To ask for advice on coughing/ pukey/non-sleeping DS (exhausted mum here!)

[IfISchooledTheWorld]

DS (16months) has been coughing all winter. It started with a cold at the end of August and never went away. Most days were ok but evebibgs and nights were awful with coughing fits at supper where he'd only stop if he puked, and again at bedtime and around 2/3am after which he'd wake crying and struggle to get back to sleep. I tried to see GP about it, had a telephone appointment where she said as he wasn't that sick there was nothing she could do.

He now has another stinking cold - he can't blow his nose so snorts back all the gunk which causes him to cough and cough. All night. Till either he wakes up crying or he pukes repeatedly. Supper time is a cough/puke fest again too...

What do I do? It's been going on for months now but the last 3 days have been so intense - I'm constantly clearing up vomit soaked sheets/clothes/pyjamas, no one is sleeping and I'm barely functioning at work. Plus I have an exhausted and grumpy toddler. Is there anything anyone can do? Feeling desperate here

i would do a couple of things.

Vaporub and an olbas oil plug in in his bedroom, or a couple of drops on a hanky inside his pillow.

If he will let you, try a baby snot sucker to help clear his nose if he can't blow.

Speak to the pharmacist/chemist and see if they have any ideas!

Take him to the Dr, speaking to them over the phone is no good, it can't be good for him to be throwing up all the time!

My son was and is the same, one cough/cold after the other. At his age we can use pholcodeine, but it's banned for under twelves.

I would advise feeding in stages rather than all in one go throughout the cough phase, reducing the chance of a meal / feed coming up.

Vicks or any non brand on a towel in his room, cot/bed raised. Try to avoid over exertion or excitement.

If he's vomiting frequently is stuck to juices over milk. Less fowl smelling.

Your GP will prescribe a linctus but in all honesty it does nothing. I would keep an eye on the coughing though as all four of us have asthma. Coughing is 3 of our main issues.

They used to have stronger medicine but parents were abusing it. I guess if you asked your Dr honestly would any harm come from pholcodeine linctus, get his advice, as that sates irritating coughs pretty well, plus helps them sleep, which is handy as night times are the worse due to lying down.

Good luck, hope you're less sleep deprived soon.

Ooh and there's no harm in given vitamin syrup / sweets. Just to bolster his immune system. At this age you can't hand them cough sweets unfortunately, but as they get older you can get them to drink warm juice and suck on something.

We found a cool air humidifier was really helpful when our baby had coughs and colds.

We still use it now (he's 3.5 years old). Plus its handy in summer - with a loveyl cooling mist

Hi OP

You have my sympathies as this was me last winter with my DS2. Unfortunately we ended up just having to ride it out - we did feed him smaller amounts and avoided milk before bedtime as that seemed to increase the vomiting. Tried raising his cot but half the time he ended up the wrong way. Calpol vapouriser plug ins helped a little with keeping his nose clear. Practically I ended up covering the floor with towels and double sheeting the bed. It was a really horrible winter though and very stressful for everyone.

With my DS I think it was also linked to him having reflux as a baby and still having a strong gag reflex. He has been much, much better this winter now he is a bit older (just turned 2), although still suffers from coughs much more than my DC1 but we no longer get the vomiting ( and also has had croup a couple of times!).

I hope the doctor can help your DS and if not at least take some hope that we are getting nearer the end of winter and it will hopefully be better next winter