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Children's health

ill baby.. please can anyone advise

18 replies

babybear5 · 27/01/2011 20:42

I am at the end of my tether now. dd has had a cough since october that wont clear up. She coughs continually in bouts until she is sick and it is almost as though she has no breath left before she sort of shrugs and carries on with what she doing. She is 11 months old and it is waking her from sleep so we all shattered and she just looks like a poor wee soul now. In october my other 2 dc's had croup and as they got better dd3 came down with the cough but it wasn't croup. One weekend i took her to ooh gp who admitted her for a couple of hours because of a high temp and the cough. Temp was 40.9 at the time. She had a chest x ray to rule out pneumonia etc. 2 visits to the gp later she has ventolin??? This isn't working either. The cough has stayed sounding the same and gp has never actually heard it. Tried to video her but cant get her coughing as always trying to sort at time.
A friend came over today and heard her cough for the first time..actually waking her from sleep and the first thing she said was get her seen at a&e...if that was her dc she wouldn't budge till they found out what it was cos it sounds like she choking. I dont know what to do now..in between coughing fit she seems fine and i don't know if i am just so used to the cough that it isn't too bad but at the same time i am aware it is bad but how do i go about getting someone to listen...i would end up in a&e with a 'well baby' unless she coughs...
sorry for the long post..desperate now..she must be sore from coughing all the time and exhausted

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Iggly · 27/01/2011 20:57

Take her to the GP again. If that doesn't work, take her to a&e.

Does she only cough at certain times? At night, when indoors? Does she cough when outside? Keep a record and see if you can see a pattern. Take this to your GP. insist on further medication or tests. Sometimes you have to keep pushing until it's fixed.

If it's just when sleeping, then keep her room as dust free as possible. Even though it's cold, air the room - open it for an hour in the day after giving it a good wet dusting (wet cloth and wipe down all surfaces). Wash all bedding, sleepbag etc at 60C. Vacuum it. If you do that - see if it helps her sleep better. My DS had a cough for a month and doing that made a huge difference. The cleaning gets rid of dustmites which can trigger asthma in some people. You have to keep it up though.

grumpykat25 · 27/01/2011 20:57

Poor you and poor dd!
Back to the doctors you go. I'm sure someone will be along to give you some proper advice, but I didn't want to leave you unanswered.
Hope you get it sorted

Iggly · 27/01/2011 21:00

You should also vacuum the mattress and wet dust the cot too - especially between the bars near the mattress.

babybear5 · 27/01/2011 21:13

Thank you iggly It doesn't happen at certain times..could be anytime day or night. Just after i posted this she coughed herself awake again and is now cranky in cot. Will try what you suggested, although majority of it i do as few peeps with asthma in house.
Thanks grumpykat
Think it will be back to the gp again

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rescuepack · 27/01/2011 21:14

Could it be gastric reflux? My children used to wake up in the way that you describe and have persistent coughs.

babybear5 · 27/01/2011 21:24

rescuepack she was put on gaviscon a couple of months ago for constant sickness after solids but it didn't improve the cough so i'm not sure. (As i type this i am listening to her through the monitor..just a persistant hacking cough.)

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angel1976 · 27/01/2011 21:26

I second rescuepack. It sounds like my DS2. Funnily enough, my DS2's persistent cough didn't start till he was 4 months old and it came and went since then! He was diagnosed with reflux at 10 months old and put on Ranitidine, which seemed to help a little (he would have a small bout of 'violent' coughing every night instead of a bad persistent cough to the point of gagging/choking all night). In the last week, he has finally seemed to stop coughing at night and he is almost 15 months old! Can you get a referral to pediatrician? Especially one who specialises in chest issues?

babybear5 · 27/01/2011 21:40

I am definately going to go back to gp angel and try. You say that you ds was the same..was it the reflux that made you go to gp and was he sick a lot. Dd sickness only lasted until i stopped giving her jars of baby food..she just didn't seem to tolerate the. Since then no sickness but always the cough.
Glad ds finally stopped coughing..it so tiring for everyone and must be so upsetting for them

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angel1976 · 27/01/2011 21:58

babybear5 Yes it's very upsetting for all involved... :( He was sick (at least a big sick once a day) till he was 7 months old and after that, if he 'gagged' on solid food, he would inadvertently bring up his whole meal. He almost fell off the growth chart. The thing is we went to the best specialist in London (my best friend works in the NHS and recommended the consultant) and DS2 had a chest x-ray (all clear) and he never had the test for reflux. To answer your question, it was the persistent cough to the point og gagging/choking and also a constant runny nose (lots of mucus nasally and in his chest from the sounds of it!). The consultant listened to our tale of woe and he said he didn't want to do any invasive test without putting him on reflux meds first. He no longer sicks up his food (hasn't since he was 11 months old) and he is actually grown a bit (now on 2-9% of chart) so the consultant is happy with him.

So, we never had a clear/definitive diagnosis for him. Sometimes I think he just has a 'weak' chest and now he just seems to have finally grown out of it. I just don't know! Let us know how you get on with your DD. I remember that end of tether feeling so well. :( I know what you mean as well when you said you had gotten used to his cough. On his bad nights, I used to lie next to him in tears willing his cough to stop.

babybear5 · 27/01/2011 22:07

That makes me feel so much better angel thank you. You sound like you are describing my dd. She was ok with breast milk but gagged on solids, altho would eat a little if she fed herself. She lost a lot of weight, also almost diappearing off the chart. Now this persistant cough but with clear chest xrays. She does have a constant green runny nose lately but i put that down to teething and she hasn't been sick on solids for about two months now.
I wonder if i am not being persistant enough in standing my ground with the gp...letting them fob us off. I am going to take her back in the morning and get them to see her.
And yes...it is horrible knowing there is nothing you can do for them..heartbreaking.
I will keep you posted as to how we go and thanks again for taking the time to chat

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angel1976 · 28/01/2011 20:43

Whereabouts are you babybear5? Do you happen to be in London or can you travel to London? I am only asking as the only way I wrangled a referral from my GP was to insist he referred to a certain consultant. I was very surprised that they did as he worked in the hospital at the other end of London! They had to do a paper referral instead of 'choose and book' but I didn't care and in fact probably got an appointment faster that way. The consultant we saw was Doctor Andrew (Andy) Bush who is a top-notch paediatrician specialising in respirology. He works in Royal Brompton. A really lovely, lovely doctor. Did you manage to see the GP today?

bubbleymummy · 28/01/2011 21:07

Has she been tested for whooping cough? They don't always 'whoop' with it but they will have long coughing spells until the end of their breath and they can vomit. Look on the nhs website for details. It can last about 14 weeks (100 day cough). Worth getting checked out - you can still get it even if you've been vaccinated ( doesn't guarantee protection).

babybear5 · 28/01/2011 21:16

Hi Angel. Thank you for thinking of us. We in Scotland so could't do london unfortunately.
I did see the gp today...he has now put dd on antibiotics for a week. He listened to her chest and said she has a crackle now which wasn't there a week ago. She also had inflammed ears and a temp which i didn't know about
I also spoke to my health visitor who has been a regular visitor to us for other reasons. She saw my video and said she sounded bronchial...she also watched her sit with her tongue hanging out because she was working so hard to breathe. She is going to do her one year assessment soon so she said she will flag up her concerns and ask them to refer her to a paed..if the antibiotics don't work. She is very tiny..only 15lb and although she eats well enough hasn't put on weight for a while. She isn't crawling and has only recently learnt to sit up. Not sure how much of this is due to her feeling lousy for so long. She is just about to turn one.
Hope everything okay with you and dc's

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babybear5 · 28/01/2011 21:18

Thanks bubblemummy i did mention whooping cough because my eldest dd had it when she was 8yrs but gp doesn't seem to think so I don't think he knows what it is yet

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angel1976 · 28/01/2011 23:21

babybear5 Sorry to hear you are no closer to the truth or getting a referral. I've done internet searches on coughs to death and have suspected DS2 has had one or the other at one stage or the other! I've thought of bronchilities, whooping cough, croop, asthma (he never wheezed though ). But he never seemed to fit into one or the other completely... It was just baffling. DS2 is tiny too, he was just over 17lbs at one year of age but he seems to be heavier these days (fingers crossed!). But physically he is very advanced, he took steps at one year of age and walked from 13 months old so in that sense I was never too worried about him. I used to get so many people saying to me when they saw him walking around that he looks too tiny to be walking! I just keep hoping that when the weather warms up, he will stop but fingers crossed as suddenly he seems to only have the occasional cough...

babybear5 · 28/01/2011 23:37

I know what you mean angel . Waiting for the warm weather in ernest.
My dd reminds me of the evian babies with the skinny arms and legs but walking iykwim
I am hoping some antibiotics in her will help with something but i know idea now. I will let you know how she gets on..would like to keep in touch with you..see how ds is also

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angel1976 · 29/01/2011 21:33

It would be nice to hear how you are getting on babybear5. :) I was obsessive about taking DS1 to the baby clinic as I was worried about his weight but I realised now what a chunker he was compared to DS2. I absolutely refuse to bring DS2 to a baby clinic cos I know they will worry me even more about his weight... But we are in a good place now, mysteriously his runny nose seems to be pretty dry these days. What a miracle! I just hope it lasts. I hate to get my hopes up only to have his old symptoms return again... I hope your DD gets better soon, as long as she is developing normally. try not to worry too much! (I tell myself this everyday and I'm not sure it helps!)

babybear5 · 07/02/2011 22:36

Had dd on antibiotics for a week with very little difference now. Looking for more ideas?

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