Seeking Advice on Persistent (Chronic?) Cough in Infants

Updated on November 03, 2011
M.S. asks from Alexandria, VA
9 answers

I am dealing with a situation that is not improving and would like to get some advice from moms with similar problem.
I was a stay-home mom until our son turned 4.5 months at which point I returned to work and he started his daycare. Up until he started daycare, he had no issues whatsover. About 2 weeks into his daycare, he came home with a pink eye which was treated fairly quickly and was not too big of a deal. Right after he recovered, he came down with what seemed to be a mild case of cough. The cough got worse and after countless visits to a pedriatrician and one visit to an emergency room, he was diagnosed with clinical bronchiolitis. I just want to state for the record that our son is exclusively breastfed and even in day care he has nothing but breastmilk. They even took an x-ray in the ER to rule out pneumonia (his lungs were clean). In the peak days of bronchiolitis, it was so bad that he would only keep down about 4-5 oz as everything else he ate would be forced out through uncontrollable bouts of coughing. There were days when he vomitted even during the day (in daycare) and there were and now are the days when it is worst at bedtime and early morning. It seemed that a few days after bronchiolitis, the cough improved considerably but then inexplicably he came down with croup and had very scary, seal-like barking episodes and we spent countless nights rushing him into hot steamy bathroom to relieve the breathing issue. He was even nebulized (with Albuterol) at a pediatrician's office when breathing seemed to be at his worst. We continued nebulizing for a few days but then determined that it was not that necessary since he was never really wheezing. (I am a believer that medications are really a last resort). Since the croup disappeared, we have been dealing with cough that simply will not go away. Collectively, looking back, I dare to claim that it has been a little bit over one months since the first symptoms of cough appeared and at this point, I really am struggling to understand what it could be and whether it will ever get better.
His nose is clear although I do make an effort to irrigate with saline drops and use an aspirator, which is now more of a habit than an actual need. However, I hear consistent mucus-rattling in his upper chest and when he has bouts of uncontrollable cough, he gets red in his face and by seeing how he does the tasting in his mouth, I can tell that the mucus comes up but never really out. Now we are also back to moderate vomitting of drunk milk after each feeding when the coughing sets in.
I guess the questions I have are as follows:
- Is bronchiolitis really that much of a common problem in infants of this age (around 6 months)?
- Is bronchiolitis a precursor to asthma? Or is it really bronchiolitis equals (=) asthma?
- Should nebulizing be used in infants who have persistent cough but not that much of a breathing problem?
- Could it be that breastmilk is making it worse or making it not getting better? (I have read somewhere that milk aids in mucus build-up?) What about formula? I always thought that formula-fed babies have more susceptibility to ailments and illnesses and diseases because of the clear lack of best nutrition that breastmilk provides.
- In muy most recent call to our advice nurse, our doctor told us to give our son an infant dosage of Benadryl. We bought Children's Benadryl and give him once a day, just before bedtime, as part of that feeding, 1/2 tsp of Benadryl. again, I am really opposed to giving any medicine to infants, but after weeks of not being able to sleep because of persistent cough that wakes our baby son up, we have been giving him Benadryl now for about a week. However, I really see no improvement even though the doctor said that one of the positive attributes of Benadryl is that it dries up mucus. I must say that I do not see this positive influence at all.
- the most important question is whether any of you have similar problems with persistent cough in your babies following bronchiolitis or a similar condition, whether you treat it and if so how (Please let us know, preferrably, any homeopathic and natural remedies), whether this is as common as doctors say it is, whether this could be turning into chronic cough, whether this could be an onset of asthma (we hope not!), whether we should simply ride it out without any medical intervention and a realistic timeline of when this might sort itself out by itself. I also wanted to point out that the cough is clearly very moist if not outright wet and I do not hear much wheezing or labored breathing. The cough seems to come after feeding and invariably forces out some amount of milk. We do not believe this is GERD/acid reflux given the history with bronchiolitis. We also run a warm mist humidifier in our baby son's room on 24/7 basis (clean it and replenish water regularly). He also sleeps in a car seat to ensure that the mucus drips down so that the gravity is on our side. What else could we be doing to help with the situation? Will it really ever go away? He seems to be doing ok otherwise, smiling and playing and interacting with toys but once the cough sets in, he becomes miserable and cough certainly interferes with his sleep. Please help.

An additional request is to find a top rated pediatric pulmonologist so that we can do some testing and rule out/confirm a specific diagnosis.
Does anyone have any referrals (names/practice/contact info) for Alexandria/Springfield/Falls Church/perhaps even Arlington and Fairfax. Many thanks.

What can I do next?

  • Add yourAnswer own comment
  • Ask your own question Add Question
  • Join the Mamapedia community Mamapedia
  • as inappropriate
  • this with your friends

More Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.B.

answers from Washington DC on

Sounds more like asthma. Is it possible to send him to grandma's or you work from home for a few weeks to see if his condition clears up? Could be allergic to something at daycare. And, if it's bronchiolitis, did they give him an antibiotic as well as nebulizer treatment? My 5-yr-old is being treated for something similar. For some asthmatics, a simple bout of cold can turn into bronchiolitis (or inflammation of the lungs), and the mucous sitting there can build up. My daughter has history of pneumonia (2 ER trips, 1 hospitalization), so when her cough went beyond 10 days, the dr put her on antibiotics. (Btw, my daughter had problems with coughs since she was 2 yrs old. It took 2 yrs of visits to pulmonary specialist, ERs, and peds to be labeled asthmatic. Not sure why, but the same with my son. Neither ever had a true "wheeze", very slight only detected sometimes with stethoscope. Cold-induced and allergy-induced only. Make sure your baby is not allergic to mold or dust at daycare facility. That, along with a cold, can make him miserable.)

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.R.

answers from Washington DC on

Just two quick thoughts -- Did the doctor recommend the warm mist humidifier? We always use cool mist, on our doctor's recommendation (though our child does not have the issues yours does). Also, have you checked out the day care situation to ensure that nothing there exacerbates his problems? I'm not saying that something at day care necessarily is causing it, just that something there (allergens, pets if it's a home day care, etc.) could aggravate symptoms that come from other causes. Bet you've thought of it already! Let us know "what happened."

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.W.

answers from Washington DC on

We have had similar challenges with a persistent and strong cough. What has worked for us: albuterol to open up the lungs, and singulair for children to dry up the mucus. However, we weren't able to start that until our daughter was ~18 mos, and she was almost 30lbs at that point. I'm not sure if either are an option for your son at this point.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

R.S.

answers from Denver on

I really don't know a whole lot. But I do know that persistent coughing can be a sign of heartburn / reflux, especially at night. Does his breath smell sour, especially when coughing?

hang in there you'll figure this out!
R.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

H.H.

answers from New York on

Hi there, we have also been battling a similar problem. I too went back to work when my sone was 4 months old and he has been in day care 2 days a week since. He is now 9 months old. He too was exclusively bf until about a month ago. Now he is bf morning and night an has 2 bottles of formula during the day. I also make all his food from scratch. He doesn't have any jar food, etc. at about 5 months old he came down with a really bad cold and a chest infection that he could not shift. I too am reluctant to use antibiotics etc. however after a month or persistent coughing he was put on antibiotics. These had no effect on the cough and only cleared up a runny nose he had. 4 months on he still ha a chesty cough that is wet sounding and he constantly has a rattle in his chest. He is on one last lot of antibiotics to rule out it isn't an infection (only the 3rd set of antibiotics). We too use a humidifier in his room, have raised his mattress on an angle, use saline drops and suction. Nothing seems to work. The dr also now has him on ventalin 4 times a day to help break up the mucus. We are now tryin to remove lactose from his diet by putting him on lactose free formula and yogurt and eliminating cheese. I am also eliminating lactose from my diet to limit the amount in my breastmilk. If none of this works he will be getting chest X-rays and will be seeing a pediatrician. I am so exhausted and tired due to lack of sleep from his constant coughing bouts. When he I really bad he doesn't eat either so his growh has slowed right down and has dropped off his growth curve which is also now a concern. It does give me some comfort that we are not the only ones going through this. I too hope that it is my asthma but it does not look good considering my and I both had childhood asthma. Good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.K.

answers from Washington DC on

it can be a food allergy (milk protein allergy)
or he could have asthma. Ours had a cough for 9 weeks and 6 doc visits- and we finally found out she has asthma!

if u check out the symptoms of childhood asthma, you may find some coincidences.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.P.

answers from Washington DC on

My youngest son had similar symptoms following chest colds or bronchitis. It turned out that he has a tendancy toward bronchitis-induced temporary asthma, but more mucos-related than true asthma. It does pass, but it often takes a month or two after any chest cold. It can flare up after a feeding, which seems to stimulate the mucus. In the meantime, albuterol treatments are a really good idea. Even if the baby isn't wheezing, the treatments thin the mucos so the cough eases. My son has had no ill effects from the albuterol treatments, which he had as often as 3-4 times daily after a cold. He largely grew out of it after his toddler years, but it can still reoccur after he's had bronchitis. He's 8 years old now. Good luck!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.W.

answers from Washington DC on

Hi M.,
I have a 10 month old that has had a very similar history. He got a cold from his older brother when he was only a few weeks old and the cough never went away. I mentioned it at every visit to the ped and no one really did anything about it until he was about 6 months old and got sick again, stopped eating, etc. Finally, they took me seriously. We started him on prevacid b/c they thought that maybe he had "silent" reflux. (he never vomited after eating at this point). An upper gi series confirmed it. He did have some wheezing though so he was also diagnosed with bronchiolitis and was started on albuterol and Flovent. He was given zithromax and after that the cough seemed to clear up for the most part. He is still on prevacid. He was hospitalized for RSV at 8 months and at that time he would start to vomit when nursing. He is also a BF baby. I don't think the BF has anything to do with it. He recently had a cold and the cough made him vomit. My ped has also explained to us that colds will make reflux worse b/c of all the mucus, etc. So, I would suggest getting him checked out a little more for reflux, either by just trying the meds to see if it helps or getting an upper gi done. Our little boy has had a rough winter and it did slow down his growth a little but overall he is doing great. I can't wait for winter to be over.
Good luck. I hope this helps.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

P.S.

answers from Washington DC on

Take a look at my website www.livetotalwellness.com/P.. This website will inform you of all the products in your home that are causing health problems for you and your family. Control the problem at home first and this will help with the problems you are having.

For Updates and Special Promotions
Follow Us

Related Questions

Related Searches