1 Yr Old Has Severely Active Cough, Only at Night...

That is such a tough age, b/c there just aren't lots of meds to give! You may try Mucinex children's formula- we had great luck w/ the cherry flavored cough suppressant & phlem reducer. My youngest has really been having problems -even w/ a really good diet. Take your little one off of dairy for a while if you can, and even consider reducing gluten & wheat for a while to lessen the load on his system. Use rice based products in stead. Juice Plus is a plus, but not perfect answer for everyone. Look in to the health food/ Whole Foods stores in your market. There are lots of homeopathic meds, herbal supplements to try too. Just ask the employees. Most of those stores have some really knowledgeable people...& it's worth a try- works wonders for some, not so much for others...just like prescription meds! And definitely raise the end of his bed a little to help w/ drainage.

You're not alone!!!

D.

Also, do some reasearch on air purifiers. Home Depot has got some of the top rated ones. Target very few, Wal-Mart NONE! Try www.AllergyBuyersClub.com & wize.com/air-purifiers.
Getting one for my little one's room has helped some, plus she sleeps better w/ the white noise. One in our bedroom has really reduced hubby's snoring, too!

I am certainly not a doctor but it sounds like a bit of drainage due to allergies. I am just trying to think of why his cough would be so active at night compared to during the day. I agree about elevating the head of his bed. Perhaps that will help a bit. Have you changed your laundry detergent lately? My boys are pretty sensitive to the chemicals in laundry detergent (and all cleaning supplies for that matter). Chemicals in laundry & cleaning supplies are things that many people don't think about as causes of allergies, asthma, and eczema. I know that using products without formaldehyde, chlorine, ammonia, or phosphates has certainly helped my boys!

My 5 year old, 3 year old and I have all had the same thing since the cold front. I thought it was allergies at first, but considering it started with the 5 year old and then my 4 year old and I "caught" it, I'm thinking it's viral. I've had a low fever along with it and horrible headache, congestion running down the back of my throat which causes the cough at night.

We bought Austin Air Healthmate, Jr. air purifiers which are wonderful! My children have been prone to croup and haven't had croup since we bought the air purifiers. I also have a humidifier going in their rooms. The heat does aggravate the cough and congestion.

I would agree to avoid dairy for a while also. It increases mucous production.

Whenw e first moved here, my daughter was about 18 months, and she had a persistent cough that never went away. The doctor said, "let's try Singulair." And, ever since then (she is now 4) the cough has been under control. I tried to ween here about a year ago, but she still needs. That is unless, we are out of town. There is something about the allergens here. In any case, god luck with helping him to get better. I know it can become so frustrating!

Hi G.,
I am a Pedi RN and I have 4 kiddos. I know exactly the cough you are talking about!
Many times it is a componet of alleries. The cold weather- and or turing on your heater tends to make it worse.
I would try giving an antihistamine like Benadryl at bedtime, warm juice before bed will sometimes help, having him sleep propped up can help.(OK, that sounds good, but is alsway hard to accomplish- I use a giant stuffed Pooh bear.
If he starts wheezing or running temp or if the sxs last longer than 7-10 days you really need to get somone to see him.

D.

I haven't tried this, but the nurse at my husband's work sent home a write up on it just last week. It says that you put vicks vaporub generously on the bottom of their feet, yes, feet, and then put socks on them. Supposedly it works 100% of the time. THis is supposed to stop nighttime coughing. Like I said, I haven't tried it, and I know it sounds crazy, but I'll be trying it next time we have a nighttime coughing child.

Take him to see an allergy doctor. My daughter has asthma and bad allergies, she started taking nebulizer treatments almost two years ago. When the doctor first gave her the nebulizer i thought he was crazy but then about 6 months later, after i refused to believe it was asthma, she had a bad attack and at two years old was telling me it hurt to breathe. I took her back and she is now on preventative meds which is a nebulizer twice a day, not fun. i have tried dropping it to once a day and she seemed to do fine until this last cold front. Now we are up at night for about two hours doing treatments and waiting for it to kick in.

This all started with Night coughing as you describe when she was 2, she is now 4. Please don't ignore it like I did. I was under the impression that asthma was when they wheezed but that is not true, do some searches online and you will see that night coughing is a big indicator.

Good Luck...

I have 3 boys with asthma. When we run the heater at night it makes it hard for them to breathe. So we adjust their air vents alot so they dont get too much heat. We make sure they have plenty of blankets and they use their inhaler before bed. I also found an over the counter medicine that works well calles Delsym its kinda expensive but it works for 12 hrs.

I don't have a guess as to what may be causing his cough, but if you elevate the head of his bed at night that will help. It sounds like he has some kind of drainage that during the day may be a runny nose, but at night it goes straight down the throat. I would definately elevate the bed. Also, if he does have a runny nose during the day...what color is it? Sounds gross but if it is clear it is just allergies but if it is yellow or green it is infection. Hope this helps and he gets to feeling better soon.

J.

My dght was about 3 when she started the same thing. When we took her to the dr. at first they tx it as if it was just sinus. It took us taking her to a specialest to find out that it was a sign of Asthma. She was put on two kinds of inhalers. one that she does before going to bed and the other as needed. If you feel your child is to young to be able to use and inhaler they will recomend a breathing tx before bed and as needed. That is what our dr. did. You may want to talk with your childs dr. if it cont's.