6 M.O. Coughing in Her Sleep

If it is a cold here are some things that I do for my little ones that help. Put a folded quilt under one end of her mattress to elevate the end that her head sleeps on, use a cool mist humidifier in her room while she sleeps with the door closed and fan on low-med, Vicks makes baby vapor rub you can apply to her chest and back, also put this on the soles of her feet at night with cotton socks on this well extremely help with the coughing. Use saline solution for her nose and if you are going to suction her nose spray this first then wait a min before suctioning this helps get everything moist and movable. This Vicks on the feet has really helped with both my children and myself, it stops the coughing and relaxes the body to help get a full nights sleep.

Sounds like classic allergies to me. Both of my kids developed them early. I would ask your Dr. about allergy treatments. If you would rather, go to a pediatric allergist for a more definite diagnosis. We had good luck w/ Zyrtec - totally different type of drug than Benydryl. Also, saline spray to keep her irrigated and clean can work well too - don't suction, just spray often. Sorry you have to deal with this, it's tough to watch them be uncomfortable. Good luck.

just wanted to add that you should check for mold in your house, look in the corners, in the back of the closets, behind anything leather that is up against a wall, etc... they sell kits in home depot. look in the vents of the air conditioner. how is she out of the house? can you sleep out with her for a night or 2 and see? did they check her for rsv?

I am sure this is too early for your doc to diagnose, but our daughter was like this and when she was a little over 1 we realized she had asthma.

Here is what I suggest and what we did.
We purchased a room air filter. (We purchased a Hunter). The instructions say to change out the filter every 6 to 8 weeks. Here where we live their is lots of greenery and grasses, each time a lawn or our was mowed around us, we had to keep our daughter inside for a few hours. Also it is dusty here so dust drove her to coughing. So we had to change the filter every 3 to 4 weeks.

We took down all drapes and purchased mini blinds, we got rid of all carpets in the house. Her stuffed animals were kept to a minimum, and they were sent through the drying cycle on air dry to get rid of dust.

For her bed linens we had 2 comforters so that every other week we could wash them so the clean 1 was kept in the plastic bag while the other 1 was being washed.

We tried to keep her room a sanctuary with the door closed so she could get the best sleep possible.

IF this is diagnosed it is very treatable. The good News? Our daughter grew out of it by about the end of 5th grade.

the pediacare plug in was the only thing that worked for us

Do you have a cat?
Our daughter used to cough at night and exhibit other signs of allergy and we finally realized she was allergic to cats when she was in high school
(slow learners, I guess) .....anyway, just a thought.

Updated

Do you have a cat?
Our daughter used to cough at night and exhibit other signs of allergy and we finally realized she was allergic to cats when she was in high school
(slow learners, I guess) .....anyway, just a thought.

it could be asthma, especially if it is a dry cough - my middle guy has asthma and it acts up mostly when he has a cold, which is why it took 3 years & 2 hospital stays with pneumonia to diagnose. he has been seeing a pulmonologist for 3 years now, and we have a daily maintenance medication that he takes, and also have the nebulizer for when he starts coughing a lot - it has been a huge help for him - he always does so much better once he has had the medication that he needs, plus we have avoided the hospital for the last 3 years! :)

sending hugs - i hope your little one feels better soon!
~T.

I'm going to have to agree with your doctor. It sounds like allergies. Both of my kids (4yrs & 17 months) have allergies.. We use Claritin for both and when my younger one gets bad enough we add Singulair and/or breathing treatments (my older one had to do this too when she was younger). Hope she gets feeling better!

My 4 month old had those symptoms for about 3 weeks and also thought it was allergies. We did not give her antibiotics for allergies.

In the 3rd week her cough was keeping and waking her up at nigh so I took her in (our pedi says that's one of the signs of a cough that's gotten worse). The pedi listened to her cough and realized that she had croup (infant version of a cold) and gave her steriods and a prescription for antibiotics for any secondary infections that might occur. She never had a fever though...