Recurring Croup

Hey! I am a ped nurse, so I can say yes, toddlers get croup! It sometimes does take awhile to clear up completely. Has he ever been given steroids? Steroids help to decrease the inflammation in the airway and a short course may help. You may want to take him to an ENT doctor for evaluation of aa chronic problem. The home remedies you are doing are the standard treatment and even in the hospital there is nothing more we do for kids than that! Good luck!

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Croup definately happens with toddlers and even older children and the stridor or seal cough is the main symptom that I'm aware of. I was told it has to do with the smaller size of the childs airway and children even into early grade school can get croup. My six year old son still gets it occasionaly. I was also suprised when the doctor told me that my (at the time) 3 year old had croup becasue I thought that only babies got croup but I was told that age has nothing to do with it. While it can be very serious, our doctor told us to run a vaporizer in the room and if neccessary take them into a steamy bathroom to help breathing. I was very scared the first time but both of my kids have had it multiple times and had no real issues, and with in a week the coughs were gone. I hope your child recovers and feels better soon. I was told they can continue to get croup until their airway gets bigger. I do hope you get the answers you are looking for because I would be curious to hear for the next time my kids get it.

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HI L., My friend who is actually a RN went through the same thing with her son for years. They kept telling her it was "just croup" and keep on doing all the things you mentioned. His runny nose never stopped! Then she took him to an allergist and had him tested. All along the poor kid had mild allergies to milk, wheat and house dust!! My friend was full of guilt and wondered why she had never thought of allergies before. They took the carpet out of his bedroom, cleaned it from top to bottom and got an air cleaner for his room, changed his diet and all the "croup" symptoms went away!! He can, now a few years later eat small portions of mac'n cheese, or even chocolate milk with no side effects if he is carefull. There is even hope that he will outgrow his allergies to milk and wheat completely. Take your son to an allergist and get to the bottom of things. At his age "croup" is not a real diagnoses. Best wishes.

My son and daughter had the croup a lot when they were younger and it took me four years to figure out what was causing it. They were allergic to christmas trees or pine trees. I figured it out finally because, they slept over at in-laws one weekend and had developed the croup by the next and we hadn't gotten our tree yet. Three weeks later I was at my in-laws again and noticed their tree and said "did you have that up when the kids slept over last...and they said yes, they had gotten it earlier that season than normal." This year, no real trees, but got sick at the in-laws again. Finally I noticed they had a potted plant by the fireplace that was of the Pine tree family and it sits right near the pullout bed our kids sleep in. The in-laws graciously got rid of the plant. They can also get croupy when they play at the park around alot of mulch( could be pine mulch). I tell them not to pick up the mulch and to stay far away from certain trees. Now none of this has ever been confirmed through tests, just a bunch of research on my own of what could have caused it. What helped the most medicine wise with my kids was Singulair. No other allergy medicine worked, so I can't give them generic unfortunately. Singulair is a mix of allergy medicine and asthma combined, that is why I think it works so well for them. Good luck. This was my first Christmas without the croup and yes our lasted months too.

L.
If it is what the others are saying a stridor,my daughter had a stridor and has been seen by an ENT specialist Dr Dohar and his office is at Childrens at both Bethel and Oakland give them a call and schedule an appointment. He is an amazing Dr and it wouldnt hurt for a second opinion!

-S.

My son (5) has a friend who recently had a bout of croup. I believe they put him on a course of steroids. He gets it periodically. As I understand it stridor is a symptom (a way of labored breathing) of other problems. Here is how it is defined:
Stridor is a high pitched sound resulting from turbulent air flow in the upper airway. It may be inspiratory, expiratory or present on both inspiration and expiration. It can be indicative of serious airway obstruction from severe conditions such as epiglottitis, a foreign body lodged in the airway, or a laryngeal tumor. Stridor is indicative of a potential medical emergency and should always command attention. Wherever possible, attempts should be made to immediately establish the cause of the stridor (e.g., foreign body, vocal cord oedema, tracheal compression by tumor, functional laryngeal dyskinesia, etc.) That examination requires visualization of the airway by a team of medical experts equipped to control the airway.
So IF the croup is accompanied by stridor, I would go to the ER asap.

I have 3 boys (the youngest being only 5 months and so he hasn't really been sick yet, knock on wood) but the older two get croupy every time they get a virus. It has progressively become less severe as they get older (currently 6 1/2 and 3 1/2). We have tried the steam from the shower thing, the going outside in the cold but what I think has worked the best is just putting a vaporizer in their room when they are sick (and add salt to make the water harder and produce more steam). We have also used Vicks Vapo Rub and the Vicks product that you put directly in a little cup in the vaporizer. I luckily have not needed to take anyone to the ER yet. Personally I just believe that some kids just have smaller airways than others and so are more susceptible. I don't know that you will get an answer, you will probably just have to ride it out until he gets bigger.
Good luck and try not to worry if he doesn't look too distressed when it is going on. It may sound worse to you than it feels to him.

L.,
Please if you have carpets REMOVE them. My son went through many bouts of croup,allergies, sinusitis,etc. only to find out it was our carpets. I am a registered nurse and took it upon myself to remove our carpets. Low and behold, all his symptoms stopped. The carpets were here when we purchased our home and were jute back-terrible for the respiratory system. My son has not had a cold,sinus infection,allergy or allergy medication since and it has been 6 years.Another type of allergy may be causing his symptoms so research everything.Another cause might be his tonsils and/or adnoids-take him to an ears,nose and throat specialist.Please keep us posted as to how he is doing.

Maybe I am wrong, but croup does not occur in toddlers....Correct if I am wrong, just what I have been told. In fact this may be stridor...inflamed/swollen lungs!???? This is what happened to one of the kids I watch...They kept being told it was croup, and thats what I mean when I say croup does not happen in toddlers cause that is what we later found out....Let us know

My 3.5 year old son also has croup (very severe). In addition, he seems to have seasonal allergies (coughing and runny nose all year) although never tested for it. Our pediatrician put him on Singulair when he was 1.5 years old and that seems to be really helping. We've tested every now and then by taking him off and the cough and runny nose comes right back again. As far as the croup - we give him Oralpred (steroid) as soon as we hear the croup cough (as his comes fast and furious) and continue the medicine for three days. Typically - once the croup cough is gone, he does get a cold with a regular cough which could last for a few weeks. A humidifier seems to really help him. From what I understand - croup typically lasts for 3 days (sometimes up to 5 days) with the second night being the worst. So - if your son's croup is lasting longer than that, you may want to think about seeing an ENT??? Our pediatrician just recommended that we see one (appt scheduled tomorrow). Hope they can give answers because it is quite scarey.

Ok first off typically croupe ends at age 5 the dr will tell you and usually everyone I talked to thats when their child's ended. However of course mine had it til age 8!! I did all the things you did the humidifier, the allergist, steam, cold air etc. He was allergic to alot of things mold, dust, dogs, etc. The allergist told us to have our house tested as it was through 2 floods. I noticed he would get it every time the season changed, it didn't have to be winter, it could be spring, summer, or fall, or winter. Eventually his body wouldn't even respond to the prednisone they gave him and he would just bounce off the walls with it and still have the same croupe. It got so bad that he would wake me in the middle of the night holding his chest saying mommy i can't breathe with what they call a strider cough, and off to the ER we would go where they would give him a steroid shot. Again this lasted til 8, but around that time I also left the house I was living in, I did see a remarkable difference in his health, so I do think there was mold in the house and it was contributing to this. Did your son go through the arm prick test for allergies or a blood test? If you need a good pediatric allergist I could recommend one to you, nationally recognized. He also treats my daughter who has severe tree and peanut allergy. Keep us posted ...

S.

Hi L.,

Have you checked out if there is mold spores in your house?

Just want to know. D.

Hello L. T
This has happened to me and my son. HE was just a baby when he started and they said he would out grow it by the time he was 5. This year he is 5 and he has had it five times since November. I took him to the ER because he got so bad that he could not breath and when we got to the ER he was only get 89% of oxygen to his body. I took him to the ENT Dr. and he said that his tonsils was to big and they took them out and he has not had any problems since. Does your son snore a lot at night or when he goes to sleep? If so tell them to check his tonsils. I hope this helps you. If you have anyother questions you can reach me at ____@____.com Luck P.