Mom Seeks Insight on Five Year Olds Chronic Cough

the weather change can be harder for some kids like my son and I had recently bought him a vaporizor and it works so good he doesn't have that lingering cough any more and he seems to sleep better through the night!

Hi, just a quick note that the cold going around this year is a very long lasting cough. I had a cough for a month before it finally stopped. If it lasts much longer though, I would take him to the Dr.s though just to be safe. I do agree that allergies or asthma may be a concern, although they will tell you that allergies and asthma cannot be diagnosed that early (whatever). Good luck.

My daughter had a chronic cough that began at 5 as well. Turns out she has a form of seasonal Bronchitis. Every Fall I take her to her doctor and they give her a cough syrup (I don't have the bottle with me so I can't tell you exactly what it's called)to take twice a day. Usually it starts up in early September and ends around the end of October. The syrup really helps with surpressing it without her coughing up a bunch of nasty looking mucus.

My niece (5yrs) had a chronic cough and the doctor said it was just a cold. My sister took her to a allergist and turns out she has bad allergies and asthma. My advice would be take him to an allergist. I don't think I would let it go.

When my daughter was about 8 months old she started getting colds and whenever she gets sick everything goes to her chest. At that time they told me it was called reactive airways disease, but I guess when they turn 2 it's really called asthma. She's now 4 1/2 and rarely gets sick, but when she does it still goes to her chest. She was put on a nebulizer when she was 8 months old and that helps tremendously, within a few days her cough is gone.

My son, now 7, has had this same problem. He was diagnosed with asthma in kindergarten after being out of school with a chronic cough for 2 weeks. He's also prone to bronchitis and pneumonia and it all shows up like clockwork every year when the weather gets cold. My husband had taken both kids off their asthma meds and we have removed them from the Breathmobile at school. My kids have since gone back on all their asthma medications. We also check our son's peak flow 2x's a day.

Have they tested him for asthma? Or try give him children clariton it works for my 4 year old son

My sons the same way,he's 11 months. Im allergic to the dander on dogs & cats & I believe he is too. Definately have him checked for allergies.

Try Tussin DM it works great.

As a child and even now after a cold I get a terrible cough that takes forever to go away. I coughed for almost 11 months when I was 13 and tested for EVERYTHING. Finally the Dr.s decided that I had asthma that was casuing the cough. May be something to look into. I, too, was active, no fever, etc. but coughing constantly can be really tiring!! Good luck!!
S.

My son had a chronic cough this summer, kept him awake at night. Turns out that after seeing an allergist, he is allergic to dogs. He had been playing outside with the neighbors dogs every day. He started on Zyrtec and it went away.

My boys get coughs like that every fall and spring and it is allergies, but they also have asthma. I would get a secong opinion. my kids doctor says if the symptoms are not gone after a week go to the doctors. My boys get bronchits also. So it never hurts to be safe.

When I was younger I had a cough and it lasted for about a year...talk about chronic!! My dr at the time told my parents the same thing but I didn't beleive him so I called my uncle who is a dr and he said sometimes it can take up to 18 months for a cough to go away. I lived with it and it eventually went away. I certainly hope it doesn't last that long for your daughter. It seems like a lot of kids have a cough right now. In my experience with my 4 boys, a cough usually last 2-3 weeks.

Hi ya my name is K.
This cough is it more at night. Im asking cause my daughter
had a very bad cough last winter/spring off and on again ANDwe find out later that it was asmtha.After the doctor keep telling us it was just a cold.One of the signs for asthma is a wet kinda cough at night hard to discribe. We found out the hard way by listening to her doctor.She end up in the hospital with an asthma actack So please get his cough checked out.
K.

I have a daughter (11) and a son (6). My son has also had the cough. This is the second week. The dr says the same. If there are no other symptoms I wouldn't worry. Other children in our neighborhood have been having the same thing. My sons teacher sent home a note on Friday saying that more than half the class had bad colds. If your son is in school he is going to be more prone to getting what is going around.

i am sorry to hear about his chronic illness i am the same way with my son when he was 6 months old he was rushed to the hospital because he had stopped breathing because what i thought was a cough/cold was in actuality bronchitis almost pneumonia and eversince then (he is almost 2) i have been very wary of any cough he gets. He is going to get colds but the only thing i can tell you to do is what i have done and that is if he gets a cough that lasts more than a week or gets progressivly worse over the period of a week then take him to the doctor other than that just hold his chest to your ear to try and detect any weezing everynight at bedtime when he has these colds it will one give you peace of mind and to alert you to a possibly more serious sickness

If your instincts say something's up, then get a second opinion. Go to an allergist or pulminologist. Allergies are often the simplest explanation for coughs. And the most misdiagnosed. Additionally, allergies frequently leave a person open for other infections, so it's good to know about them as soon as possible. If you're in the Northern VA area, I can recommend a good pediatric allergist. I'll go put them on the list right now.

H.

edited to add:

I just put Dr. Helbing's & Alpan's info on the recommended vendors list.