Hello Moms,
I'm taking my little guy (5 months 3 weeks) into see his pediatrician tomorrow about this, but I'm seeking your thoughts as well. My son has had this dry cough off and on for about 3-4 weeks now. He doesn't have any congestion, and seems to be fine otherwise. I do believe that it is being caused by acid reflux irritating his throat, and causing the cough. He was breastfead, but last week we swiched him over to full time bottle feedings. He hadn't been nursing well for the past couple of weeks, and he has always taken a bottle fine, so we figured it was time. We are feeding him Enfamil Lipil, and he's had an occasional formula feeding since birth, but that doesn't seem to have had an effect on the cough. He doesn't really spit up, and I make sure and sit him up for about 15 min after he eats.
I am concerned because it seems that every time he wants to let out his happy yell, that is when he coughs, and it seems that hasn't been talking as much lately. He is also teething, so I'm not sure if that would have anything to do with this. Thanks for your help,
A.
My little girl is 3 1/2 years but she gets a dry cough with allergies. So it may be this, but you are right take him to his Dr. Good job mom to get on it quick. If he is teething it could be all the saliva that is tickling his throat and he could be coughing with that, you know how they love not swallowing that and it ends up everywhere.
My daughter got a cough that hung around for weeks when she was that age, and it was allergies. She takes benedryl and is much better now. The doc also told me that teething will produce a cough sometimes, as they don't know what to do with all the saliva in their throats. Definitely take the little guy to the Doctor - and good luck!
My first and really only advice is to take him to his doctor, but since you're going to do that already then I guess my "shot in the dark" best guess is that maybe he's got some drainage going on due to allergies -- that can give a person a hacking cough.
You mention that you're fairly certain that it is being caused by acid reflux. Is there any particular reason why you are thinking that? Does he act like he's bringing something up into his throat or airways?
Hi A.,
our son, who is now 18 months, had a dry cough as well. He did have refulx and the doc said the cough was related to refulx and we really could not do much more about it. He started on Similac formula when he was 7 months. I remember that our son eventually went on Prevacid and that helped some of the symptoms but basically, the reflux caused lots of weird, but harmless, symptoms. good luck!
I was reading up on the subject of teething yesterday on Babyzone.com, and it said that the excessive saliva that is produced while a baby is teething can run down into his throat and cause him to cough, like he's clearing his throat.
For peace of mind though, please still have him see his pediatrician. To me, it's worth the price of a co-pay to have our pedi tell us it's nothing to worry about. : D I hope that's what happens to you.
Good luck to you and your little one!
You're doing the right thing taking him to a doctor. Never let a dry cough go too long as it could be asthma or something related to his lungs. I personally developed asthma at 41. It started with a dry cough and turned out to be walking pneumonia. I know us adults are different, but I did learn to never ignore those dry coughs. Hopefully it is allergies, but if you don't feel like your doctor gave you some good help, go to another clinic such as Austin Regional in your area and have another look or xrays of his lungs. I don't think that is too overboard especially when it comes to breathing. :)
