To ask you to talk me through croup?

[LokiBear]

Typically, we are on holiday, and the illness curse has struck again. Dd7 has tonsilitis, which I caught before we left, got her to the GP who gave antibiotics and felt very pleased with myself for being so clever. No way was illness going to scupper this half term holiday! Anyway, we arrived today (uk based holiday) and Ive just been woken up by a seal barking in dd2's room. I've calmed her down and given nurofen and finally got her to sleep in my arms. Dd2 is 20 months. Breathing isnt too laboured, colour is good. Slight stridor on the inbreath. She is a noisy breather anyway. 24ish breaths per minute and able to suck on a dummy. What should I expect? Should be avoid swimming etc? Shes been fine all day. Slight runny nose but very slight and no temperature. That makes every holiday and short break since dd2 was born that one of them has been ill. Dd2 was even poorly for both her first Christmas and birthday. Gah.

Go to Argos and buy a humidifier if you can. I bought the vicks cool mist one (so no chance of scalding) and it made the world of difference for my daughters sleeping last night after three nights of constant coughing.

I don't think you would be able to use the scented pads though with a child that young but it's the mist squirted out that helped.

I would make sure she gets plenty rest, my boy had another bout last week and I took him to a and e; they gave him steroids and we were only there one hour but I felt much better for taking him.NHS now recommends the fresh air is much better for croup than steam; paramedics told us this when my son had his first bout of it.

Mine had it, and I managed it at home, slept
Closely to him though. I know others who have been given steroids for it but we never were never offered. He was about 2 when he first got it and repeatedly got it till about 3 x

I took DC1 to A&E with laboured breathing (and 50 breaths a minute when I counted) on the advice of 111 - I was amazed when they said croup because there was no barking cough. But they did, and steroids sorted it like magic.

Hopefully she will now be fine OP 🤞🏻

Echo the calm thing I remember him pricing in the night but a quick organisation of in the night garden distracted him enough to calm him down x

Steam is not recommended for croup. Sitting upright when possible and plenty of fluids. Try to avoid her crying as it can make symptoms worse.

In my experience of croup (far too much with DTS, A&E dash several times for dexomethasan) it will likley be better today and worse again tonight. Any chance you can go to gp / walk in today to get steroids in case you need. Stridor needs treatment and steam in the bathroom is now outdated advice.

Any signs of drooling, inability to swallow, straight to A&E, no messing.

My son used to suffer so bad with croup , I used to bring him into the bathroom and run the shower hot to create steam I also covered his chest in Vicks gave him regular drinks and extra pillow to keep him propped up at night. I got different advice from another doctor that said if there was hard frost to bring them out because the very cold hair could help . But I followed my own GPS advice of steam and plenty of fluids

DS1 had 2 bouts of croup. Cold air works well - it was November both times so wrapping him up warm but sitting outside in the middle of the night really worked wonders. Also looking at the moon and the starts was a great distraction and helped calm him down.

Had steroids (prednisilone) for the 2nd bout - they were amazing and worked so quickly.

Sleeping sitting up helped a lot too. As others have said - keep them calm as possible, it's so much worse when they panic.

Current medical advice is to avoid humidity and heat. The best non-medical treatment is to take the person to where it is cool i.e outside. I had to take my teenage son to the ED last winter and that is what I was advised to do in the future if steroids were not required. Son did need a nebuliser and steroid medication for several days after the attack.

Thanks all. Shes been fine today. Under the weather, but generally fine. Anticipating a night time attack. Keeping the heating off in the caravan and will give a dose of nurofen before bed. I think dd2 is going to be the child that scares me. We've already had 2 febrile convulsions, now this.

Fingers crossed she stays well and doesn’t scare you with anything else, OP.

As an aside, in case anyone liked “Anne of Green Gables” as a child (or now, especially the poster called “AnneLovesGilbert”!), it was when the hospital said DC had croup that I googled it and read that in fact Anne did NOT save Diana’s sister’s life - but in fact probably made the croup worse by dosing her up with ipecac. Modern doctors say Diana would have done better to pick up her little sister and carry her to Anne’s house in the cool snowy air!

Just a warning that we had to say in hospital for about 6hrs after they gave DS the steroids for croup. Was annoying as I didn't bring anything with me (like a bottle or water/snacks/book). DS went to sleep so I was stuck there, quite bored. However he perked up quickly but we were told to come back if he needed a second dose the next night (he didn't).

DS also perked up loads during the journey, due to the cold air I expect.