HELP! 6 month old with croup

[batmanandrobin]

been to doctors today and turns out my daughter has croup.

i have a plug in to help with her breathing and she's on a pillow (adults one so tucks in reducing risk- i literally can't lie her flat!!) i also bought some baby vapour rub and am keeping her warm.

does anyone else have any top tips they found helped with croup? it sounds so horrific and i just wanna cuddle her and make it go away! she's my second but ive never had to deal with croup before :(

any advice is massively appreciated!!!

[northender]

Sit in the bathroom and make it as steamy as possible. Having a hot shower running is good for this. It can be like a magic cure. I've spent hours with both of mine like this as they both used to get croup. Scary but okay once you're used to it

[overthemill]

Definite steam if you can. We used to sit with dd in bathroom and run the shower for ages. Lost count of the times DH had middle of the night shower so we could steam her! Think you can buy a machine but bathroom door and window shut and shower on is always possible. Keep an eye on it - dd's turned into asthma

[somuchtosortout]

Hello - So sorry you are having a rough time!
You could using more than one adult pillow but actually putting them underneath the cot mattress so her head is still just on the mattress.

People seem to be divided between a steamy bathroom (closing the door and running hot shower) or being carried out in to the cold fresh air (obviously well wrapped up)

Heating will be your worst enemy, I used to put a few soaking wet towels on the radiators to make the air more humid.

Don't worry if she has lost her appetite but of course she is still tiny so make sure she stays hydrated.

Hope she feels better soon!

[somuchtosortout]

btw it was steamy bathroom for me, not cold air!

[batmanandrobin]

oh wow thanks for speedy advice- cannot believe i haven't heard of this.. will deff be trying in the morning.

my DH suffers with asthma so i am worried about that- doc spoke about it today. at what age did your baby get diagnosed with asthma?

thanks again!

[Haggisfish]

I alternated between very steamy bathroom which I sat in for hours and going out into the cold crisp air. Both worked to ease it a bit but not my chronic lack of sleep!!

[Pippidoeswhatshewants]

We used to keep a clothes horse in ds' bedroom and dry the washing in there. Have you been given steroid suppositories? They work within minutes, amazing stuff.

[batmanandrobin]

all ive been given at the moment is an inhaler for dd. i didn't know to ask for anything else- honestly thought he would just tell me it was a chest infection so give me some cough syrup!!

[diddlediddledumpling]

it does sound just awful, I was terrified when ds1 got it (he had been recently diagnosed with asthma and it just sounded like he couldn't get a breath at all. I called an ambulance! )
cold air worked for him, but when ds2 got it, I knew what it was and just sat him up with me and stroked his back to soothe him. (No ambulance!) Same with ds3.
incidentally, only ds1 had asthma (and has now outgrown it, thankfully), so from my experience there's no correlation between croup and asthma.