When is it time to be concerned about a toddler cough?

[belindarose]

DD (nearly 3) has had a cough for 3 weeks now. The start of it coincided with a cold and conjunctivitis, so I wasn't worried. It's really phlegmy now though. She's not at all bothered by it and it doesn't keep her awake (coughs all night but sleeps through it). She's just coughed constantly through her tea.

I'm not usually worried about this sort of thing, but wonder if it needs to be checked out?

I would take her to be checked out. 3 weeks is quite a long time and it could be a chest infection. Make an appointment to put your mind at rest.

It is normal for a cough to linger for up to 6 weeks after an illness so as long as there is no trouble breathing or anything else I wouldn't worry to much. That said, if your concerned taking her to the gp for a check up won't do any harm

What Sirzy said. Our Gp said coughs last for 6 weeks and to give dd cough mixture (which would be useless )

Our GP said 6 weeks too. My DS has been coughing since he started nursery. Think he is just picking up every bug that is going at the moment. We were told as long as no temperature and eating/drinking normally, we were to wait it out!

It is probably a bacterial infection (viral infection wouldn't last 3 weeks). I would take her to a dr and ask for antibiotics. If they say "We can't be sure it's bacterial", ask for a blood test to make sure, and then get the antibiotics.

DS was exactly 1 when he had a chesty cough for 4 weeks. I did this and got antibiotics, also did chest x-ray and found he had "pockets" indicative of pre-pneumonia.

Thanks for varied replies. I'll give it another few days I think.

Viral coughs can last for 6 weeks and antibiotics are not given 'just in case'. Overuse of antibiotics has caused serious problems with drug resistance. Gp s would not take blood from a toddler just to confirm chest infection, they listen to chests and order X-rays. Pneumonia generally makes a child very unwell, breathless, lethargic and often they are unable to cough and clear the lungs.

If there is any concern get DD checked and keep monitoring.

Far be it from me to oppose your clear authority on the subject, listening to chests and all that are no substitute for a chest x-ray, after which
pre-pneumonia pockets were found in my toddler. Who was not lethargic, not generally unwell, not breathless, and was perfectly capable of coughing, by the way.

That is probably PRE-pneumonia is not pneumonia, which brings us again to the moral of my story, which was that waiting for the cough to go away would not have been a good idea in our case.

Errrrr. I said listen to chests AND chest X-rays. I said pneumonia GENERALLY makes people feverish etc etc.

Most coughs do go away, you were unlucky.

Advice still stands. Parent and A&Enurse