nightime cough

[TheMysteryCat]

my 18 mth old DS has a horrid bug - coughs and sneezes. as usual with fluey stuff, it's worse at night.

he's been coughing in his sleep for awhile.

he had nurofen before bed and i've just been up and put a couple of drops of karvol on the corner of his cot as well.

i don't really want to wake him to rub in some baby vicks, but if he wakes up i will.

can anyone give me any other ideas that might ease his breathing?

Maybe a bowl of steaming water (with a couple of slices of lemon) in his room? Just to up the humidity quotient.

The other thing is if, even in his sleep, you can get him to cough any phlegm out. I have hung small child over my shoulder for this (basically shoulder and stomach in contact) and, while not foolproof, it has worked on occasion.

Hope he gets better soon. It's horrible to hear the coughs and wheezing.

I tried putting the head end of the cot up on a couple of books, helped a bit. Also put a bowl of very hot water and Vicks in room when DC was asleep before I went to bed - obviously well out of arm's reach. That helped quite a lot.

Glad he's getting better.

Our DTs had a lot of night time coughing until we got a Vicks humidifier :)

It has a large reservoir that holds enough water to last from us going to bed until the ungodly hour that the DTs wake and it is quiet. It cost about £40 from Argos. There is also a little well to put Vicks in if you want smelly steam rather than plain!