What could this have been?

[jammytoast2]

Yesterday my dd3 was perfectly normal all day, no cough or signs of illness. Went to bed as normal. At about 10:30 she started coughing really badly and was very upset. It was a horrible sounding cough, very raspy and barky. Her breathing sounded awful too, she was very wheezy and her breathing was loud and almost crackly. It really scared me as it came on so suddenly. I laid with her and thankfully the coughing stopped and her breathing settled. At one point I genuinely thought I might need to go to a&e because of her breathing but it did go back to normal.

This morning she has woken up in a happy, playful mood. She is coughing that horrible cough but only occasionally and her breathing is alright now. Could this have been some sort of asthma attack? not sure if she still needs to be seen?

Could possibly be asthma? Might be worth checking. Glad she's ok!

That sounds like asthma. Make an appointment with your GP.

Chat GPT also suggested croup.

croup is a very scary cough if you haven’t heard it before.

all coughs can come on quickly and are always worse at night I find

It was quite a scary sounding cough. Not like I’ve heard from her before and came on so suddenly.

Barking cough sounds like croup. Tbh mumsnet isn't really the place though, can you record it if it happens again and show the GP?

Yes I will do. I don’t think she needs to see anyone as an emergency as she’s ok now. But I will definitely keep an eye. It was just very scary last night.

It does sound like croup - often much worse at night.
I would try and get her in with a GP today as it may well be bad again tonight.
My DD used to have it regularly and we would end up in out of hours or A&E for steroids every time.

Croup.

My daughter used to get this when she was younger. As PP said contact your GP.

I remember my youngest brother with croup. Mum used to take him into bathroom and run hot bath as the steam helped it. Can't remember him ever taken to doctor over it though

Croup. My son had it at 2 and it was terrifying, he was gasping for breath. Definitely take her today to the GP as it may get worse again tonight.
Also they no longer recommend steam for croup anymore, they recommend fresh air so we bundled our son up and sat outside with him for as long as we could as it definitely helped.

Sounds like croup I agree, you are best getting some medicine today because it is likely to come on again at night so better be prepared rather than needing an A&E trip.