To ask for tips for croup

[Hmum0fthree]

My little boy has croup, he is only 2 and a half, he has seen the doctor who has told us to ring an ambulance if he gets worse

I know it gets worse at night but iv never had to deal with it before! Has anyone got any tips? I'm petrified tbh!

We also have dexamethasone at home now. Before then I called an ambulance twice, not because I wasn’t calm enough but because he had an oxygen saturation of 80%.
The steam is outdated advice, cold air helps more.

@barneymcgroo, I'm a nurse so should be able to stay calm, not easy when it's your own though. Plus I am not a child's nurse, small humans are very different!

I do think it helped me be assertive with the system though.

I think the croup guidelines end at 8, they changed the diagnosis to asthma at that time for ds. He has inhalers, they do absolutely nothing to help with the croup, the hospital witnessed this themselves and the emergency asthma plans have never worked for him, so he still has the dexamethasone prescribed.

Cool air might temporarily relieve symptoms, but the steroids have been like a magic bullet for DS.

We also had steroids at home after a few bad bouts when DS(6) was a baby/toddler.
He still gets the occasional slightly croupy cough for a short time at the start of a cold but we haven't needed to use steroids for a few years now.

I had it as a toddler and can remember it and how I could feel it coming on.

My son had it from young and we were told to take him outside and to take him up to A&E for steroids each time it happened. We were not given anything to keep at home as they wouldn't prescribe it.

I do remember the cold air did seem to give an immediate relief to him.

As a parent it's scary to see them and hard to try and keep them calm. Keeping calm and slow steady breathing if they can.

All my kids suffered from it and it was terrifying. We spent many a night sitting wrapped up in the garden trying to get them to breathe. One night my son turned blue and the ambulance man gave him a steroid and within minutes my son was fine. I got the name and asked my doctor for a supply and always had them in the cupboard. As soon as they would start wheezing I'd give them it and they would be fine within half an hour. Best thing ever and took all the fear away for us all. I will check the spelling of it but it begins with p I'm sure your doctor will prescribe it or similar for you

Thank you everyone we kept the windows open and he managed to sleep, luckily the steroids they gave him did the job and he wasn't panicking as much when he did cough

Thanks OP for starting this thread at a very useful time. Ds1 had a bout of croup on Sunday night. Usual story, gave him prednisolone, calpol and stuck his head out the window. All fine. Usually, he's a one night only boy - with a dose, he's fine the following night. This time, however, Monday night he woke up the same, and the last dose of prednisolone was THE last dose we had. I'm nearly an hour from nearest out of hours, spent ages trying to work out whether we needed to go. In the end, he and I spent most of the night in an armchair by the window. I remembered what @lunar1 said about keeping them calm, and my husband even said the next morning how brilliant I'd been. (He'd initially gone in to see if he was okay - he wasn't.)
So thank you for all the reassurance!

Have now got repeat prescription, all sorted again. I don't want to be caught out again!

One thing I found mildly amusing/worrying: the number of health care professionals who still think it's warm steamy environments that help. Both the GP and the pharmacist suggested it.

That used to be what you were told to do (ruined new blinds doing it!)
But I thought it was discouraged these days