Seeking Advice on 16Mo Coughing All Night Long.

My daughter is 3 and always has the coughing-- if it is all night-- take her back to the doctor! I let my daughter's coughing go (she had the humidifier, had finished the antibiotics, and had her head elevated (under the mattress I put towels)-- she had walking pneumonia and had to have inhalers-- if the coughing is all night, then you should go back to the MD.

Mel

Just wanted to say that if it's just cold, vicks rub on the feet is the best. You have to use "vicks baby rub" though for kids under 2.

Make an appointment with her pediatrician. She may have something new or did not completely get rid of what she had before.

Hi, C.,
My best suggestion is to consult her pediatrician. Using an OTC for coughs can be dangerous as there have been recent studies that show they do not help children under a certain age, least of all babies and toddlers. You would be giving her unneeded medicines that may not work and that could jeopardize her health or cause unnecessary side effects. My daughter experiences coughs a few times a year and her doctor gives her a prescription that helps clear her cough up within a few days. If you cannot see the doctor, talk to the pharmacist about your dilemma. The pharmacist may be able to provide a recommendation that could tide you over until you can get your dd to the doctor. Hope she gets well soon. I do not like it when my kids are sick and I feel helpless in my inability to "cure" them.

Try some Doves' dark chocolate or any dark chocolate(not milk chocolate) before putting her down, just a square or two. Lots of people have had success with this, including me- its from peoplespharmacy.com. Dont try to supress the cough during the day, she needs to get the phlegm moving. Also use a humidifier at night.

I also wanted to comment that Vicks Vapor Rub is not recommended for children under two- camphor is a strong ingredient regardless of if it is aborbed through the soles of the feet or elsewhere.

C.,
My son has done this many times. I would coonsider having her checked out for asthma. It's not always wheezing that's the symptom. Coughing could be her just trying to breathe better.
Hope this helps
S. J

I would also recommend seeing the pediatrician about the coughing before trying to treat the cough. We thought our daughter kept coming down with colds last year that were causing a chronic cough, particularly at night. But then she had two asthma attacks, one of which landed us in the emergency room. She is now on allergy medicine (as her "colds" were actually bad seasonal allergies) and daily breathing treatments. We haven't heard the cough since she started the breathing treatments, and she's hardly been sick since we treated both the allergies and the asthma symptoms (including ear infections, which she had had quite a few of up to that point).

Allergic reactions to Amoxicillin can happen 2 weeks after you start to give it. It usually presents as red spots all over the body. It may be affecting her throat.

Could be un related, has she had breathing issues? When my child was wheezing at night it just sounded like he was coughing all night. After we gave him a breathing treatment the coughing would stop.

It is not unusual this time of year with leaf mold. Many kids (it seems) have some asthmatic symptoms for the first few years of life & usually out grow it by 4 or 5. Have her breathing checked out.

steam up the bathroom using the shower sit in there for 10-20 mins. instead of water nuke some apple juice so that its warm not hot and let her drink that it helps break up the mucus. at 16 months old call and ask your doctor about dyelsum and how much she can take its an otc cough med that works well

During a coughing fit, take her into the bathroom with the door closed and turn on the hot water in the shower. Let the room steam up and sit in there for about 10 minutes. This will help moisturize her bronchials. When you put her back to bed, rub vicks on the soles of her feet. Good luck!!

C.,
I am sorry about your daughter's cough. I hope that she is feeling better. I read an article in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center paper The Reporter, and it recommended honey for children's coughs. I asked my daughter's pediatrician, and she said that she had read the article and thought it might help. It seems to really help my daughter who often has a cough from a surgical repair to her trachea. (It is important to note that honey shouldn't be given to a child under one- I know that your daughter is old enough- I just wanted to say that in case any one else is reading and thinks of trying it with a smaller one.) My daughter is nineteen months old, and I put a few drops on her baby spoon and repeat a few times in a row to get roughly a teaspoon when she has a cough. The pediatrician said I could repeat as needed. I had a neighbor recommend adding lemon when she has a lot of congestion to help clear it, and I do that sometimes mixing a few drops of lemon in the honey, but I haven't asked the pediatrician about that. My daughter loves it either way. Here is a link to the article. http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/reporter/index.html?ID=6056
You can also find it by going to www.vanderbilt.edu and doing a search for honey and cough if the link doesn't work. I tried finding buckwheat honey that was used in the study, but none of the stores I called carried it- so I just used normal honey, but I have seen the buckwheat honey since then at the store and just have stuck with normal honey because it seems to work well for my daughter and it is a lot cheaper. Best of luck!

Take care,
M.

Make sure that it is an ear infection and not a bacterial infection.Check out the website "www.knowthecause.com" I wished I had the kmowledge this site gives for preventing everyday problems and how certain natural products might prevent them.

Delsem does the best. My daughter gets this a couple times a year and Delsem is the only thing that works. Ask the pharmacist to give you a dosage for your daughter, don't try to dose yourself.
Also, she may have post nasal drip. Try elevating her head with an extra pillow, this may also persuade her to sleep on her back. Other than that get comfy on the couch with her in your lap so you can hold her head up (she leans back on your chest)so every one can get some sleep.

Hi C.,

I am sending you a copy of an email I received regarding Vicks Vapor Rub. Hope it will be helpful. If you don't want to use the full strength Vapor Rub, maybe you could try the Vicks Baby Rub. Good luck!
Please let me know how it turns out!
T.

Some of us have used Vicks Vapo rub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I've never heard of this. And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren't sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vapo rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.

my mom just sent me this vicks vaporub forward, thought i'd pass it along!

"During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can 'taste' it.

Some of us have used Vicks Vapo rub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I've never heard of this. And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren't sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vapo rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.

Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good, due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened. It was a surprise finding and was found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly.

My wife tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep, ( incredibly annoying!) every few seconds uncontrollable cough, and she slept cough-free for hours every night that she used it.

If you have grandchildren, pass this on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be absolutely amazed at how it works.

DON'T SHUN THIS ONE. TRY IT THE NEXT TIME YOU GET A BAD COLD."

hope that helps. lemmie know if it works!
B.

I just read about putting Vick's Vapor Rub on the bottom of feet, and then covering with socks. It said it would stop even the deepest cough within 5 minutes. Sounded strange but when I was sharing yhis with my daughter, who is a senior in high school, she said her friend's family do that and swear by it. It's certainly worth trying!

I got something home from my son's preschool about whooping cough, the other day. Said that if exposed a child will need to see the Dr. for treatment, and the coughing usually occurs at night.

A home remedy is to put vicks vapo rub on the soles of the feet, and put socks on the feet. We knew some people last year (who didn't bother to vaccinate their kids) who got whooping cough, so it is still around, unfortunately. Most doctors will dismiss it, though, because they've never seen it. You can hear what it sounds like on this website: http://www.whoopingcough.net/sound%20of%20whooping%20coug...

My son went through this a couple years ago. Sometimes that chronic cough that won't stop can be a sign of MILD asthma. That is what they diagnosed my Connor with. He will get the cough and wheeze a little with a cold but has yet (knocks on wood) to have a full blown attack. My best advice with your daughter being so to schedule an appointment with her pediatrician and talk to him/her about it. Connor was older so he was able to do a peak flow to diagnose but I am not sure with a little one. Good luck Momma!

try giving her 1/2 tsp of honey before putting her down. that works well for my DS. if that doesn't work, ask your dr, they may suggest doing pulmicort (breathing treatments) every night for a little while. just to help open her up

I have never tried this, but I heard that putting vapo rub on the child's feet will stop the coughing. Sounds wierd right?! I either read it on this site or through forwarded emails, but anyway it's cheap to try (they make a vapo rub for babies), and couldn't hurt. Good luck!!

I think you should ask your doctor for a breathing treatment machine it is the only thing that helpd my daughter

Many great responses so far! The only thing that works for my children that just have a cough is Delsym. Pretty pricey, but works for 12 hours and they sleep through the night! If it is a barky cough that sounds like a seal, try a steam bath. Sit in your bathroom with the shower on HOT HOT HOT and let the steam take care of the cough.

When my neice had whopping cough, the docs recommended that her mom steam up the bathroom with hot water and sit (while running) for about 10 minutes to allow her to inhale some humid air & loosen her cough. Maybe doing this before bedtime would help.

This just happened to us a few weeks ago with my 4 year old. We took him to the Dr and was diagnosed with pnuemonia. You may want to get her checked out.

I have 4 children so all kids are different. Use your mothers intuition as well.

For coughing, make sure everything she drinks is luke warm.
She might not like it but is helps. Cold drinks make it worse.

At night, I rub vicks vapor rub my kids chest, neck and behind the ears.

When they go to bed, I make sure a pillow props their heads up just a little. Any dranage from the ears and nose can cause the caugh to worsing at night. Especially if they are developing flem (mucus).

Another thing, check your vents/filters make sure they are fresh/clean (changed).

I'm not a doctor, just a mother of 4.

J.
www.youravon.com/jdolby

Have you called the doctors office to see if this could be a side effect of amoxicillin? Most of my family and both my daughters are allergic to penicillin (which is amoxicillin). My older brother had trouble breathing at age 15 mos. after taking penicillin for an ear infection one night. I don't want to scare you in anyway, but feel you need to make sure that her coughing all night is not due to having trouble breathing.
I would call your doctor for peace of mind.
I hope she feels better soon.

A. B

C.,

My daughter use to cough a lot and it was only during the night time. I was told she had asthma. The cough she had was a dry, hacking cough instead of a cough that is wet that you get when you have a cold. She now takes breathing treatments twice a day. If the cough comes back, I give her three breathing treatments a day. She also takes Singular for her asthma/allergies.

If the cough sounds like the way I have described my 3 year olds you might want to talk to your pediatrician about it.