Toddler coughing at night

Also suffering from same problem. 3 yr old girl. Started when she went to preschool. Got croup.  T

We did some research and learned about Spongia to great croup. Chestal came up, it contains Spongia and also helps with many other types of coughs.

Please do not just run out and try Singulair! It is a VERY powerful drug meant for adults. I put our son on it at 2 for his coughing problem and ended up with a child who had severe hallucinations, anxiety attacks, and hallucinations. Two days after starting to take it, he would just start screaming out of nowhere, begging for me to "make the sounds stop! make the sounds STOP!". It took him almost 6 months to recover from a week of drug. I poisoned him. :( I have two other friends who had children on it that got very aggressive. So, please just be very careful trying to find a fix. He can no longer have any allergy drug at all (they all have the same main ingredient). My daughter is now struggling with the same thing and I refuse to try it again with her. 

My 3 1/2 year old son has been coughing on and off for the last 8 months. But what triggered me to do more research online (and ended up on this site)  was last night's constant coughing. He's been coughing for 5 hours over the night - so he lost 5 hours of sleep (well we all did). For me, I had no sleep whatsoever, it was very worrying.

He's currently on simple lintus, and had Amoxicillin (antibiotics) for throat infection (when he last coughed heavily). He was diagnosed with asthma (doctor heard signs of chest tightness) when he was 1 1/2 year old, and we used Ventolin (the blue inhaler) for several weeks. This helped cured the cough he had (which used to be ongoing for 3 months) - and I thought that's it.... we found the real problem!! Whoo hoooo! But since then every time he had a bad cough, he hadn't been diagnosed with chest tightness or asthma. I believe he still has asthma, even if its acute. I also find that every time he runs or do any form of active exercise for about 3 minutes, he ends up coughing - water doesn't help.

So two things I'm going to do today to try help:

• Cool-mist humidifier (a lot of people recommend it - so its about time)
• Avoid smoke, my parents (my son's grandparents) use a wood burning stove, I will ask for no use of firewood every time we visit, to see if that makes a difference.

I really hope I can get to the bottom of this. I feel my son spent half his life so far, suffering from coughs, it can't be doing his lungs and overall health any good. What's worst is that we have a new baby arriving very soon, so if its environmental factors, I need to find the answer quick.

By reading all this posts, I noticed that we all are going through the same pain. Our baby is having a horrible cough at night time. We have also, probably most of us, try Claritin and one, two or three of those inhaler medicines. The truth is that we don't want to rise a human dependent on any medicine.

What has worked for us?We rub our daughter's chest with VapoRub and that has been working so far, much better than Claritin, Ventolin, etc...

We also keep our house very clean and no pets.

I agree with your thoughtout and very well explained persepective on the cause of the night cough. Most parents don't understand the anatomy which could help them understand better of what all the symptoms may be. The immune system is compromised especially after taking antibiotics and the other prescribed or over the counter medications. Vitamic C, Echinacea, Hyland's homeopathic allergy medicing will support the immune system to become stronger. Good luck to all!

My daughter had the same thing, one doctor gave her a pump and another put her on medication which landed us in hospital. After 2 years of problem solving we now see a herbalist and it has changed her life for the better.

I cant believe how many people are going through the same thing...why arent the doctors doing more to figure out what the problem is...I cant even tell you how many times I have brought my 2 1/2 yr and 15 month old to the doctor. they keep telling me their lungs are clear and that all i can do is run a humidifier and prop their heads while they sleep...let me tell you NO ONE is sleeping, they are fine during day, as soon as they lie down they cough. My daughter coughed so hard several times, that she threw up (mucous). She cries and says her stomach hurts from coughing so much..my poor son is too young to "tell" me, in words, but he is extremely fussy and clearly uncomfortable. How can their lungs be clear? Its sounds like they are choking on thier own mucous...can they really have that much "post nasal drip"? (which is also what I keep getting told). I am frustrated, tired and just want my kids to look rested and be well again. I have been researching to no end, and I am going to ask that they be tested for whooping cough, though they are vaccinated, there is still a small chance it could be...I also wonder if its croup? Has anyone else gone this route? This has been going on for several months now, and I want an answer..they are clearly not fine.

Within a matter of weeks of starting singulair I developed serious problems culminating in a cardiac arrest, diagnoses was Churgg Strauss Syndrome, read up on links to it and singulair and BEWARE.

After reading every post and amazed by the number of parents that are going through the exact same thing, I decided to finally take my 20 month old to the dr today to see if the diagnosis would be consistant with all of yours.  She's been coughing since fall started (what, 4 months ago?) at which time I took her, he told me she had the clearest lungs of anyone he'd seen in weeks and nothing was wrong with her.  So I never took her back, until today (my husband had had enough).  Not to my surprise, she, a true pediatrition, told me my daughter had alergies, rhinitis, and a few other things I can't pronounce.  She suggested steroid nasal spray, inhaler, 3 types of alergy meds and antibiotic.  While I think she may have went a little overboard, I do think that something is wrong somewhere making each our children sick.  Something in the air, something absent from the air, mold under the floor, dust mites in the mattrice, the food we eat, what we wash our clothes in....our babies are alergic to something and we've got to figure out what. 

A lot of you have suggested double layers of clothing helps.  This is the opposite for my child.  I've spent the last four months theorizing and trying everything to ease her discomfort, and her cough worsens when she gets hot.  Both my babies sweat when they sleep, so I turned the fan on and let her kick the covers off.  Her cough did ease up somewhat, but not entirely.  So, next I tried the old-timers remedy of vicks vapor rub on her feet.  That actually helped a little more.  Tonight I gave her the antibiotic, plugged in a cool mist humidifer I purchased today, turned on the fan, cuddled up beside her and waited for it to start.  And right on cue, when she started to get hot, the cough started.  I pushed her away so she could cool off, and she hasn't made another peep, which was 2 hours ago (a record!!!). 

Parents, don't give up.  Something is making your child cough, and you have to use trial & error to find out what.  Every situation is different, every cause is different, and every cure is different.  For my situation, I believe our house is too dry for her at 22% humidity.  Our doctors may be right, they may not be, but the good ones really do want to help our children.  I'm not going to put my child on all those meds she suggested.  I'm going to keep doing my job as a good mother and help her in the way that only I can, and do what my gut tells me to.  God bless & good luck to you all!!

Shut up obviously you don't have this problem we as parents automatically do what they need us 2 do!! It's not working this is a medical problem! And I will not have my child severely suffering following your advice... This is SERIOUS we ain't got time to play doctor..

Identical symptoms for my 4 year old. Pain reliever solves all problems

OK a little freaky, My nearly 4 year old has been having these probs since Oct/Nov. all same ages all same issues.... I am one for enviro issues diet etc. but this is strange. no parental smoking stress for sure I parent solo so I am always stressy & rushed... she has inflamed adenoids tonsils and ears are clogged... ENT suggested surgery. I am not ANTI drug etc or ANTI surgery per se but I want to know I have researched and tried as much As I can before the last resort of removing the irreplaceable.I am really trying to search out every avenue before I remove her immune systems first defense...

Looking at a NaturoPath, HomeoPath and a dietician...

I will try to remember to post back if when we find an answer.

Wishing you and yours all the best.

- we are low/no gluten low dairy using soy and almond and coconut for subs.

incase any of these are similar to what the others experiencing the night coughs....

 

Thanks I appreciate your thoughtful concern.
I feel the same as you...
I was told that antibiotics are not of use my a (hot) young doctor when at our last visit to the emerg for her ENT issues,
but when he saw her huge tonsils she got a steroid shot.
seemed to help but it does not CURE it simply postposed the symptoms...
I will try to remember to post back as I trial and err.
I hope others will too!

we eat eggs soy nuts little sugar we eat dairy though not a lot.
no sweetner. not a lot of gluten

THX again for your post!

RSV

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002531/

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)RSV; Palivizumab; Respiratory syncytial virus immune globulin

Symptoms

Symptoms vary and differ with age. They usually appear 4 - 6 days after coming in contact with the virus.

Older children usually have only mild, cold-like symptoms, such as cough, stuffy nose, or low-grade fever.

Infants under age 1 may have more severe symptoms and often have the most trouble breathing.

In general, RSV symptoms include:

Bluish skin color due to a lack of oxygen (cyanosis)

Breathing difficulty or labored breathing

Cough

Croupy cough (often described as a "seal bark" cough)

Fever

Nasal flaring

Rapid breathing (tachypnea)

Shortness of breath

Stuffy nose

Wheezing

THIS sounds the Most like what We have been experiencing...

I am going to look into this as I hope and pray that it will help us to avoid more antibiotics and fingers crossed surgery for ear tubes tonsillectomy and adenoid removal...

hope you all find your cure... not just something to tide the symptoms over.

XXOX

 

My 4 yr old son finally stopped coughing on cue at 10pm.  Before I tell you what I found the cure was I'd like to let you know we've been dealing with this cough for over a year.  Many of your stories sound similar to ours and one day I just prayed for revelation and something told me to just pointed to our nightly regiment.  We would come home, eat or homework, or homework then eat, play or watch movie or games, bath, brush teeth, story, then coughing on cue.  I switched things around thinking the bathing maybe needed to be earlier, etc.  We cut out milk for him and avoided dairy day and night...which didn't work.  We got a humidifier or three and different parts of the house, we cleaned and dusted like crazy.  We spend hundreds getting the vents cleaned.  The doctors prescribed meds through out this ordeal.  None of that worked.  I felt sooooooooo helpless as to why I could not stop this coughing and weezing on cue at night.  HELPLESS.  I would lay and look at him for hours struggling for breath as he weezed through the night for months.  We had to go to the emergency and night time pediatrics many many many times.  I got to the point where the nebulizer was our best friend but finally I think he started building an immunity to it where it wasn't as effective as before.  Trust me...we tried everything.   One day at night staring at him...I prayed.  Something told me...look at what happens before the coughing.  The only thing that we did consistently like most of you GREAT parents out there was brush our teeth.  I got online and searched "child coughing toothpaste" and low and behold many people both young and adult have problems with certain toothpaste.  Our son was having an allergic reaction to the toothpaste and/or mouth wash (is what I believed).   I immediately brought him to the sink and washed out his mouth trying to dilute the toothpaste and mouthwash.  With no exaggeration he stopped coughing within minutes and fell sound asleep the rest of the night.  In 5 days we've had to use the nebulizer one time.  Before stopping the use of the toothpaste and mouthwash brand we nebulized 2-3 per day just to get the coughing, congestion and mucus build up under control.   I now enjoy watching my little boy sleep problem free throughout the entire night without one cough.  Coincidence or not...no doctor ever recommended changing toothpaste or mouthwash.  I won't divulge the brand name toothpaste and mouthwash manufactures...but they were the kids versions.    Good luck and I pray you see your child sleep through the night again.  Revelation to all my fellow parents out there!!