Child with cough

[QuestionOf]

My 5 year old has had a cough and cold for about 5 days. The past three nights she has struggled to get to sleep due to coughing. Most of the nights she has had a good couple of hours periods of coughing almost constantly. She was prescribed antibiotics for an ear infection yesterday and has started those. She has been trying to get to sleep coughing for the past 2.5 hours solidly. She is exhausted. I have tried tixylix, manuka honey, honey and lemon, olbas oil in hot water in her bedroom and nothing is working. She has been sick three times (mucus) through coughing and I’m not sure how to make her more comfortable. Any tips please?

Following. 2.5 year old has had a nagging cough for 3 weeks now 😫

It’s so hard to make them comfortable isn’t it. There is nothing really they can have I don’t think.

My mum used to make me a saucer of butter and sugar balls when I had a cough at night. Literally little balls of sugar teaspoon of butter for each ball) rolled in granulated sugar.
They melted down your throat and were very comforting.
That, and Actifed cough mixture.

Can you raise the head of the mattress? We stuck a folded duvet under our kids and on the worse nights tucked them up on the recliner sofa in the sitting room with me on the other end. We stuck something they liked on dvd (15 years ago) quietly to encourage them to relax even if they couldn't sleep and to take their minds off it a bit.

It's crap, so we did whatever got them through it easiest.

Unfortunately not something for tonight, but have you tried a cool mist humidifier for her room? Seems to help mine with hers but might not work for everyone.

The only thing I've tried that works is Vicks on the feet and chest and an extra pillow to keep upright. I would ring 111 though because it could be she needs a nebuliser or something. Does she have asthma? Has she had a PCR done?

Vicks on feet and behind ears.
Is she wheezing or anything?
My DS had a cough for weeks, up at night also and GP prescribed an inhaler and it worked wonders.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I have vicks and have rubbed some on her chest but will go and rub some on her feet. Her head is elevated, she isn’t making a fuss at all, I would be. PCR hasn’t been done as she had covid about a month ago so it would still show positive potentially for 90 days.
I have looked at humidifiers before when she has been previously poorly and wish I had got one now! One for my Amazon list tomorrow. Thank you.

Just had a quick Google and that says the average young child gets approximately 8 cold a year! Perhaps we have been lucky but thankfully we get nowhere near that amount!

Oh and no, she hasn’t had asthma before, although my mum said the other day perhaps she needs checking for that as she has been short of breath since having had covid.

Vicks on feet and chest and ibuprofen before bed. Extra pillow to prop them up and a saline nose spray to help thin the mucus (I know its for blocked noses etc but I think it helps with coughs too.) My 5 year old takes terrible coughs that last forever.

Lie her on her front - has worked for my DC and DH before

@QuestionOf

Oh and no, she hasn’t had asthma before, although my mum said the other day perhaps she needs checking for that as she has been short of breath since having had covid.

DS doesn't have asthma either but the inhaler helped open his chest and made the coughing less frequent