8 month old, horrid sounding chesty cough

[OneTwoOrThree]

He's had it for about 5 days. Horrid sounding (no whoop though - phew!), mild temperature at the beginning of the cough. Snotty and a bit grumpy, restless at night but otherwise ok.

I don't think he needs to see the GP, but wanted to see what others thought. Also, am I right that there's no reason to give cough medicine?

Thanks

Does the cough sound like a seal barking? My DS was coughing badly like that and it turned out to be croup, which he needed steroids for. But it's a very distinctive coughing sound, and it's more sharp and barking than chesty, you can get a sound bite of it on t'internet if you google 'croup'. Hope he gets well soon, it's horrible when they're ill.

My DD has this too. I asked the pharmacist (?sp) but she said there was nothing we could give her. Just to put Karvol or similiar on her chest at night and go back to the GP if we're still concerned.

Hope they all get better soon. I miss my happy non grumpy baby!

My 18mo has just started to get over this - it's seemed to go on for weeks Runny nose & slight temp too as you described. We took her to the GP because she also caught conjunctivitis & he confirmed that it was just a horrible cough that eventually should get better on its own. He said children's cough medicine isn't worth using. TBH I think the cough bothered us more than DD.

Thanks all. It doesn't sound croup-y,thankfully. I think you're also probably right that it's bothering me more than him. I feel reassured that I'm not bring overly laid back about not seeing GP or giving him any medicine.

If he wasn't such a staunch refuser of calpol I probably would have given him some tonight (again, probably more for my benefit!)

I find that sometimes giving them some (luke)warm chamomile tea helps, especially during the night (I prepare a thermos flask with weak chamomile tea for during the night in those situations).

Sounds like it could be bronchiolitis. Keep a close eye on him and if at all worried get him checked over.