Help stop coughing.

Since CPF seems to be the resource for any subject, I'll try this one.

My 23 month old son (almost 2!) had a cold last week and seems to be over it for the most part. But at night, usually several hours after falling asleep he starts coughing. It's not to hard or anything, but just enough to wake him (and us) every half hour or so until we have to get up in the morning. We give him Delsym cough syrup and a childs decongestant, but nothing works consistantly. There is a vaporizer in his room that stays on during the night. I try to keep his head elevated on a pillow, but he flops around while he sleeps so he doesn't stay on the pillow.

Just wondering if there are any remedies that the CPF collective has tried and worked on a toddler.

Happy Hollidays!!

It is possible that he, (like me) suffers from "reactive airways" which means that sometimes just the act of coughing will cause an asthmatic type reaction that just makes you cough all the more. It's not like asthma in that you can't breathe, it's just a consistent and undeniable need to cough, pretty constantly when it's bad.

Luckily the standard asthma inhaler things work just fine for it too. Very safe things like Albuterol that I'm pretty sure can be prescribed for toddlers too, you just have to use some other kind of inhaler device that they can manage.

In my case it's also much worse at night, I don't know why. The regular cough medicines don't touch this problem, just a small amount of regular coughing can trigger it sometimes and not other times. I'd put in a phone call to his pediatrician and ask about trying some albuterol. It's very safe and maybe you can even get a sample to just try to see if it has any effect before you blow the cash for a full one. I never need an inhaler during normal life, don't have asthma in the traditional sense at all, but during a cold or cough I need it fairly constantly.

Definitely worth putting a call into the pediatrician for some questions about it.

whooping cough?

I was going to suggest Delsym, are you sure you're giving him the correct dose? Heidi, my wife, is an ER/NICU nurse swears by it. They use it all the time when someone comes in coughing a lot. She does think that many over the counter meds are under dosed for safety reasons, but they have to since they don't know every situation about the patient physical state.

What I would do is take your son in and let them know what is up. If he isn't getting a good nights sleep, he won't get better because of the lack of sleep.

The only other thing we have done is taken turn holding him in a rocking chair almost vertical, which you mostly tried and the extra humidity. Believe it or not, sometimes taking them out in cold air can stop the coughing, but that is usually temporary and obviously not a long term solution.

Bring him to the doctor, it may develop to something more serious.

.

Thanks for the replies.

We took him to the doctor last Monday when this all started. I called the nurse again last Friday and she just said to continue cough meds and suck out the flegm in his nose, which we do.

Holding him virtical works for a short while, but it comes back when he lays down. The 2 year old dose for Delsym is 1/2 teaspoon which is what we give him every morning and night. Giving him another dose of decongestant ( the doses are every 4-6 hours) during the night sometimes works a little.

If nothing changes by Friday (his 2 year Birthday) I'll take him in again to get checked out, I'll mention the asthma idea. Last winter I had an annoying cough that wouldn't go away for a few months, I hope he doesn't get that.

Whooping cough is misdiagnosed a lot of the time. Check into it.

Tree, elevating his head on a pillow is indeed difficult; elevate that entire end of his mattress instead.

Make sure he's drinking lots too. If he's dehydrated, the cough will persist. Fluids will help to break up congestion in the lungs.

I'm not sure what the relative humidity is in Louisiana right now, but a humidifier in his bedroom might help too.

James, you talk of this reactive airways. Tell me more. Me, I have had this cough for, and I am not kidding, 3 years now. I think its more physcological now, but still annoys me and everyone around me. I cough once, then get to thinking about it and away I go. To me though, I actually feel like their is something in my throat. I would say sinus's are draining, but 3 years of sinus draining aint right. You have the same feeling that something is in your throat? Thanks,

Cameron

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PhotonBoy said:
Make sure he's drinking lots too. If he's dehydrated, the cough will persist. Fluids will help to break up congestion in the lungs.

I'm not sure what the relative humidity is in Louisiana right now, but a humidifier in his bedroom might help too.

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He get's plenty of fluids, and there is a humidifier in the room cranking all night.

Last night (on top of everything else we are doing)we put a Vaporizer in a bottle in his room and he coughed less. Still coughed a few times, but they were short and he fell asleep soon after.

I do reccomend the Vaporizer in a bottle though, for stuffy noses at night. Works wonders for me.

My 3 year old son is also still coughing, remnants of a past cold. We brought him to his pediatrician and he prescribed Alubterol and I believe Qvar. Lately the air seems pretty dry so we use a vaporizer, but the doctor recommended that we try a cold air humidifier as it may help his lungs better than a warm vaporizer.
How do you suck phlem(sp?) from his nose?

Much good advice.

Don't use a pillow - elevate the bed.

It's hard to believe, but water is the BEST decongestant and expectorant, but it's difficult to get a 2 year old to drink enough of it.

It sounds drainage related - stops when he's vertical and starts when he lays down.

My 3 year old grandaughter was just diagnosed with RAD (restrictive airway disease). It's basically asthma, but they just don't diagnose children that young with asthma. They can't breathe and the coughing forces air into the swollen sacs in their lungs.

Whooping cough IS going around again.

Above everything - you should have total confidence in your pediatrician. If you don't think that he/she has a handle on what's going on with your child, it's time to make a change. On the other hand, if you're an over-zealous, worry wart parent - welcome to parenthood and get over it.

It's really difficult to watch our kids suffer - we want to fix everything and sometimes we just can't. Good luck - I hope he's better soon. Keep us informed.

There is something about listening to your kids cough in the night that brings out something primal about your parenting... It's just really scary.

The reactive airways thing doesn't mean that you have asthma or that a diagnosis of asthma is necessary. It's just that my lungs don't like to cough, and if something makes them more than just mildly they react to that by clenching or tightening or something. I don't know how to describe it, but then you're coughing because of that and not because of the original reason. Once that happens it's very difficult to get it to stop as you're coughing which just aggravates the issue. I don't have asthma in the traditional sense, just this. Set off by being sick, or doing something stupid like shoveling the driveway in a hurry in below zero weather /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

My daughter had Whooping cough or croup or whatever it's called 3 years ago or so. It's a swelling of the throat or the windpipe or bronchi or whatever so bad that in sucking air post the obstruction it makes that characteristic sound. They gave her an X-Ray and you could quite plainly see where it was swelling almost closed. That was pretty scary! I spent many evenings as she was getting over that sitting in the bathroom with the shower on hot breathing the steam with her. That definitely helped.

But if the cough continues so much beyond the end of the actual problem, then it might be worth asking about getting an inhaler to try to break the cycle until everything is all better. Especially if the regular cough medicines are having no effect. They won't if thats what it is. I've tried everything OTC and none of them touch it at all. Not the Delsym, not the new Zycam spray stuff (which is exactly the same drug just delivered differently) nor the newer higher dose stuff like the unfortunately named "Mucinex"

I've had it set off by just choking on a drink of water. Otherwise perfectly healthy, just took a long time to stop coughing after that.

Cameron: when it's happening to me it feels like a horrible, undeniable tickle in my throat or lungs. It's like the perfect trigger to make you want to cough something up that isn't there. If you're actually able to bring some goo up at that point then thats probably what was making you cough, but if there isn't anything there but the need to cough, then it's worth exploring further.

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Darkcobra said:
How do you suck phlem(sp?) from his nose?

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We use an ear syringe from Walgreens. He's not a big fan of the procedure, but it works to get the phlegm out. Just squeeze the air out, stick it in his nose and suck out the yucky stuff. Just be carefull not to stick it in too far, it could hurt him.

My son has a slightly similar persistent cough...it used to be nighttime cough, now he sometimes has bouts of it in the daytime. We seem to have gone beyond the very severe, crouplike coughing he had for several months. We eventually bit the bullet and took him to a pediatric ear/nose/throat specialist. There are many possibilities for cause. Sam's cough is a barking/constricted throat cough (as opposed to one that's deep and chesty, phlegmy - the doctor's listened to his chest and it's clear). The doc checked his nose with a scope, and down the throat to above the vocal cords. To check deeper would be an invasive procedure, with anesthesia - or a CAT(MRI?) scan - also requiring anesthesia. To avoid the invasive approach with a kid of this age, when there's no clear cause, he told me the standard "punt" is to try Prevacid (acid-reducing medicine). The thought being that it can often be acid reflux, causing an inflammation in the throat that's easily aggravated by any little thing - pollen, dust, etc. - and triggering the coughing.
We've had a decrease in episodes - not a clear link, however. We've used Prevacid for a couple sessions without a complete cessation, and no solid proof that it's a cure, so we're on a 3-month run again to see if it takes care of everything and re-evaluate results.
I have to agree with James S - hearing labored breathing and gasping for air is enough to tear you up. I called my brother frantic at 1 a.m. the first time Sam had the cough...my sister-in-law talked me through it. As others have said - elevate their head in the bed (a couple books under the head of the crib mattress, etc.) and for the acute stages, sit with them in the bathroom, with the door closed, as you let the shower on high temp run, creating a steam room. As an alternative, which I have not tried, they also said walking them out in cold air for a quick spell can be good - the doctor said parents will hear the symptoms in their kids, freak out, take them to the doctor's office or ER, and by the time they get there, being out in cool air has cleared up the breathing and there's no symptoms left.
Anyway, good luck to all on this topic. Not a fun time. The E/N/T thing has been a hassle, taking a long time and no clear answers yet, but worth the effort so far, just to feel like we're tackling the problem.
Dave

I would recommend seeing your doctor!

Well, it's getting better. We're down to 1 or 2 short coughing fits per night and everyone is sleeping better. I did call the doctor yesterday and they just said everything we are doing is fine, no need to bring him in unless it gets worse. I researched whooping cough and he has none of the symptoms.

Of course now me and my wife are fighting whatever he had. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

I appreciate all the help and responses. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thanks.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/goodjob.gif

Tree, my wife said don't give him milk especially whole mike before he goes to bed or during the night. The thicker stuff tends to cause more phlegm. As kitelights (and my wife) said give him water, as much as he will drink, it helps thin it out so it can drain easier.