details of this online store.
C.
____@____.com

Have you tried the vapor patches? I think Triaminic makes them. My kids have the same symptoms frequently and that always seems to help. Always maybe try something like Dimetapp before bed? It is hard to get a doctor to say it is croup any more. If it is really bad at night, what the doctor told me to do , is turn the shower on all hot, and shut the bathroom door,( might have to put a towel in front of the door to make sure no steam escapes.and make sure the window is shut) and let the bathroom fill up with steam. it will get really warm but will help a great deal. what i do is let my kids draw on the steamy mirror or shower door. it gives the same effect that a croup bed would at the hospital. Usually about half an hour or so works wonders and they go right to sleep, leaving the vaporizor on.

Definitely look into RSV. My son had it back in March right before his 2nd birthday...he had the same symptoms you mentioned. I took him multiple times to the doctor (And to the ER), and they kept saying it was 'probably a bacterial infection' so they prescribed an antibotic. He ended up staying 3 days in Children's Hospital because it was really RSV and pnuemonia. Such a sad sight and heartbreaking time.

I wish you the best!!

Hi K.,

My son went through this too. Make sure your humidifier is a cool mist humidifier. I don't know about opening a window in winter but we keep our house around 68 degrees in winter and the kids sleep well. If you have an overhead fan going, this could cause some congestion as well. Maybe swicht to a floor fan. Short of sleeping in a recliner with her (which we have done many nights) there probably isn't much else you can do. The antibiotics usually show signs of working in about 24 hours. Try a warm bath before bed with some JOHNSON'S® Soothing Vapor Baby Bath in it. My kids always sneezed as I was drying them off and this cleared a lot of the congestion out. Good luck with #2.

C.

It could be Croup or something turning into Pneumonia. The best way to tell the difference though is to take her outside. Fresh air helps croup symptoms to go away. Everytime my kids have croup they are horrible at home but by the time we get to the doctors they seem fine. Young Docs I have found don't usually remember that fresh air helps make things seem better too, so even after going to a ped on two occasions and seeing one of her associates, who sent us home because my kids seemed fine, and he too said colds and possible ear infection, I was back in the ER at night because they were even worse. So see if getting outside helps things to get better. Then call your doctor. It will at least help you determine whether your dealing with croup or if your doc is on the right track. But I would be willing to bet it is croup and they just didn't see it because getting outside for the trip to the docs made the symptoms seem less then what you are hearing at home, expecially at night. Your the mom, you have the final say and know your child better than anyone. There will be times you will need to trust your instincts and call your doctor on their mistakes(in a really nice way, of course). They work for you. Hope this helps. the best thing you can do to help her if it is croup is to take her out on the porch and sit for a few minutes so she can clear out and then put her back to bed. I use to use humidifiers and an ER doc said no, take them outside. I now do that when I am dealing with croup and I am amazed at how quick it helps and how much better they are for a little while to get some sleep. Good luck.

Cool air will help too. We have had issues similar with an ear infections. The coughing was my son's worst problem though, but we would bundle him up in blankets and open a window and I would hold him upright in my lap to sleep at night (middle of winter). The cool air always helped a lot. So air conditioning in her room would be of great help. Humidifiers are good as long as you don't over saturate the air because that moisture can get into the lungs and condense making things potentially worse.

(from my own experience anyway.)

I hope this somehow helps.

Blessings.
M.

This definitely sounds like croup. Its the barky cough that we call the "seal cough". You can also try running the shower and fogging up the bathroom and take her in there for about 20 mins. Its also considered humidification but to me from my past experience it helps open them open better. If that doesn't work you can try standing outside with her in the cool night air and see if that works. If both of those does not help and niether does the humidifier I would take her to the emergency room. She may need the antibiotic called Decadron to help her. Hope this helps.

My son has had croup alot. It's viral so they don't really treat it anyway unless there is alot of wheezing and what they call "stridor" which is the high pitched whistling sound. They can prescribe prednazone to help the inflammation that causes the stridor, otherwise they suggest the humidifier, if it's really bad take her in the bathroom and turn on the hot water in the shower to steam up the room, or take her outside if it's a cool night. If the antibiotic doesn't seem to help in the time they say - usually not immediate but within 3-5 days I think and the wheezing doesn't seem to be stopping you could ask about that. Also, a vapor rub can help relieve discomfort, there's baby Vick's, but I really like Arbonne's herbal rub, it smells great and isn't real slimy. I hope this can help you.

Good luck!

My son had this problem forever and still does every winter, if laying down bothers her put a large pillow under the head of her mattress, it's help keep her elevated while she sleeps. also steam and fresh air both help with a croup like cough and wheezing. and they do make a child's vics like chest rub, think it's johnson and johnsons. other than that it's jsut going to have to run it's course. good luck.

K., If your gut is telling you that there is more to this, then get a second opinion from another pediatrician. We were told that my daughter just had a nasty cold & she ended up having RSV which can be very scary. We took her to another Dr. & that's when we were told that she had RSV and we needed to watch her closely. What you are describing sounds very much like what we experienced with our daughter. Good luck.