Another round of night coughs...

[emza78]

...this time rather overzealous leading to throwing up as well all night. For 19 month old LO, has come at the end of a cold, anyone got any miracle cures? (Please!)

[Saffron]

What have you tried so far?

[Saffron]

We had a little vapour fan, from Karvol I think. This helped at night, very soothing, but it really ate batteries.

You can also try elevating the head end of the cot a couple of cm. This aids fluid dynamics in the lungs at night, prevents excessive pooling of mucus leading to irritation and cough.

Just recently I've also tried Kleenex menthol balsam tissues. I put one under my daughter's cheek when she was napping. It worked well. Maybe one tissue on each side at night?

[mima08]

Hiya - I find a vapour rub on chest & back helps. we use Boots own brand for babies...

mx

[Fuschia]

Had she been seen by the gp?

[emza78]

We've tried raising the head of cot and sprinkling karvol on the sheets but not helping much this time. I've just bought a natural honey and lemon syrup so will try that.

Thanks for the tips, will give them all a go!

Haven't gone to docs yet, the cold didn't seem that bad and cough only started last night but no fever or anything warranting a trip to an out of hours place, will go Monday if not cleared up.

[Saffron]

Do you have a shower room? Or try making the bathroom steamy, then a warm bath for your LO, to clear the mucus before bed as much as possible?

What time of night is the coughing? Could you give the syrup before bed, then again like a dream feed later in the evening? You might get some longer lasting relief for your LO that way.

How bad is the vomitting? If it's copious amounts of milk/food, give dinner a little earlier and only easily digestible foods. Dilute the evening milk feed with water, or give hydration solution instead if your LO will accept it. Or maybe diluted squash. This would be easier to digest than milk, so it moves out of the stomach into the lower intestine sooner (=less to vomit up later).

And/or plan for the worst: double make the cotbed. Place a water proof sheet down first, then a plain sheet. Then repeat with a waterproof sheet and plain sheet over this. So when the first set of sheets gets vomitted on in the middle of the night, just whip them off and place your LO on the clean one, no need to remake the bed at 3AM. xx

[TE44]

Hi Emza, My 2year old grand daughter has whooping cough, it started with what seemed a common cold then after a week the cough worsened, especially at night. She has had the whoop with vomiting,for 2wks now although sickness is lessening the last 5days. We have been givin her teas using coltsfoot, hyssop, mullein and liquorice root along with an echanacea extract. We have had to give the herbs seperate in her little teapot as combine she would not drink. This helped to find the herb she found difficult to drink (horehound, replaced with mullein) . I hope your little one gets better soon,

[emza78]

Thanks saffron, will try a steamy bath tonight. The vomiting isn't too bad, just from the effort of coughing really, last night she went to bed at 8, coughed for a solid half hour and was sick at 830, then slept till about 10, awake and coughing with a bit more sick till 1230, coughing again with no sick from 330-5, up at 730, we're all knackered!

So sorry to hear about your grand daughter TE44, did she get it despite the vaccinations? I'm pretty sure there's no "whoop" at the mo and have been vaccinated but will bear it in mind!

[susyp]

I have sympathy Emza78, my daughter always throws up when she has a bad cough, I have never found anything to stop it except not too much liquid before bed can help a bit. But whenever she has a cough- many changes of sheets occur! I have to keep her home from school with a cough for the same reason. I don't know any other children who throw up with every single cough they get so I think some children just susceptible to this! I always get coughs too, must be a genetic thing.

susypx

[hellosailor]

We find vapour rub on the soles of feet seems to reduce night coughing, as does Tixylix cough syrup, there is one that a 19 month old could take.

Hope tonight is better, so horrid for them, our daughter keeps waking herself up with a coughing fit too