Dealing with Croup

Your child is alot younger than mine but my 4 yo daughter has alot of problems with croup. We have been to the ER twice in the middle of the night because of uncontrollable coughing and trouble breathing. Here's what we do now so that we don't have to go to the ER. We can treat it ourselves at home. Actually steroids are the best thing to give for croup so your child doesn't have trouble breathing. And to my knowledge cough medicine isn't going to help at all.

Cold will help calm down the coughing. We will put my daughter's face up close to the open freezer and have her breath in. If it's the winter we'll take her outside and let her breath in the air and we have even have taken her for a car ride with the windows down. Also if we give her crushed ice to suck on that has helped alot. Your child is young so maybe substitute one of those freezer pops or something like that.

Another thing our pediatrician has prescribed that helps alot is pulmicort. It has to be administered through a nebulizer machine but I've been told it's the next best thing to epinephrine which is what my dd gets when she goes to the ER. This option isn't the cheapest one out there but if you start to have alot of problems with this, you'll want to have it on hand.

And the last thing we've done is give my dd zyrtec during the bad allergy season. That has practically stopped the croup for her. In her case the cause of it was apparently allergies and getting those under control has helped stop the croup. That's not something you can know right now but if it starts to be a problem especially during spring and fall then that is a possibility.

Oh and the cold mist humidifier of course along with Vicks vaporub help too.

Hello,

My son has croup like three times last winter season. My doctor told me that the croup is to recurrent, so we are expecting more for the next season. The last time the croup was so bad that the doctor prescribed a nebulizer with some steroid medicine to give him the treatments every time he need it. It is hard to see your baby with that 'croup'. The only advise that I got from my doctor and that I would like to share with you, is to avoid cold drinks with your child, even during the summer.

Hi V.!
Sorry to hear about your son's croup. My son was also very croupy as a baby-the good news is they outgrow it, the bad news is it is pretty scary while they are going through it. We used to throw the hot water on in the shower and create a steamroom effect in the bathroom and sit in the bathroom with him for a while. It usually worked really well. Hope your little guy feels better.

N.

Danna gave some really good advice, but I'd like to add one more thing. If your son is still having trouble breathing, call the doctor and see if you can bring him in for a breathing treatment. The last time my son had croup, he had two breathing treatments in the doctor's office that did wonders for him!! If I remember right, the treatments may have a mild steroid in them, so just keep that in mind. I know it's awful watching your child go through croup, my older son gets it easily and it's heartbreaking to watch. Good luck!!

V.,
Our son has a history of respiratory issues, however we never actually had a diagnosis of croup. I think that might be because pediatricians will call a broad spectrum of respiratory illnesses croup when in reality it may be something else. We have a pulmonologist and have been able to stay on top of this since he was about your child's age. Honestly, by the time my son was your child's age, he had probably been on the steroid a few times, this was pre-pulmonologist. If it continues, you might want to think about seeing a specialist.
Shannon

Its a thing going around right now. My 6month old is dealing with it or should I say just got over it. He has Tracheomalacia so when he gets croup his strider really flares up. Cough medicine didnt help when we tried it. If you elevate his bed just a couple of inches it will help him breathe better and sleep better until he is over this sickness. The humidifier is the best thing for him really. I keep one going at all times AND have and mist hmidifier right next to his bad when he goes to sleep.