Toddler coughing himself sick for weeks

[BanKimoon]

DS is 20 months and has has a rough run of illness over the last couple of months. Most recently he has a viral chest infection which means he's horribly congested and has coughing 'episodes' where he struggles to draw breath and ends up gasping. Often at the end of these fits he's sick, sometimes just a bit of phlegm but more often he'll heave and throw up a lot of what's in his stomach. He's lost a lot of weight and I'm struggling with it all. The doctors have suggested various things but don't think they can prescribe anything to help. So far we're trying saline spray, a humidifier at night, cutting down his milk intake and swapping it for oat milk, raising his head etc. he's been sick almost daily for 6 weeks + now and I'm at the end of my tether - does anyone have any suggestions that might help??

[EldonAve]

How do they know it's viral?
Have they checked it's not whooping cough?

[BanKimoon]

Ha - good question. He was admitted a couple of weeks ago as he got very thin and dehydrated and one paediatrician said she was sure he'd 'had' whooping cough but the other one said it couldn't possibly be as his white blood count wasn't high enough? I have no idea really!

[shewolfroar]

Could be whooping cough...have a look at the vitamin c protocol for it..google search...may reduce the attacks considerably

[BanKimoon]

Oh that's really interesting thanks! He has a multivit every day anyway but a bit more vit c could be a good idea. Thank you!!

[Reekypear]

It could easily be whooping cough. Tests this late would be inconclusive.

See if it lessens after 100 days.

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

Even if not whooping cough, high doses of vitamin C could still help. Use one without fillers / additives / flavours.

[BanKimoon]

Ha reekypear my heart sank at the idea of waiting 100 days then I realised we're over halfway there already!! Just been up and had to change the sheets as he's coughed up half his dinner though I could really do with this stopping sooner!

another any recommendations on where to get vitamins from? All the boots ones have flavourings etc or mixed with vit a which I obviously don't want to overdose him on. Should I go to the GP and ask them to prescribe something?

[Ktmummy1]

My daughter had similar symptoms. Tge doctors on children's ward tested he for whooping cough, thankfully it wasn't that but was bronchiolitis. Severe symptoms lasted about a week but tge coughing until sick thing was there for about a month. X

[Reekypear]

Does you dc have long gaps between coughs? Op.

[BanKimoon]

ktmummy sorry your daughter was the same, it sucks doesn't it? Unfortunately DS has been bad for 6/7 weeks now so it feels endless!

reeky yes he does. It's always been kind of coughing 'attacks' rather than a constant cough. Definitely less frequent and mostly only at night now, although at first he had them in the day too. Starts with a little tickle then escalates from there.

[Reekypear]

Sound like W/C to me.

Ok feed him right after a coughing session, no crumbly foods, it should stay down. Have something ready, if you do this his weight will not go down any more.

the vit c needs to be sodium ascorbate, Amazon sell it.

[anotherdayanothersquabble]

BioCare vitamin C is good. You can open the capsules and mix with water. They ship quickly.