im hoping maybe theres parent out there that can help me some! my daughter is a week away from being 7 months old and since she was 4 months old she has had this dry cough? ive taken her to her doc and said her lungs are clear and maybe it was due to a little acid reflux? she doesnt spit up alot and shes always very happy. she has never been sick since ive had her either. so about a month after that doc visit, we were in indiana, and i was feeding her breakfast and noticed that she sounded really weezy and took her into a doc down here. he said the same thing, that maybe it could be acid refulx and to try the zantac to see if it helps. im not really big on maybe's when it comes to my daughters health. they are supposed to be doctors and i beleive if they dont know they shouldnt guess and just say try some medicine. so she had her 6 month doc appt with her regular ped in illinois and i asked him about it again since he heard her cough and so did the nurse. checked her lungs again and said they sounded clear. told him what the other doc said and that he gave her the zantac. my reg doc said to try the zantac for another week and if didnt help stop it, which i did. it wasnt making any difference. he also said that maybe it could be her trac just was so small that was closing up a little when she was getting excited and that could be why. as a mother i am worried that they are missing something. i dont understand why she would have this dry cough for so long for no reason with no other syptoms?? please if you have any info it would be greatly appreiciated!!
my daughter went through this same exact thing and it lasted until she was about 2 or 3. Most places wont test for athsma until they are 2 or older. We tried everything from allergy medicine to humidifiers etc. finally my dr put her on singulair and it did help quite a bit. When it got really bad though i would give her delsym but she was a little older. She finally outgrew it and we havent had a problem since.
Have you had her checked for allergies?
If the lungs are clear... then maybe, the coughing is coming from the Sinuses. ie: post nasal drip?
Babies, cannot "spit" out or expectorate mucus. Like adults can.
So then it accumulates in the throat... and it can sound "wheezy."
Coughing often originates from:
1) the lungs, or
2) the Sinuses.
Or both.
Or is she teething??? sometimes excess saliva is apparent when teething.
Or what is the weather there like?
Dry?
Dusty?
It can cause coughing/irritation.
Or, is she nursing or Formula fed? Maybe after feedings, there still is residual fluid in her throat... and it may sound "wheezy?"
You have to try more doctors if you feel that they are missing something.
Remember doctors are also human...they do make mistakes, the can miss things. If they done the right checks and balances they maybe its time to find another opinion...they say maybe because they don't always have the right diagnosis...they may think it fits in one category and not know of another. Again they're human.
My guess is either allergies or asthma. Give her warm liquids, water or apple juice when she's coughing to see if it helps. Have you tried a humidifier?
I did an online search for dry coughs in babies, there were at least a dozen i saw and the doctors don't (or didn't) know what's wrong. Medicine is a science where trial and err plays a BIG part of pinpointing the problem, every doctor cannot possibly know everything on the spot, sometimes it takes months or years of testing and observation. If you do what the doctors suggest to the letter and there's no improvement tell them, ask what tests can be done, and/or a referral to a specialist.
Honestly, I'm surprised to hear the Zantac suggestion because around here they seem so reluctant to give that out. I've had a kiddo in my care with that same problem and the Zantac defiantely did the trick. It did help very quickly though.
M
My 4.5 yr daughter had a dry cough for 8wks after a cold. she was on antibiotics because the dr thought she had a sinus infection. her cough started two days before her antibiotics ended, so i thought it was a new illness. Gave it some time, no other symtoms, just the cough. I felt just like you do, because everytime I would bring her in, every 2-3 wks, the dr would say something different. At first it was, oh, she's just getting over a virus, next visit, her nasal cavity is a little red, lets try some allergy meds and when the allergy meds did nothing but make her a totally different child behavioral wise, I brought her in again and it was lets do another dose of antibiotics,maybe her sinus infection never fully cleared up and was just suppressed by first antibiotics. So gave it to her and a few days later, the coughing finally stopped. I guess I won't know for sure until next tree pollen season because the season ended around the same time she was on the 2nd dose of antibiotics but I was so relieved when the coughing stopped. It was almost as if no one believed me when I said she was coughing all of the time, even my husband started to say, well she's really not doing it all day. He's at work for 12 hrs so how would he know. Trust your gut, if you're not happy with the outcome thus far, either see someone else or ask more questions. Good luck. I hope the coughing stops for her and you as well soon.
Take her to an asthma specialist and have her evaluated. It may have nothing to do with asthma but a specialist is the way to go. My daughter was finally diagnosed with asthma and her "sign" is a cough. She does NOT wheeze or any of the "standard" things so just go to the specialist and get some real answers!
