Hi, my 6 month old DS has had a cough/ cold on and off for 3 months.
At first we thought it was just a cold but after a month of it not clearing up took him to the docs. Doc diagnosed a chest infection and prescribed antibiotics. We followed the course and it cleared up.
He then had vaccinations and it appeared to come back. I took him to the out-of-hours doc who said his chest was clear and it was just a cold this time but gave us another prescription of antibiotics in case it didn't clear up. It didn't, so we followed a 2nd course of antibiotics. This time the symptoms lingered.
A 3rd visit to the doctors, now over 2 months down the line, to be told his chest infection was back but worse and now in both lungs. We've finished a 3rd course of double-dose antibiotics but it still hasn't cleared.
From what I can tell the doctor makes a diagnosis of 'chest infection' by listening in to the lungs and hearing mucous 'crackling'. Has anyone else had a similar experience and have any alternative suggestions as to why his lungs may be mucousy? We're going back to the docs for a check up next week and hate the thought of giving him more drugs, especially when they don't appear to be working.
My DD was intolerant to cow's milk so I've come off dairy as I'm BFing as I've read that milk allergy/intolerance and mucous production can be linked. Doesn't seem to be making much of a difference though. The doc said milk intolerance was unlikely, but we got very little help through the NHS for my DD's problems. In our area it seems that only severe food allergies are taken seriously. She had severe eczema which we just got repeated prescriptions of steroid cream for from the doc. Private intolerance testing identified cows milk and as soon as we took it out of her diet she practically cleared up overnight. She's now almost 3 and has grown out of it. Understandably I am a bit wary of doctors treating symptoms but sometimes not looking at underlying causes. Sorry I don't mean to offend any doctors reading, it just the particular experience I've had.
Any suggestions very welcome. Thanks.