Underlying Cause of Cough in 4 Month Old

We had similar problems with my daughter and she was on that same formula. The very first thing my doctor did was to get her off milk based formula. That is the number one allergen in children. Her problem vanished, but to this day if she has too much milk her ears will begin to get infected. She is 17 years old. My brother also was hospitalized as a baby over an undiagnosed milk allergy. The best first step you can make is to get rid of milk, but after that you need to look at dust, pets and mold. Hope this helps. K.

Hi A.,
I know how frustrating it is when the doctors can't find the answer to your precious child's symptoms. They practice medicine and they practice on you. I have learned to take matters into my own hands at times. I do know that too many antibiotics in infants will cause their teeth to become black when they come in....it happened to my son. When they fell out his adult teeth were ok. But ugly teeth until then. One of my other sons had asthma as an infant, which took forever to diagnose. He no longer has it because there is a natural way to take care of that and other lung issues which coughing is a symptom of. Is a natural product something you'd like to know more about? Let me know.

Try going to an allergist to rule out and allergies (food allergies also). Never hurts, you would be surprised what allergies can do.

Hope your son gets better.

44yr.old mother of a 9 yr boy.

My daughter was constantly congested as an infant... so many antibiotics, ear tubes, more antibiotics. Ugh! Then it turns out she has an infant phase allergy to cows milk that makes her congested...
You might want to ask your pedi about getting a blood test to rule out food allergies. I also can give you the name of our pediatric allergist and immunologist (in Austin) if you email me.

Hello, I'm sorry to hear that you and your little one have had to go through so much! I truly hope that you find answers that give him relief and get rid of the couch very soon! There are many different reasons for a continued cough like that but have you considered that it may be caused by the cleaning and personal care products that you use on or around your son? Doctors and researchers are linking many of the chemicals used in our everyday products to many health concerns such as allergies, asthma, ADHD, and even cancer. Young children are at the highest risk for meidcal complications due to these toxins because their bodies can not process them. Did you know that Johnson's baby shampoo contains Quaternium 15 which is a formaldehyde releaser. (Cancer causing) I shop with a great wellness company and have switched out all my personal care and cleaning products. They offer many of our everyday products but safer and at wholesale costs. My two girls have had a huge improvement to their allergies and my 3 yr old in the past had chronic hives. They have now disappear completely. We have several people that have seen a huge improvement in their childs asthma and have been able to stop using prescription meds after making a simple switch in the products they use daily. I agree with you that it is important to find the underlying cause of his cough verses just continuing to give him more medications to cover it up for the time being. I would love to give you more details if you are interested. Please contact me or visit www.livetotalwellness.com/freedom
M.

I have to echo RSV. They may not be considering it because it's no longer RSV season but like the flu, you can get it anytime and it WAS RSV season when he first got sick.

My niece was hospitalized three times and I kept saying RSV and they FINALLY tested her and it was positive! Now she has lasting problems from not getting proper treatment. Make sure they test for RSV. http://www.rsvinfo.com/

I don't think antibiotics treated it but they did give her a nebulizer for regular breathing treatments. They also moved from their apt (previously inhabited by smokers) into their inlaws home (no carpet) until they purchased a home that had all laminate and ceramic tile. NO CARPET! that definitely has helped her. She is drinking soy milk instead of cow and that seems to have helped as well.

S., mom to four girls, all preemies and at more risk for RSV

Ask your doctor about Xanthones and how these would help your babies lungs.
There are Dr's audios you can hear, go to www.DailyHealthJuice.com, dr templeman and dr vaughn Johnson speak of lung problems and how these Natural God given fruit has helped many. I know because it helped my granddaughters,
no more coughing, no more allergies. check it out .

and God bless you and your baby.

Oly

I was very lucky to have a great baby dotor when my son was born that told me he had allergies and what to expect. He had a constant cough until he was old enough to be tested for allergies and to start receiving allergy shots. You can use a humifider in his room and when all else failed to ease his coughing I would take him into the bathroom with the shower running full blast and the door closed. What a difference the allergy shots made, like magic the cough disappeared. Also if you can have your heat and AC vents cleaned by a professional to remove pollen and mold.

Don't give him any further medication until you hear back from your doctor, for all the reasons you cited.

I really hate to oversimplify this. Listen to your baby. Get in a really quiet place in your spirit, and let your most basic mothering instincts tune in to your baby. It might not give you all the answers, but it will guide you in caring for your baby and give you peace.

This may sound simplistic, but have you tried an antihistamine? When we have allergies, sometimes the drainage causes a "tickle" in our throats. I listened to a doctor once who said that cough medicines do not always work, because our histamine response to the tickling in our throats forces us to cough, and that the antitussive medicines do not stop the histamine mechanism. I no longer give my boys cough medicine for coughs. I give them an allergy medicine, and it works every time. (unless they are already coughing so hard that they throw up - to which my older son is prone)

I would say it could be a lot of things or a combination of things. But I have a lot of questions for you. Does anyone smoke in the house or the car with him? Did the switch to soy formula seem to help him at all? Was he premature? Here's the thing with antibiotics- they are used to treat bacteria, and that's it. So tell your husband to hush. Does your son have a runny nose a lot, or a lot of nasal congestion? Here is a list of my thoughts: 1. if your son is exposed to cigarette smoke in the house or car he's inhaling the carcinogens and that will do damage to the lungs. 2. I have never met a baby that soy formula didn't help. When they're little they have a hard time digesting milk protiens which can cause them to vomit, and then aspirate the stomach contents into the lungs, causing "aspirational pneumonia". 3. If your son has allergies (seasonal or perrenial) the nasal congestion and post nasal drip could be causing mucus build up backflowing into the lungs. 4. There could be mold in your home. If you have carpet it could be hiding in there as well as on the back side of the sheet rock/drywall. 5. If your son was premature he could have a higher risk of RSV, though it is not nessisary for him to be premature, full term babies also get it. I know it's a lot to process all at once but that may narrow some things down. Absolutely see the pulmonologist as soon as possible. And good luck. I know its scary when your baby is having a hard time breathing.

Does your son have reflux? That can tend to settle in the chest and also have an increase in ear infections, sinus, and bronchitis. If you think it might be, adding cereal to their bottles helps tremendously.

However, it may be a more serious condition. I'd visit with the pediatric pulmonologist for sure.

Good luck!

A mommas instict is almost always right! Stick to your guns! Something is wrong!!!! Do some research on the internet on your own and see these other comments for some help...keep looking and listening for some answers...something is happeing....hope you are able to get to the bottom of it!

I am wondering if he has Asthma. It sounds as though he has been checked for many things, but Asthma was not mentioned. I hope he gets better soon, I know this must be very frustrating.

Go see a pediatric pulmonologist immediately and demand answers.

This is deja vu for me. My son was coughing and not keeping his formula down from about 11 weeks until it was fixed when he was 6 1/2 months. Keep going back to the doctor. My son had RSV (a respiratory virus that KILLS infants). He was too young to test and mostly it affects infants in August through winter. I was given the run around a lot and I didn't give up. I know my baby was sick. He had several chest x-rays as well. They tried giving him Rotussin (sp), an antibiotic, but he only remained better for a few days. He was hospitalized twice in 3 months for this. Finally, the Chief of the ER in Georgia (where we lived) did another chest x-ray and found that it had spread into double pneumonia. Once again my son was hopsitalized and treated. This time he was given IV's and stronger antibiotics. He was also put on a liquid medicine to take before bottles to help keep them down. All of this was because he was sensitive to formulas and when vomitting a small portion of fluid went into his lungs. Ask your doctor to test for RSV or allergies to formulas. But don't take no for an answer. It may not be the exact same thing, but I battled for months to get my son cured. Make the doctor listen and HEAR what you say and don't leave anything out. Good luck and God Bless.

A.,

I think that you are right. If your baby doesn't need the antibiotics he shouldn't be given them. Not only can he build resistance, but also allergies can occur. I understand that your husband is worried too, but antibiotics should only be used if needed.

M. K

Any chance of a dairy allergy? Many kids under 2 years old cannot digest dairy (either via the mother eating dairy while nursing and/or formula, etc.) because their bodies aren't mature enough to break down the proteins. Dairy causes excess phlegm in their bodies which is worse at night causing them to cough alot, especially while laying down. HTH!

Hopefully you have an appointment with the pulmonologist in the near future. It sounds like you need to really seek a specialist who is an expert with the lungs. My son has been under the care of a pediatric pulmonologist and he has done wonders for his cough. Hang in there!

My first inclination is that he has allergies. He won't necessarily have red eyes or sneeze either...I didn't. Do you use any plug-ins or burn scented candles? If so, get rid of them.

Do you have any pets. If so, try to send them to a friend or relative's house for a while and try to give the house a good cleaning. I am deathly allergic to certain cats...not all cats mind you, just certain ones. Since this is cyclic, it could be animals somewhere you visit periodically too that is setting it off.

You are right about the antibiotics. Unless there is an infection, antibiotics won't do anything for the breathing problems. On the other hand, while you are trying to figure out the problems, it may be ok to use them for prevention...the last thing you need is for your son to get pneumonia or similar. Also ask your doctor about liquid albuterol...I found this way easier to give my kids than the breathing treatments.

Anyway, let us know what happens.

A., it's scary to have such a little baby with a breathing problem. You want him to get better, but not at the expense of weakening him for the future. There's no need to give out antibiotics blindly. Monitor the situation, and if something isn't working or is actually hurting things, raise the roof and insist on a change.

One way you can help overcome your son's breathing problems from the inside out is to put some Sunrider foods in his formula. Sunrider has concentrated herbal foods that help the body nourish, balance, and cleanse itself. I have more information on that if you're interested (e-mail me at ____@____.com).

What does the cough sound like? is it tinny in nature? The reason I ask, is because I had similar problems with my daughter all through her "babyhood"...It was not until she was four years old that she was officially diagnosed as asthmatic. After a few treatments on the appropriate inhalers (flovent and albuterol) she was cough free. The flovent is daily and the albuterol is an emergeny treatment. I was not happy with the hyperness fromt he albuterol, and now the xopenex is available as an emergency inhaler...It previously was only available for use in the nebulizer...

With Xopenex there isn't the hyperactivity as it tends to calm them rather that stimulate them...

whenever she is sick I just increase the amount of her daily inhaler by 1 or two puffs to prevent her asthma from being triggered by the cold symptoms.

I do not know for sure that this is the cause of your son's persisitent cough, but...it sure sounds awful familiar...

Good Luck... ;-)

Hello! I am so sorry you are going through this A.! You are not alone!! My daughter had the same symptoms...hers started when she was 3 days old. We went through the same thing, antibiotics, cough medicine, breathing treatments. As in your case, she would get better, but not completely well. Trip after trip we were finally referred to a pulmonologist affiliated with Memorial Herman down town. (Dr. Guseppe Culasurdo) What a Godsned that was. when we saw the pulmonologist, they did several tests and low and behold, she had a very minor case of reflux...I did not believe it, but I put her on the medications anyway (so that when it didn not work, at least I knew it was ruled out)..see we had already had the upper gi and it was fine...then after about 3 months she really was better. I was in such disbelief becuase I have been around "reflux babies" and she was not anything like that. She honestly had NEVER even spit up. See, she had such a mild case that she would "spit up" but there was not enough for it to come all the way up her Esophagus, but it did come up enough for her to aspirate it and cause her lungs to be in a constant state of irritation and inflimation...she is 20months old now and doing great. She is off of all of her meds (she was taking Prevacid, Singular, Flovent and Xopenex daily). However, because it took so long to have an accurate diagnosis, her lungs are still very sensitive and when she gets a "little cold" it goes straight into her chest, the doctors say she will fully outgrow this too.
I really hope this helps you, if nothing else, to know you are not alone in your situation! I hope you get your answers very soon.
Best Wishes!
J.

do exactly as your DR tells you nothing more nothing less ,if hubby has a problem with this he needs to goto all DR appointments so he can ask .But please do as your DR says hubby is not a DR just a worried daddy
hope you get him well soon ,so you can have peace of mind
prays L.

A.,
An infants lungs are very fragile at this young age. It is important to be sure you help his little immune system to function properly and remove anything which makes his body work harder than it should. That is where infection moves in!
Sounds like he either has an allergy or his little body has a virus that he is not strong enough to rid. All the antibiotics will not help unless it is bacterial and/or infection. But be reminded that when on antibiotics, if is an allergy or viral problem, you are doing worse by killing off not only the bad bacteria with the antibiotics, but all the good bacteria which the body uses to fight off viral infections.
Suggestions: Definately get harmful chemicals out of your home. Go to non toxic cleaners, bath products.Makes a huge difference, saves tons of $$, and actually I've noticed it cleans much better. I get mine from www.shaklee.net/healthy This is a BIGGIE! Think about an air purifier. And definately get him on some acidophilus & infant vitamins. Dairy is a big culprit in causing allergic reactions & sinus "GUnk". It is difficult for babies digestive system to handle sometimes. Work with ped to try lactose free formulas.
HOpe these ideas help. Keep us updated. I am a local Wellness COunselor with a ministry which offers free advice & information, so feel free to contact me anytime at www.yourhealthyalternatives.com I'd love to help your "Little man"