One Year Old with Croupe

Hi! My advice to you would be ask your peditrician about going to see a pulmonologist. I don't know if you leave in or near Baton Rouge but Dr. David Thomas is a very good doctor. To my knowledge he is the only pediatric pulmonologist in Baton Rouge. It is possible there could be underlying problems with your son and he may need special care. If you are not ready for this yet then start a journal about your son. Write down all the things that happen when he as one of these episodes. Write down everytime he gets sick or injured there could be a common link there that you aren't seeing. I do this with my daughter who has a working diagnosis of congenital muscular dystrophy. Plus if you have the note book with you at the doctor it will help jog your memory as to what was going on with your son before this happened.

Do you open your son's window when he sleeps? Croupe sometimes happens when the outdoor air cools quickly and a young child inhales it. Three times in 8 months IS a bit much. If your pediatrician isn't too worried about it, then I would recommend that you ask for a referral to someone else. There are autoimmune diseases in which young children contract common illnesses, like croupe, the common cold, and allergies, often. If your son is sick often, I would ask to see a specialist at a Children's Hospital. Anyways! I'll keep up with you on mySpace - let me know how he's doing!

Has your doctor ruled out allergies and asthma? Coughing and having trouble breathing are symptoms of asthma. I'm not trying to diagnos Charles, but it sounds suspiously like asthma attacks. I was misdiagnosed when I was a child. The doctors kept telling my mother I had pneumonia. If your doctor isn't helping, get another one.

I would definitely get another opinion and have him tested for Asthma. My daughter got croup at age 4 and had it off and on for a month. Her doctor finally decided to treat it as asthma and sure enough the medicine stopped it.

As she got older it did get a bit worse and we are now seeing a specialist in Ft. Smith every 6 months to monitor it. She is actually doing better now.

I would definitely look into the asthma angle.

Believe it or not both my kids get it and my 7 yr old still gets it, although her throat is now big enough that I am not too worried. Some kids are just prone I think. Usually with my kids it happens when they already have a cold. We have only ever had to go to the ER once, my youngest had stridor (when they struggle to breath in). Make sure you have a humidifier. If it's bad sit in the bathroom with the shower running. This will help a lot. If it is cold outside the best thing is to go outside. We got to the point where I would call the on call Pediatrician, they would phone in a prescription for the steroid, I would run into Walgreens in Rogers to get it. With my daughters it usually only lasted a couple of days, but of course it is very worrying when they are little and it has to be worse at night !