To worry about blue lips??

[ohIdoliketobebesidethesea]

Little one (2 1/2) has had none stop colds since starting nursery. He has just got over the last one about a week ago. Since then he has still had a cough but only at night. He will start coughing every night and it will last for about ten mins at a time, he then gets really distraught. The last few times I've been in to check on him when he's having these episodes his lips and all around them have been blue. He no longer has a temp or any other sign of the bug he had but it's worrying me a bit that this cold won't go. He also has suspected asthma so I'm not sure if it's now that instead of a normal cough?

When you give him his inhaler what do you give?
Yes they hate it - I am a Paeds nurse but also have a son who has needed an inhaler since very tiny. He hated it too but it’s for the greater good and now takes it fine himself. I would mulitdose until the call back, so 10 puffs of his ventolin via spacer it is hard going when they hate it and struggle but it may help if that’s behind the cough but you do always need to get these things checked out especially on such a young child.

He may need oxygen or a steroid - my son triggers by colds at this time of year and he either coughs and coughs or gets tight and wheezy, his inhaler doesn’t always help so we have had a fair few trips to out of hours/a&e. But lips going blue is not normal and needs checking. Hope you get seen very soon.

@SusannahHolmes

On a different tone, one of my kids as a toddler always used to get blue lips when mildly unwell. In his case it was not serious; it was described by the doctor as "getting a bit peripherally shut down". However I was told that it was sensible to get him checked out. He grew out of it around age 3.5.

This happens to my daughter and one of my sons. The daughter does have an inhaler although they don't actually know if she's asthmatic yet (she's nearly 2) but my son doesn't. I asked the Dr obviously and they said it does happen to some children and can be nothing to worry about.

So hopefully for the OP it's just this type of thing.

You can buy an oximeter online for approx £20, which measures oxygen levels. I don't know if they are suitable for children. Might be worth asking dr if that would be a useful thing to have at home

Have a look at this: www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng143/resources/support-for-education-and-learning-educational-resource-traffic-light-table-pdf-6960664333

You should absolutely get checked out for blue lips.

Yes get your child checked out. My child had blue around mouth and was 92 oxygen saturation and very unwell with bronchiolitis and possible sepsis (was RSV and adenovirus in the end). I would go to A&E

@MrsMaiselsRedCoat

If the blue inhaler isn't helping his coughing and he has a rattling when he's breathing, alongside the blue lips bring him to A&E. It sounds very much like he needs a nebuliser.

Ds had asthma at that age and we had to do this a lot. If you can, put him in the car and take him to the nearest children's hospital.

^This. My two DDs have asthma and when this happened, that is exactly what we did too. It’s not a waste of time or resources. Asthma can very quickly get to life threatening in a small child.

Thanks everyone, I spoke to 111 earlier and they want an out of hours gp to give us a call so we are just waiting for that now

Just for the record no healthcare professional will ever think you’re wasting time for getting blue lips checked out. If it happens again call 999, don’t wait for out of hours.

What happened OP? Did 111 call back?

My DD used to get blue lips briefly when she had a cough or similar, at the same age. I mentioned it to the doctor who was entirely unperturbed, and said that if it's only for a minute or so while coughing, it's not a problem, and that it's common in toddlers.

So yes, good to check, but I wouldn't worry too much if it's just brief.

Just to add re using a spacer with a little one - re the spacer we let our dd put stickers on it and called it her trumpet

Glad you called 111. Blue lips can be a sign of low oxygen levels in blood. Best to get him checked out by medical staff
Don't worry about wasting anyone's time. You're not.