To be tearing my hair out with my 3.5 year old’s cough?

[Swashbuckler17]

I’ve tested him for covid using an LFT, negative.

He started with a runny nose on Wednesday, then he was quite bunged up and sneezing on Thursday. Then yesterday afternoon this cough started and it’s been on going ever since. There’s seemingly no break in it, the poor thing.
The only time he seems to stop coughing is when he’s eating (strangely) or when we went for a bit of a walk earlier, he only coughed a few times.
When just sitting around at home today or laying in bed last night and walking around the house it’s constant.

I’ve tried Benylin cough syrup for infants, saline nasal spray up the nose, sitting in a steamy bathroom, vics vapour rub on his feet and on his chest and back, a bowl of boiling water in the bedroom with some eucalyptus oil in it.
Today we gave him anti-histamine syrup from Boots for under 5s, but even that hasn’t helped.
Strangely it seems worse in the afternoon /evening and at night and better in the morning.

I know he hasn’t had it that long but it’s literally almost constant coughing.

Would this warrant a trip to A&E? I have no idea. He doesn’t have a fever and is eating, drinking and weeing fine. Also running around playing on and off, did go on a walk this morning as he seemed better, it’s quite a hilly walk as we live rurally and he wasn’t even out of breath, didn’t need to stop or anything.

I don’t know if he needs antibiotics, but hasn’t even had it a week yet.

He sounds very nasally and there seems to be a lot of thick mucous in the back of his throat and nose. I thought the antihistamine would have worked to dry it up a little, but it’s done nothing…gave it to him at 4pm, it’s now almost 7pm and no change.

What else can we do? It’s driving me insane, I know it’s not nice for him either 🙁

He had bronchiolitis at 8 weeks old and was hospitalised with oxygen & a feeding tube for 24 hours, so not sure if this is relevant.

He normally walks miles, up very steep hills that some adults struggle with and has never shown any issues with his breathing.

I’d love some advice if anyone has any.

I wouldn’t go to A and E unless he was struggling to breathe or his neck was sucking in a bit. Don’t think antihistamines will help with a cough unless it was a hay fever one. My son gets coughs like that. Just cough cough cough endlessly.

there is a nasty cough/ cold going round at the moment.

if its the same one our household has had it may linger for a couple of weeks.

Just treat it as you would a normal cold ( in our case that is... wait it out and plenty of water and nutritious food)

@PlantingTrees what do you do to help relieve the constant coughing?

Could he be asthmatic? He may need an inhaler so it might be worth trying to get him an out of hours gp appointment. Coughing a lot can be a sign. My son is the same at the moment, very similar sounding cough but he has an inhaler which does help a bit

@Holdontowhat I never thought he could be asthmatic as I said in the previous post he does so much walking and lots of very steep climbs, that even some adults find difficult and he’s never been out of breath with it.

Its just this cough.

@Holdontowhat would you suggest an out of hours tonight? Or could it wait until tomorrow?

He probably has post nasal drip from cold. Lots of fluids, humidifier if you have one. You only need to phone 111 or a&e if he is struggling to breath or wheezing

It's always at the weekend when the GP is closed, isn't it?

Do you have ooh GP? Might be worth a call.

Have you tried him with a warm lemon and honey?

@JuneOsborne I haven’t got any lemon, but I gave him a spoonful of honey, didn’t help a huge amount, if at all.

Piriton can help with a cough, best tip ever from a GP.

I'd be inclined to get him checked if it's relentless OP.

Could be a chest infection. I wouldn't go to A&E unless he was struggling to breathe. DD had a bad cough for weeks and doctor said that coughs are naturally worse in the evening/night because the body's natural steroid levels decrease or something.

Nurse recommended broncho stop to me for my 2 year old she said it helped to dry things up

I would try to get him seen tomorrow to see if they want him to try a ventolin inhaler. I would second the suggestion of a humidifier or a bowl of hot water on/near a radiator, or boil a kettle in his room for a bit. Obviously you have to really careful that he doesn’t burn himself on any of it.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor the antihistamine I gave him this afternoon didn’t seem to help with the cough unfortunately.

I’ll see how he is in the morning and call the out of hours GP for an appointment. Don’t know whether I’ll get one, or how easy it is nowadays. Also will they see him because of Covid? We have done an LFT and it was negative.

Do you think they might prescribe antibiotics or more likely an inhaler?

So this sounds exactly like my son. Except he is already on an inhaler and I had been using it on the top level dosage (he has a preventer and a reliever) but although I'm glad to say he isn't retracting his chest - which is what happened a while ago and why we got the inhaler - he was up until today coughing constantly (once a minute at times) and I think the inhaler was partly causing the irritation. I think he has post nasal drip from a combination of hay fever and a cold.
So what I mean to say is unless he is showing breathing difficulties, low o2 levels and retracting he probably won't need an inhaler. Antibiotics will only be needed if he has a crackle in his chest and since he's not a had a fever it doesn't sound like an infection.
Most likely cause would be post nasal drip which is a pain because it allows the mucus to pool at the back of the throat when they lie down at night.
A humid room and broncho stop is the only thing which helps here. Olbas oil, vapour rub etc all seem to make it worse not better.
Ice lollies are good for fluid intake which helps wash it all away and reduce the irritation over time.

Possibly post nasal drip my dd6 sufferers with this alot and its kicked off again now with her hayfever.

And ime, if you do consult out of hours they will absolutely see you covid test or not, they will just take special measures to reduce risk. They understand that it's difficult with kids.
The first time I took my son I thought he was breathing fine with no retraction but the nurse showed me his ribs sucking very slightly and at the base of his neck and turned out he was retracting. So if you're unsure at all get seen. He was also playing fine and just seemed tired which was understandable to me as the cough was stopping him sleeping.

You have my sympathy as I've been at my wits end with the coughing this week.

Bronchiolitis at such a young age will predispose him to respiratory problems and this may well persist for a few years before he grows out of it. A salbutamol inhaler may well help. I would suggest calling 111 because it’s been continuous much of the day. Children compensate very well but when they become fatigued through the effort of breathing they can go downhill very rapidly. He’ll be fine but the fact you are worried means you should be seen.

There are some really nasty coughs going around. My 4yo had one for 4 weeks and the cough was awful.
I tried about 10 different cough mixtures out of shear desperation and found the Bronco Stop Junior cough syrup the only one that seemed to do something. So I'd recommend that.
I don't think it warrants a trip to A&E but maybe worth getting him checked out, if you have and out of hours doctors try there or 111.

Thanks for the replies.

He's asleep now, although still coughing on and off. So I’ve decided to wait and call out of hours in the morning if there’s no improvement or it’s getting worse.

@CindersCatsSister The doctor who treated him in the hospital when he had bronc told us there would be no long lasting issues when he discharged us.

I’m pretty certain it’s a post nasal drip, it seems to be connected to not being able to clear his nose properly and I can sort of hear mucous in the back of his throat.
He kind of gags on it at times.

If he needs an inhaler will they give us one of those spacer things to breathe it in with? I can’t imagine him being too happy about it, but obviously will try if he’s prescribed it.

@LazyYogi I keep looking for signs of retraction, but maybe I’m missing them like you if they’re subtle.

What did they do once the nurse saw the retractions?
Did he need oxygen in hospital?

Definitely call 111 and they should sort you a drs appointment. I called on good Friday around 8am for my middle child who woke up with a swollen eye that he could only just about open and he had an appointment sorted for 12.15pm. Best to get him checked over. Hope he feels better soon.

@livinthedream1995
Thanks, but I’m going to call my local out of hours in the morning. It’s a virtual walk in service so I assume I’ll get a call back then we might be asked to come in and see someone. Obviously if any significant change in the night I’ll call 111 or 999 of course, if he was struggling to breathe. Hopefully I won’t need to..