4 year old with constant cough

[Alanbennett]

He started with it around three weeks ago.
At first he was full of snot too.
Then last week, he developed a fever and was very unwell suddenly, sent home from school, I called the GP and he was prescribed antibiotics for a secondary ear infection.
48 hours after starting antibiotics he was fine again, full of beans and mischief, but still coughing.
When it first started (the cough) 3 weeks ago he was coughing at night and waking himself up with it.
Now he’s not coughing at night at all, it’s just during the day.
Strangely it seems worse during or after he’s eaten. But to be honest there doesn’t seem to be a particular pattern to it.

In himself he’s absolutely fine, cheeky, silly, running around, eating and drinking fine. Nothing abnormal. Just this consistent cough, which I’m sorry to say is driving me insane!

I’m not sure if it’s a habit cough maybe? As he doesn’t do it when he’s asleep. But I’m not sure. I just don’t know what to do at this point.

Pop into your pharmacy. I did that when DD had a persistent cough, and they were helpful, and actually said it had been going on long enough that we should see the doctor - having the recommendation made me feel easier about bothering the doctor. (The doctor prescribed an inhaler, which did the trick.)

@lanthanum
I thought about an inhaler, but if he need that, wouldn’t he be coughing at night/in his sleep too? Not just during the daytime. I might be wrong but I thought that was how it usually worked.

My 2 year old is doing the same at the moment. He's had an upper resp tract infection, gone through the poorly stage and the 'similar to bronchiolitis' stage (he's had a lot of bronchiolitis and it seemed similar but he's a bit old now to be getting it) and now we're left with a cough. I think it's slightly habitual and slightly a bit of an irritated upper airway. I think we're 3 weeks in and when it last happened I remember a cough lingering for weeks before eventually disappearing. Will probably give him up to 6 weeks before seeing a GP.

When I have a cough, eating also sets it off. No idea why though.

The doctor will (hopefully) know what the best treatment is, so let them make the diagnosis.

My DD has an inhaler and she's 2.5. Doesn't tend to need it in summer, winter needs it all the time during the day but never at night!