Can anyone help with advice, please?

[snowboots]

We are completely snowed in, nothing can get through.

Both children are unwell and the eldest one is vomiting but sort of ok - taking fluids, resting etc.

Our three year old has developed a horrible chesty cough and I have nothing here that I can give him and no way of getting to the doctors.
i propped him up in bed last night but the cough was really bad. it seems to vanish during the day yet he is eating and drinking very well, no temp, very active.

Can I give him a tiny amount of Benylin or is that wrong? He has never had a cough before but we got quite a fright last night as he was sounding so chesty.

What should I do?

bump. anyone?

What does the Benylin say on the label?

Fluids, steam, plenty to drink and lots of rest.

Don't give Benylin. No Vicks or anything in?

DD has had a nasty cough recently. So much worse at night. Sounded awful. It was croup. That horrid seal-like nightime barking.

Thank you. The only medicine that I have is CalCough which is just glycerine and pretty useless. I was loathe to give him Benylin and will not now.

It does sound like a seal-like bark and then there is a funny rattle. It is happening about three times a night and he goes back to sleep ok.

He is not coughing during the day and does not have asthma.

Sounds like Croup, try steaming, sit in bathroom with him with shower on full.
Have you a humidifier?
Also sometimes breathing the night air for a few mins can help.

Do you mean keeping a window open at night? I don't have a humidifier and this is a very cold, damp house.
Would basins of water round the bedroom be of any use? He is in our room.

Don't open the windows. The winter air has very low humidity. You can put a wet towel on your radiator, or use bowls of water.

If your child is prone to croup, it is a good idea to get a humidifier. They are not terribly expensive.

v good home remoedy is onion & honey syrup - see below. You can speed it up by putting it into a small pan and gently heating it up to let onion run the juices, but don't cook it. Could also add garlic for the antiseptic effect.

Honey & onion syrup :)
To prepare the onion and honey syrup, chop the onion and add three full tablespoons of honey. Leave the mixture overnight. In the morning, filter out the onion cubes and retain the fluid. Ingest a full tablespoon every two hours.

I think if I tried to give my dd honey and onion syrup she'd have a few choice words to say to me.

Cold night air always worked a treat on croupy dd. Just a quick walk outside (well wrapped up). Only when she was really struggling though. If he's managing to sleep despite the odd coughing fit, I'd let him stay in bed, steam around the room and lots of tlc.

DD sounded flipping awful a couple of weeks ago. Rattly, barky, hoarse etc. It cleared up as quickly as it came.

Thank you so much. He has had a long steamy bath and we have put wet towels on the radiator plus I have let the kettle boil in the bedroom so it is warm and damp.

He had a lot of garlic at tea time in a vegetable stew and asked for more. . I have also prepared the honey and onion for tomorrow.

It is bitterly cold here, the school and nursery are closed for the next few days so it is a challenge to get both children back to good health.

I really appreciate everyone here taking the time to help. Thank you.

Hi, I second the Onion and honey syrup. In the meantime you can cut an onion and put it with its cut side upwards on the bedside table as the chemicals it releases will help breathing. Also, give little sips of warm drink (not milky if he has a cold) so chamomile tea or warm water with lemon and honey, or just warm water.Vomitting is not bad although unpleasant as long as they keep sipping water or something else, dehydration is the real danger. Also, lots of distraction and calpol and calprofen (if you don't have it I would try that somebody gets it for you just in case you need it). If you are snowed in, you may be able to order Goodyear tyre socks online (if they deliver, they come by courier forgot which one, but you can ask them), I got them the next day. Ambulance services also use them. Also, I would definitely not take them out in the cold! Hope they get better soon.

snowboots, a couple more things to add:
make sure their feet are warm at all times, let them sleep in socks if need be (you can rub their feet with something like olbas oil as well)

if you make warm non-milky drink/tea as per dikk, you could put in a clove as well (not garlic this time, the spice called clove), it's very warming on the inside :)

Hope they all feel better soon. Even just a spoon of honey might help until the onion and honey is ready in the morn.

For your eldest have you any lemonade in the house? If you have warm the lemonade up to take the fizz out and sips of that will help him.

Hope you all get some sleep

A much better night last night, ds only coughed a couple of times but slept well. He took the onion and honey juice this morning and liked it.
Both children are in duvet nests on the sofa and I lit the fire early so the room is lovely and warm.

We have no hope at all of getting out as the snow is even deeper today and no cars have passed which means the road is properly blocked. (We live off the road in an isolated area).

Thanks for being so reassuring as I did feel panic and worry but the night went well.

do send some snow down south when you get bored with it

glad they are better, take care :)

DS had croup just before Xmas last year and the dr said the best thing was cold air just for a few minutes.

DD2 who is only 8 months old had this last week. She was coughing dreadfully in the night, very congested first thing in the morning etc...

DP and I had it to a lesser extent the week before, so knew it would run its course and it did.

Anyway, we just gave her Calpol (even though she didn't have a temp, think she was in pain at times as she would cough and then do a little whimpering cry). She sounded terrible. On the plus side though, it only lasted about a week, with the worst of ot being over a three/four day period. We also used Karvol capsules on a hanky in her bed at night which seemed to help. She is pretty much fine now :)

Has anyone ever told you about using Vaporub on children's feet at bedtime when they have a very bad cough - it's supposed to work wonders, but best to stick to the kiddie version I would think. I haven't tried it as we didn't have any in and she improved by the time I had chance to get some.