DS vomiting from coughing is just a normal thing according to GP

[coughinfitter]

Can anyone help me please and share experiences.

Ever since my son, who will be 2 in April was around 8 weeks old, he's suffered from recurring coughs that end up in him being sick from coughing several times a day and several times at night too. I mean like 5 times a day and 2-3 times at night if it's very bad.

The doctors always say his Chest sounds clear. Apart from once, where they heard a slight wheeze and prescribed an inhaler.

The inhaler ( blue ) doesn't really help and basically any time he comes down with a cold, his cough gets really bad and he starts throwing up from it, several times a day and also at night. It's really stressful but the GP says there's nothing else that can be done to help.

I've seen several different ones and they say that his chest always sounds clear and he's fine and the throwing up is just normal.

Sometimes at night he also has laboured breathing, but again - not with the GP.

Is this really normal ? My Older DD doesn't have that kind of problem. Grandparents and extended family are horrified when they see it happen. They keep saying we should go private, which we are considering tbh. But I don't know if a private doctor could help us or if it just us what it is. Thank you

Normal in this house. Very scary though. We kept being told that he’d grow out of it. And I can confirm by 6ft 2in he has.

When I'm ill this happens to me. It's so embarrassing. I will gag and have thrown up liquid/lemsip. Always good to ask but it does sound normal.

This happens to me as an adult. Ive always been sick after a bout of coughing. Its just part of life now. I know roughly day 4 of a cold is when the vomiting starts.

Have you tried the salbutamol inhaler when his breathing seems laboured? Does it make any difference then?

My DD does this. Older child doesn’t.

My 2yo vomits every night when he has a cough/cold. I give a dose of piriton before bed to dry up the mucus and stop phlegm settling in his throat (this was recommended by the ENT Dr, obviously not for every night but useful when he's really snotty).

He also has enlarged adenoids, which the ENT thought could be contributing to the coughing - might be worth a check for your little one?

He had GERD as a baby too, so maybe that's related.

This happens to me. I don’t have asthma.

You are not going to meet the criteria to be seen by a paediatrician for an otherwise healthy, growing child who vomits when he coughs a lot with viral illness. It’s normal. Alarming, but normal.

I doubt very much a referral would be done.

Ditto @ToDamp0rNotToDamp we had similar with DS. I’d revisit GP and ask about brown inhaler for morning and night. We’ve seen a massive decline in coughing so much he’s sick since we had the brown inhaler.

My 2 year old vomits quite frequently when he has a coughing fit

I get this as an adult occasionally. I’ve always had a very sensitive gag reflex. I wouldn’t be overly concerned if I were you

It is absolutely normal, while it looks and seems very worrying, it's nothing to panic about. DCs gag reflex is just being triggered by the coughing which is bringing everything up. Hope the little guy is feeling better soon

that is whooping cough

Have you had him checked for reflux?
My niece suffers from similar symptoms.
Recurring viruses/infections but aggravated by reflux, this then triggers the gag reflex & vomiting. She's 6 now but it's been going on since she was a baby.
Eating several hours before bedtime and propping up pillows has helped but medication has also been key. My brother went private in the end as they got a paed referral but they were useless.

I had whooping cough and if cough I still vomit. It weakens things

One of my DC is like this, very normal for her and happens often, it’s horrible at times and we’ve recently had a very bad spell of it. Some children are just like this. Other DC it doesn’t happen at all. Just an unfortunate thing, but does get annoying first few times happened at nursery and school as it’s not a stomach bug but they try to implement the 48 hour rule, they quickly dropped that when they realised it’s just how she is if she has a cough.

My DD had similar symptoms – she had chest infection. She was seen by four GP's and they all said it was normal, and as in you case, she was prescribed blue inhaler which didn't help.

After about four weeks of the continuous coughing and vomiting, I took her to A&E. The receptionist sent us to pediatrics department where DD had chest x-ray and we been told that she has chest infection and needs to be treated with antibiotics.

We are going back next week for another chest x-ray to see if the infection cleared up completely. She's feeling great now.

That’s what it was for my son - an overactive gag reflex. He quite often used to vomit from coughing, then as he got older he just used to gag from coughing but not vomit. He’s grown up now but still has a strong gag reflex.

Definitely normal for DD. She doesn't have asthma but a sensitive gag reflex (weaning was hell) and it was usually caused by the mucus from being congested. It improved a lot with age. Age 3 it happened day and night with every cold. Age 4 was mostly at night and only very chesty coughs. Age 5 (thank god) hasn't happened at all this winter although she still gags a bit on mucus.

A doctor, private or not, is unlikely to do anything about it. What does help is to keep the child upright and encourage them to sip cold water. I kept a water bottle next to the bed at all times and would sleep in DD's room. It's also worse when lying down since the mucus flows down the throat triggering the cough. I would sometimes run her a steamy bath in the middle of the night to decongest things, and then play a bit until the snot has cleared. Decongestant nose spray also helps a lot and works for 24hrs.

My three year old does, though less I think than your son. She was a very refluxy baby, and had reflux till 18 months old, so I assume it's maybe linked to that. It's not nice, but when I looked it up (i.e. googled it) it did seem like it's not something to worry about.

I still do the cough cough vomit thing. Which was a total bugger when I had covid and could barely get out of bed.

It is normal.

Children swallow a lot of mucus when they have a cold as they don’t blow their nose. Mucus trickles down back of throat and they will cough but sometimes they swallow. This mucus builds up in stomach and they will vomit it up with a coughing fit. The vomit often looks very mucosy. Also they will sometimes get a nappy rash or a bit of diarrhoea due to the swallowed mucus passing through the intestines.

i could have written your entire post about my daughter. Now at the age of 16 she’s finally out grown it !

That’s what it was for my son - an overactive gag reflex. He quite often used to vomit from coughing, then as he got older he just used to gag from coughing but not vomit. He’s grown up now but still has a strong gag reflex.

Sounds exactly like DH. When we first dated (in our 20s), he used to get sick from a coughing fit at least 1-2 times a year. Oddly enough that also seems to have faded with age (now 40s). Now it's just been replaced by our daughter who has the same issue!

My son (4) is often sick from coughing and I believe it’s because he cannot bring up the phlegm himself so it’s the only way it can come up. I do think it’s normal in younger children but if you’re concerned, I would definitely try and get a second opinion. I hope he gets better op x