Should I be keeping DD off school tomorrow? Please help!

[PFB1]

She's my eldest so I'm not entirely sure what the protocol is with this sort of thing.

DD has had a bad cough (only at nighttime) for the past couple of weeks. I've been sending her to school each morning as she's been her normal self in the day although admittedly more tired having been up coughing through the night. She's been fine at school but when she's got home she's been tired. Particularly tonight.

Anyway, I've put her to bed and she's having a coughing fit every 30 seconds. It's awful for her. I know that tomorrow morning will come and I'll need to wake her for school as I have every morning for the last couple of weeks. She'll be tired but will get on with the day at school. In my heart of hearts I feel it's unfair on her if I send her again tomorrow and think she'd benefit from a day of resting and possibly a visit to the GP.

My mum would only keep me off school if I was at deaths door so I'm not sure if I'm being too cautious in considering keeping her home. She's already had 1 day off since starting school in September for a sickness bug which came on one weekend. Really grateful for any advice. Thanks.

... and now she's also got croup. Since birth, she's probably has croup about 30 times. The GP & I have figured she must have a particularly narrow airway. I've been up at out of hours with her countless times in the middle of the night. It's just awful but we thought she was coming through it. She hasn't had a bad episode for a couple of years.

She's just come in crying saying "mummy when will this go away". She's also said she can't breathe very well. She's now asleep on my bed and I'll stay awake with her now to watch her. Her breathing seems the usual breathing of someone with croup, but if this changes I'll 999 straight away. I've video'd her to show the GP in the morning as typically with croup, it'll no doubt be gone by the time we go to our appointment. I just feel for her so much right now.

Definitely keep her off for the rest of the week. Visit the GP just in case. DD(2) has a cough and is on antibiotics for it so maybe there's a bug going around.
Fill her bath first with hot water so the bathroom fills with steam, then put the cold water in.

Day off and doctors. This is how my asthma started. It's important that she's treated pronto either way or she'll be at risk of a chest infection and pneumonia. I had a similar situation which my mum ignored, kept me at school, didn't really see how unwell I was. By the time she realised I was in A&E with an oxygen level of 89%. That's low enough for organ damage. It's always best to get things checked. Coughs should be checked after 3 weeks if they don't clear.

What everyone else said, day off and GP asap.

This is how my sons asthma is, he actually barely wheezes but coughs all night long. It's classic symptoms.

He has been admitted several times with low oxygen levels and even now is on prednisone as he has a cold and it went straight to his chest.

Hope she feels better soon you are
Doing the right thing keeping her off and taking her to the doctors.

In reception? Grief! I'd give her at least 2 days off. Perhaps more.

I would recommend against the steam/hot bath solutions. Some chest infections/irritations are actually made significantly worse with steam and heat. Like pneumonia. I would make her as comfortable as possible tonight and then GP in the morning. Poor little sausage.

Maybe investigate if a humidifier will help

I wouldn't leave her in bed for the morning. I would get her upright for a bit then afternoon nap. Chesty coughs and croup are worse lying down. Would also see Dr if having croup. She may need some steroids. Ds has got better over the years and doesn't seem to have asthma. I always give him the flu vaccine as I wouldn't like to see him with flu.

It’s worse at night as your airway gets smaller at night as your steroid levels fall over night. Mucus pools as you lie flat too.

I have a croupy 5 year old too. They no longer advise steam. I would go to the gp and get a steroid. I also always have an extra dose in the house so if ds gets croupy in the night I don’t need to call out of hours or jump in the car overnight.

I would second a humidifier we have the Vicks paediatric cold air one , it's currently going in dd's room and giving her a much better nights sleep as she is bunged up with cold and chesty cough at the moment.

I read your Q and also wanted to raise the issue of asthma. I let my poor eldest DD endure night time coughing for months - had a couple of GP appointments at which it was suggested it was viral - but knew it was something more. Asthma is quite difficult to diagnose except by elimination. She was prescribed inhaler treatments and - honestly - the cough disappeared instantly. Turns out she is asthmatic, but it only presents itself as a night time cough.
(I am asthmatic but have the more usual wheeze symptoms, so didn't recognise hers as asthma). Do ask for asthma as a cause to be eliminated by trialling inhaler treatment.
Hope you find a solution. I still feel upset at knowing how exhausted my DD was for so long due to nights awake coughing.

Second keeping her off.

Pleased to see so many in agreement.

You can raise the head side of her bed with some big books. It’s weird the first night but you get used to it.

Keep her off. A long weekend of rest and getting checked out will do her the world of good

Yes I would have taken my child to the gp sooner if my son had been coughing for weeks. I’d keep her off till Monday and give her a rest.
I think our own parents harshness get in the way of our parenting.
She’s only in reception.

Hope she’s ok. Great idea to video to show GP.

Off until Monday. DS (6)has had a similar story- night time cough in winter, lots of croup episodes.
He’s on montelukast, seretide and ventolin as needed. He’s had 4 days off so far this year already with a chest infection. I keep him off if needed and don’t worry about school, children get ill!

I've called the GP, they can only get me in with a nurse today. The nurse will call me within the hour and if they feel it's necessary (which it will be) they'll book us in to go in and see them. Then if the nurse isn't qualified to deal with it, the GP will hopefully be able to see her. She's so much better already now that she's up which is nice to see but I just know tonight will be a different story.

Can you not give her a night time cough bottle? Thats what we do and after a day or two of good rest it goes.
When l get a cough myself its always a night one so l take night time cough medicine.
Good she is seeing a doctor/ nurse

Reception?! God, yes.

Bless her. DS has a nighttime cough and has been diagnosed with cough variant asthma. Definitely worth a gp visit.

Out of interest, how new is your new build? I had a persistent cough when I moved into ours. And again since getting a new bed. And I had to take some time off as a result so she definitely should! Wish her better soon.

Okay so we're back from the doctors. They think it's viral induced asthma rather than croup. They've given us a brown & a blue inhaler to take home and see how we get on with that. I really should have taken it more seriously last night when she said it was hard to breathe. I just assumed it was croup. Lesson learned.

Don't be hard on yourself. It can take time to learn the ropes and get yourself into the recognition and treatment routine . Asthma is a big learning curve and You can't be to hard on yourself when you get it a bit wrong.

I hope the Inhalers help and she starts sleeping better.

Fwiw dd was admitted to hospital in a couple of occasions die to "viral induced wheezing" I got a dx eventually by accident Drs dont even get it right sometimes.

Good news is sometimes they grow out of it!

Don’t be cross with yourself. It took us a while to take DS to the dr and get inhalers too.

Thanks both

If she gets on well with the inhalers tonight should I take her to school tomorrow? Or give her another day to get a better idea of how she's responding to it? Sorry, I'm so clueless with this.

I'd keep her off tomorrow. Take the extra day to catch up and the weekend to get to grips with the Inhalers