Cough Won't Go Away!!!

My daughter was diagnosed with pneumonia the week before Thanksgiving. She was still coughing at the first of the year. I was told that the coughs are staying around longer and longer and that she was getting anything bad out by coughing. I know it isn't much help but I do know how you feel. they also told me to try a humidifier (cool mist). You might also ask about a daily allergy medicine. Hope he starts feeling better.

Not trying to scare you but you should have him screened for Cystic Fibrosis. If left untreated the results could be life threatening.
I have 2 little ones with CF, so I know how important it is to get treatment started early. I just met a girl who wasn't diagnosed until she was 16.
Also, please test for Asthma.
Jenny

I have gone through something similar with my 20 month old son. All I can say is that the cough does take a while to go away. Some doctors say it takes 2-3 weeks for the cough to go but I think it takes just a little bit longer. Maybe another week or so. Also put a cool mist humidifier in his room especially at night. I think that really helped my son.

I also had a child who had RSV, Anytime she so much as started a cold here came the cough. Our doctor gave us a breathing machine so that when it started we could just give her treatments. She is 10y now and grew out of it by at least 4yrs. Have you asked your doctor about asthma? My other daughter has asthma flare ups when she gets a cold or sinus,ear infections. Her only symptons are that she coughs all the time, and a little winded with exertion. She is now 7y and has an inhaler to control the cough.

Maybe he has cold-induced asthma or allergies. You might ask your pediatrician to set up an appointment with an allergist.

K.

The Canadian Medical Association gave this advice which my family has put to the test and we think it works: At bedtime put Vicks Vaporub and socks on the coughers feet. They will sleep comfortably with no cough through the night. The Vicks has made some people have pleasantly warm feet (not burning). When I put it on my feet I felt nothing, but I did not cough.

My daughter is 8 months and she has been coughing all winter...sounds like she's smoked a carton of cigarettes too! She had bronchitis once. Well yesterday, after taking her to the doctor several times, we took her again and he's putting her on a nebulizer 4 times a day. He also said to use a vaporizer at night and to use Baby Vic's. Hopefully this works!! Maybe you could suggest a nebulizer to your doctor and see what he says.

I'd check in at the Dr. again. My 5 year old does that. He gets bronchitis every time he has a cold. We'll go to the Dr. and be told it's just a virus (or whatever). A week or two later, we'll go back and it's broncitis. He acts fine, just a big cough-no fever, runny nose or anything Sometimes a humidifier helps in his room.

hi my daughter had the same thing as an infant, our doctor gave us a breathing machine with albuterol medicine to give her breathing treatments and that really helped. at first she cried with the mask on but you have to hold it on and they have a mask like a fish so the kids are not so scared. it will be scary at first but they get used to it, you just have to stay postive and think that this too shall pass. my daughter slowly got over this and it became a seasonal thing every winter she would be at the doctor. once in a while she will have a cough and we will give her albuterol. it does get better. today my daughter is a happy and healthy 3 year old. hope this helps

Humidifiers are good. I have found that using Tussin DM its real cheap helps the best. I have told several friends and they say its help them alot so you might try that it will help the cough and break up any conjestion he might have in his chest.

Our son (now 2 1/2) caught RSV when he was six months (luckily he was only hospitalized for 1 night vs. a week like most cases we knew about), but then he never got sick until he turned a little over 1yr. At that point he got numerous ear infections which were preceeded by a cough/cold. At the time our doctor recommened over the counter medicine that helped, but now that this is no longer available she suggested using the triaminic flowing vapors fan and we put that in his room. Also, in the past when our son would develop a croup cough she suggested steaming up the bathroom or sometimes in the spring/summer the fresh air outside would help ... our son normally would cough more at night so these remedies would help. We also try to run a humidifier when the air gets dry. The last time our son had a bad cough this past December he did have a fever so we took him to see the doctor and he did have a virus which there isn't any medicine except TLC to give him, but his oxygen was a little low in which most babies who had RSVP tend to have lower oxygen levels so she gave him a breathing treatment and she ended up prescribing a bronchilator (steroid) to help open his lungs and this did help with the cough too. Our doctor said there's no concern to worry about asthma at this point, but she's not completely ruling it out either her own children have asthma so we trust her expertise in this area.

I have a 7 year old that had croup 2 winter seasons running. However, my daughter gets colds and coughs pretty easily that seem to linger on also. I find that a cool mist humidifier works best. You should also keep the door to the room where you are running it closed (unless you buy one for the whole house).

Okay, you are going to think that I am crazy. My 13 month old daughter and me have been fighting the crud since Christmas. My sister-in-law, who doesn't believe in modern medicine, told me to rub a clove of garlic on the bottom of our feet and keep our feet covered with socks, or a blanket or whatever and the next day we should be better. I did this just last night to me and my daughter before we went to bed, I didn't think it was going to work at first but after a while our coughs seemed to let up and we both slept pretty good for the first time in a long time. I also recieved an email about putting vicks on the bottom of your feet before bed too, we tried that one and it didn't seem to work as well. Hope I helped, good luck!

D.,
Both my children had RSV. My doctor told me that whenever they get sick, their coughs will always sound worse then they really are. Also,that I should expect it to be that way until around age 2. That turned out to be the case for us. Sounds to me that you are on top of it.

Hi D.,
My experience is similar with my daughter, however the cause was different then allergies and took years to find out. She would have this horrible cough for what seemed like all year long...I took her to a pediatrician and allergist all of which led us to "mild asthma." We got rid of all our pets, did all the suggestions for allergy safe home, got a mold test done on the house. NONE of which seemed to solve the mystery or take away the cough. It wasn't til we were moving from our house when we found out that there was "Radon" in the area we lived. We had a sump pump in the home which was even more likely we had a worse problem because it was a way for the radon to enter our home. One day our carbon monoxide detectors started acting up. We had the fire department come and check our home for it, NONE was detected. We were told to buy a new one. WE DID, and it acted up as well. Radon is a gas like carbon monoxide, it cant be smelled. Our neighbors found out they had Radon at a very high level. I wanted to tell you our story because through our experience, we had not suspected anything like that. We have moved and her cough has completely disappeared and we are all much healthier. I am so glad we found that out and moved especially since over long term it can cause Lung cancer. Good luck and keep us posted!
T.

My little guy had RSV and Pnuemonia twice, so I can relate to your situation. I have found that using a nebulizer with albuterol is very helpful. If your doctor hasn't prescribed one- ask for one. Every time the weather changes, or we go on a trip to different climates, my son starts to cough- and this helps. I also use some herbal remedies to calm his cough. I'm from Durango Colorado, and a place called Dancing Willow Herbs (dancingwillowherbs.com) has a great kid's formula called Calm a Cough. I also really like their Elderberry syrup. It has honey in it to loosen chest congestion and boost the immune system. This probably sounds weird, but it works, and it works with the immune system, not against it.

Well here is my personal experience. My oldest son has had chronic croup ever since he was 7 mo old. He gets it at least 3-4 times a year. What exactly does the cough sound like? Does it sound like the barky croupy cough, or just congested cough? I would say go in and specifically ask for an x-ray. Just to prove to you that it is not infact another bought of croup. Other than that I would go the fact that he may an allergy to something. If it is proven not to be croup, ask about a prescription for Zyrtec. Both of my children have environmental allergies, and both have been on Zyrtec since a very young age (around 3 mo for both). It helps more than I could have ever imagined! If your doctor again tells you basically that it is nothing, I would consider seeing a different doctor. One who will be more willing to run the necessary test to figure this thing out. I know how awful it is to live with a child who has chronic unexplained coughing. But there is hope, until you can get into the doctor I would reccomend running a humidifier in his room. This is a good thing to have considering croup is more often than not chronic, and humidifiers are recommended for children with croup. I hope this helped, take care!

Hello,
I don't know if this will help or not but it will give yousomething to consider. My son is now 11yr. old but we went through the same thing, At that age we did use cough syrups, antibiotics, hummiditers, etc. Nothing seemed to work and he suffered with lingering coughs for 6 years. After these coughs turned to pnuemonia 6 times, they diagnosed him with asthma. He is now on Singulair, and has been the only thing to help keep him dry. You might ask your Dr. if he thinks he is developing asthma, there are different degrees of it and it would save you and him a lot of sleepless nights. Another option you might try is Dr. Greenwood in Nixa, he is a Naturalpath/Chiropractor and he has a Chinese cough syrup that draws moisture out of the bronch tubes and lungs. Kids seem to like the taste as it is honey based. It takes a little time to work but is safe. Hope this helps or gives you a heads up, I wish we had known sooner.
T. V

Hi D.,
I have an 8 month old who has already had Bronchitis twice. He has not once had a fever since he was born and he always eats/sleeps fine. I was concerned there for a while like you because he just kept "coughing". I have a humidifier that I keep in his room and I try my hardest to make sure he gets everything out of his throat (even though it's hard at his age) when he is coughing. My doctor and many others said sometimes they have so much built up in their throat and chest that it just doesn't seem to get out very easily. I also tried pedialite (not sure how to spell it). It helped as well! Hope this is helpful! Good luck!

My son, now 6 has always had chronic coughing issues and was diagnosed with "cough variant" asthma when he was 2. We are finally biting the bullet and taking him to an allergist and pulmonologist over the next few months.
Anyway - we have two new "tricks" to help with the never ending cough
1) STEAM SHOWERS....put your shower on as hot as possible, close the bathroom door and allow your child to breath in the steam until you run out of hot water - I usually bring a book, etc to make the time pass....
2) put Vicks vapor rub on his feet (yes FEET) before he goest to bed (don't forget to cover w/ socks) Don't know why this helps with cough but it does!
Good Luck!

I have been told to put Vick's on the bottom of your feet with socks and that the cough will stop. Since hearing this I have not had a cough so am not sure if it works.

Good Luck,

My son has that cough that won't go away too! I think one of the best things is to make sure you have some humidity going in your house because that dry air will not help it. Something that worked with my son is rubbing Vicks Baby Rub on the bottom of his feet then putting socks over them at night which seemed to stop that cough in its tracks plus I rub it on his chest. I try to give him a bath at night with that Johnson vapor bath (in the baby soaps)It helps plus that steam to get it to come out of his nose. I also got some Herbal Expectrant at the health food store and he takes that during the day. It won't stop the cough but will help loosen it up in his throat. Also I wouldn't give him milk if you can help it because dairy products thicken that up! I did all this with my son and it has helped alot. Hope it helps you too!-J.

Hi D..
My daughter (16 months old) just had croup a week and a half ago. The croup sounding cough went away a day or two after she got it but she still has the real deep rattly cough. Similar to what you were saying where it sounds like they are a smoker. This is our first time ever having croup so I don't know when it will go away but now almost two weeks after having croup she still has the cough.

My son had a similar cough just before Christmas, and we found that putting a humidifier in his room helped a lot. Have you tried that?

Have u had him tested for allergies? My son had a similar issue when he was 3, although it started when he was a few months old. Every year, around the same time, he would get a cold that lasted a week, and then it would turn into a relentless cough. After many Dr and er visits, his pediatrician sent us to an allergist. We discovered that he has a severe dog allergy and several others. Our neighbors who lived below our apt at the time, owned 2 dogs, and after putting him on flovent, an albuterol inhaler, and zyrtec he seemed to clear up...not instantly bc it took some time for the med to build in his system...but within 2 weeks or so.

It definitely couldn't hurt to look into it...