6 year old night time cough

[Danascully2]

My 6 year old has always been a bit prone to a dry cough at night but the last few weeks has been really bad. He's fine in himself, plenty of energy, eating etc although gets tired sometimes because he's not sleeping well. Generally doesn't cough much during the day.

I've tried loratadine and cetirizine syrups (clarityn And benadryl) but the last few nights he's still been coughing non stop despite the meds and he's also been coughing quite a bit during the day.

I managed to get an actual gp appointment last week and the doctor wasn't worried, said his lungs sound fine, it's probably hay fever and keep giving him hay fever meds.

I don't really know what else to try but it is keeping us all awake and must be horrible for him. Can anyone recommend any other hay fever meds available from pharmacies that have worked for their kids? Or anything else that has helped?? We need our sleep!

Doctor said asthma was unlikely as nobody else in the immediate family has it.

I know keeping dust down would probably be a good idea but if anyone has any practical tips.of how to achieve that in a 6 year olds carpeted room which is full of Lego, books, toy cars etc I'm all ears. I have trouble keeping up with the bare minimum of housework as it is on top of work, kids, maintaining the garden etc.

Moving all the stuff off his floor in order to Hoover takes forever...

I feel you OP! 6yo DS has a brown inhaler for this - not asthma (that we know of), and no one else in the family has ever had an inhaler. Reactive airways apparently.

Humidifier at night seems to help a bit, and sleeping on an incline. But inhaler is the main help I’m afraid, not sure what you can do about that if GP thinks it’s not necessary. Also humidifier is a bit annoying as you have to make sure to like air the room/try and dry it out a bit in the day (not that the walls are dripping or anything but you know).

I'd prioritise hoovering his room over the garden. Any sign of damp / mould in the room?

Try a humidifier at night.

Thank you both!
I've not heard of inhalers other than for asthma, that is interesting. I'm going to go to the pharmacy today and see if they have any advice and then will have to take him back to the GP if he keeps on like this - it's not straightforward to get an appointment but I did manage it last week so will try again if he doesn't improve.
Can definitely try sleeping on an incline although he likes to curl up in a nest so whether he'd keep his head in the right direction I don't know!
No damp issues in his room as far as I can see, possibly some minor mould round the window seal but no significant mould on walls or ceiling or anything.
I'm not doing anything fancy in the garden, no bedding plants or anything, just the bare minimum of cutting the grass before it gets knee high,.cutting bushes back before they get too high for me to reach, removing brambles etc. The garden still looks a mess...

Will look into humidifiers, I work from home so can keep windows open during the day. I'd be a bit nervous of creating mould issues though. Will def look into it though, thank you.