1yr old vomiting after night time cough

[dm1mum]

My 13mth DS2 has developed a cough over the last couple of weeks. It is worst at night and last week he had a couple of coughing fits that caused him to wake after a couple of hours asleep and finally ended with him vomiting a small amount.

However last night he coughed throughout the first hour of sleep and was eventually violently sick (luckily just got him out the bed in time) and tonight he lasted only a few minutes asleep before the coughing started and he woke. Again he was sick - pretty much all his bedtime bottle and some dinner too. It is getting really distressing for him and the washing/clean-up is not fun either!

I took him to the GP today who said his chest is clear and he seems fine and vomiting is not unusual with coughing but he didn't really have any practical suggestions. DS2 did have reflux as younger baby but we thought he was over that and GP said he didn't think that was the issue. He is much better during the day - has the odd cough but nothing so persistent.

Would be grateful for any advice on how I can try to reduce the coughing / vomiting. I have his bed propped up tonight. Should I give him less milk at bedtime? Any ideas / coping strategies would be great. Thanks

[MaMattoo]

do you have a humidifier? can you create any sort of steam? take him to the shower and let him inhale that. Ask the dr to check for bronchiolisis, it often shows a clear chest but babies cough a lot and find breathing raspy.
I add some drops of olbas oil in hot water and leave it in the room.
I also held him DS 14mo kind of upright against me, leaned back on an arm chair and slept that way. if he sips warm water? add a few drops of honey to coat his throat? I also saw some cough linctus for babies in the pharmacy..have never tried it but its said to be safe.
hope he gets better soon. its horrible to see them ill and upset.

[Galena]

Lots of good advice from MaMattoo. One thing I would say is that DD had reflux as a baby, and until recently (she's 2.4) she would vomit loads with coughs and colds - I think the extra mucous aggravated the reflux even though she had no other symptoms. It'd even get to the stage where she was in her highchair, eating dinner, cough, throw up, then cry because we took her dinner away (covered in sick, eew!) so we'd make her more dinner!

She was, however, also admitted a number of times to hospital with breathing problems through her first 18 months or so, so she now has inhalers and this tends to help.

[Athrawes]

Mine has just been through this.
I stopped giving him a bottle before bed, made sure he was well fed earlier, so nothing to vomit.
A humidifier helped the cough.
A dose of Calpol before bed helps knock them out. If the coughing is stopping them sleep you could get a Phenergan script from Dr.

I elevated his head end of the bed - a lot! Really steep. This makes them slide down the bed though so you need to tether them to it with a Safety Sleep (a wonderful item) - this stops the flem and snot trickling down the back of their throat and making them cough.

Keep taking him to Dr. A cough can turn into bronchilitis.

[dm1mum]

Thanks very much for all the advice.

I will look into getting a humidifier (from chemist??) and give him less bedtime milk earlier on. He slept fine once he was settled after being sick so I guess missing out will not leave him hungry.

Coughing started up again when he woke this morning at 6.15 but he stopped once upright for a bit and he has been fine today until he started his nap - more coughing straight away! He has naps in pram almost sitting up so not much else I can do to help there. Fingers crossed this evening is better.

[Galena]

I think there is a bug going round like this - I am suffering myself, as is DD. I'm coughing pretty much all the time although it is worse at night. DD is coughing pretty much only at night. It's grim - I hope he feels better soon.