Croup in a 16 month old

[sdotg]

We've had classic croup coughing and laboured breathing the last two days at bedtime. He has a snotty nose currently, but nothing new there. No temp.
This evening's attack was bad as he got so wound up and scared he really struggled to catch his breath. Just horrible.
Any ideas on what we can do, I'll try the gp tomorrow but in both cases it had stopped in less time than it would take to get to a&e.
Thanks

[mummyplonk]

I feel for you, Croup is very very scary for you as parents. They can go to bed fine and usually wake up after 2/3 hours having an attack with no previous symptoms. DS had two nasty attacks resulting in 999 callls each time luckily the ambulance had the correct steroids needed to balance him. My only advice for you is, yes, steamy bathrooms do definately work, do not use astmah inhalas (in the panic). And finally, it is true they do grow out of it, thank god. HTH.

[sdotg]

Thanks I was v close to calling 999.
He doesn't seem to have an yallergies or asthma, just a snotty nose which is the norm and is fine during the day.
I figured I should take him to docs?

[mummyplonk]

Sorry sdotg that wasnt very helpful to your question, ds had a bad attack then after that we tried to manage it at home before calling for help the next few times, apparantly it is more common in boys.

We found the main thing was keeping him calm (even bringing Grandad down one night) and us staying calm. Fill the shower room with steam and we changed from walking outside in the night air to going into the steam dependant on what he felt more comfortable in, but the two extremes worked. (I am no nurse though!) Worth letting your Gp know about it in the morning though as he may have some more ideas.

[sdotg]

'twas most helpful mummyplonk, thanks
I was on my own with him last night and calmed him quicker whereas tonight we flapped like idiots which freaked him out more. God, he looked like he was choking, it was horrible.

[mummyplonk]

Oh I still remember how scary it is SDotg, its so much more shocking as they go to sleep fit and happy, and then wake up hardly able to breathe, if you are in the Uk I found the NHS helpline fantastic. I know how hard it will be for you to sleep peacefully tonight but we did find thankfully it only happened for one night only each time. (far worse for the parents than them!) So hope you both have a peacefull night. x

[sdotg]

Off to the docs to get him checked out, just incase...