Toddler constant coughing!

Having same problem now.. What was the results??

My niece had a chronic cough for months, and after multiple attempts at antibiotics, it wasn't going away. She finally had her tested for food allergies (called an IGG test) and it showed she was allergic to dairy, soy, corn, and gluten. Her cough went away when they eliminated all these things from her diet (which has been hard, but worth it to keep her from coughing). If she even has a little dairy, the cough comes back that same day. My 3 year old had a cold about 2 months ago and has had a cough since. I'm a RN so I've been listening to her lungs and taken her to the Dr. twice and we all think her lungs sound clear and they advise me to wait it out because it's probably just lingering. I've never had a cough linger for 7 weeks though so if it doesn't go away, in the next couple of weeks, I'm going to pony up the $200 and have her tested for food allergies. Might be worth looking into if some of you still don't have an answer...

 

Megan, my daughter had the cough in the past for months and we too went to an allergist. As much as I support the idea and feel that is the far better direction than antibiotics, I want to encourage you to use caution there too. We were told she was allergic to dogs, that in fact was not the case, a mis-diagnosis! I strongly suggest removing foods and try your own diagnosis that way first. It takes 30 days for some foods to really get out of the system. If you remove many things and the cough stops, reintroduce one type of food at a time to see if one item brings on the cough. No harm here just creative time in the grocery store...

For us seasonal allergies were part of the problem and there was an asthmatic factor where the inhaler was a big save for us. 

My daughter is 4 and has asthma. She has had nasty cough for over a month straight now, she usually gets one or two a month but never last this long.. She was put on steriods for a week and they did nothing to help her, they did an xray and found a mucus plug starting in her lungs so they put her on antibiotics and still nothing has changed. They have scheduled her to see a lung specialist so hopefully Tuesday when she goes I will have some answers on why this isnt going away..

Well, I'm not advocating neglecting possible medical causes, just pointing out another avenue for others to consider after all the possible medical causes have been ruled out. I just noticed it hadn't been mentioned in any of the responses. Our doctor doesn't think it's asthma, but of course if it persists and food allergies isn't the cause, then I will re-approach the medical side of it if the cough persists. As for allergies, even if a food allergy/sensitivity isn't the cause of the cough (although a cough is a very common reaction to a dairy sensitivity because dairy has an annoying habit of producing excessive mucous) I would still want to know with an official allergy test, as there are other problems that can occur when you are continuously giving people foods their body is sensitive to (anything from eczema to behavioral issues have been known to get better with diet modifications). The problem with trying to eliminate possible food culprits ourselves is that it hasn't worked so far. Some well meaning adult or child is always sharing their food/snack or our 3 year old will just grab some of what their friend is eating which of course has dairy in it because she doesn't understand why she can't have that stuff. We haven't been quick enough to keep her little mitts off of the stuff and that one bite can be enough to totally undo a week's worth of being diary free. think keeping a toddler away from something as common as dairy is just really really hard in a world where milk, whey, or casein is in almost everything :( After weeks of attempting to eliminate, we are just going to schedule an allergy test way or another because if she does have an allergy, I'll work even harder to make sure she doesn't get ahold of something she shouldn't be eating.

My kids had same type of symptoms except my 3.5 years son got claritin or benadryl for infants .... Viola ... Cough gone on days he took the anti-allergy dose.

My 2.5 yr old son has constantly got an awful chesty cough and thick green smelly discharge from his nose. If it does clear up it is quite literally only a matter of days before we seem to be right back at the beginning, I have repeatedly taken him to see the GP and am made to feel that I am wasting their time and it is just viral - this has gone on for over a year, in addition to the GP I have taken him to a cranial osteopath, again with limited sucess and costs a fortune but at least he doesn't make us feel like a paranoid first time Mum. We have tried antibiotics, inhalers, vix etc etc but any relief seems to be very short lived. He has a swimming lesson once a week and he loves it so much that it's all he talks about all week but he does seem to get worse after the lesson! Also worse at nightand the coughing seems to prevent him from sleeping properly, apart from constantly being ill he is a lovely lively (understatement) little boy who despite permanently coughing and spluttering is growing well and meeting all developmental targets beautifully.

Christine, your post has given me something to think about. My son is four-years-old and for the past few weeks has had a constant cough throughout the day but it progressively worsens as the day wears on and becomes even more troublesome at night. He has vomited several times in the middle of the night and that terrifies me. What if he gets strangled on his vomit and is too out of it to wake up and move? As a mother, a million different scenarios play out in my mind and of course, all of them are scary. For the last three days he has told my husband and I that his "belly hurts" but we chalked it up to the fact that he hadn't been pooping as much as usual. After reading another post on here I now believe that the stomach pain is coming from the constant stress and strain of coughing. Your post makes me wonder if a milk allergy could be the root of our problem. He too is a big milk drinker and would drink it all day, every day if we let him. I have no idea why this never occurred to me. Maybe because he's never had a problem until recently? I have also given thought to the fact that he may be asthmatic but dismissed the theory because he doesn't have any wheezing. My parents and mother-in-law all smoke and since he sees them all quite a bit I've often wondered if that is to blame. We've tried humidifiers, allergy medicine, constant vacuuming, and several doctor visits but nothing has seemed to help. Thank you guys so much for sharing your experiences! I was beginning to think that we were the only family that was going through this. I pray that we all get some much needed answers very soon! ?

I use a home remedy and it works most of the time, although I must admit it is not a permanent solution.

 

squeeze a piece of ginger and mix 5 drops of ginger juice with half a tea-spoon of honey. This mix should help your kid.

Omg i am going to try and cut my lil girls milk intake down as of tomorrow because just read all these posts of nearly exactly the same issues as her and she just turned 3 at christmas so before we go back the gp i will deffo try the less milk thanks alot worth a try :-) x

My son is almost 3 and has had a constant cough for months. He has had an allergy test with results of not being allergic to anything. Even the countless amounts of pediatricians we have seen keeping saying its a "daycare cough". I have tried some home rememdies like the ginger/honey and lemon/honey combos and they are short lived and upset his stomach. Not to mention already cut out dairy in his diet. It clears up every few days and comes right back. Any other suggestions for a mother thats tired of putting her son on antibiotics?  Thank you.

My little girl exactly the same since 1 year old now 2.5 still coughing no joy from go either . It's very distressing for child and family too . I really believe it's allergens I stopped using baby powder and it helped a lot . So maybe testing for allergies would be helpful if your gp helps ( usually not ) worth a try xx good luck

Yes exactly what my grandson is coughing just like that and I am worried how exhausted he must be and how his little heart is dealing with it. Tonite as we speak my daughter is taking back to the hospital

My Grandson has had a cough for over 8 months now mostly at night to the point at times he throws up, and is very uncomfortable. He had his tonsils and adenoids removed and still the same issues. He has had lugs x-rayed and was in inhalers too there is no answer being given even by the ENT he has seen and that did the surgery? Asthma? Allergies? something has to give this little boy a break cause nothing is helping.

Thank you for the insight it's worth a try to get relief for him.