When does croup warrant a trip to A&E?

[Boxofbugs]

DS is 8 months. At 5 months he contracted croup and bronchyolitis and was hospitalised for several days. Doc said to be vigilant as croup is a repeater.

He currently has a croupy cough but not with every breath 'as it was before. He also has a mild wheeze but not as bad as before. He has a fever too (39.7 a few hours ago but it came down with drugs). He is asleep.

When should a croupy baby be seen? He is nowhere near as bad as before but he is not breathing right and I don't want to leave it if it will get worse.

Breathing problems in such a young child would always warrant a trip to a & e

Straight to A and E, a tiny baby can go down hill very quickly.

I'd ring out of hours now, they may just say take to a and e with breathing problems. But it's defiantly worth the phone call.

Don't take ant chances. If you think your lo is struggling to breathe, or I'd breathing is rapid and shallow, straight to a&e

he is not breathing right

I would want him to be seen, and I am quite blaze regarding croup, as I was a a sufferer as a child/teen - at this age their airways are tiny.

Don't hang about, get him seen

Gosh, wasn't expecting those replies. When I say 'not breathing right' I mean the mild wheeze. He isn't sucking in under his ribs (as he did last time) and he properly asleep. I was going to sleep next to the cot with the humidifier on but now I've read this thread I'm rethinking. Gah, I hate the hospital.

I was going to sleep next to the cot with the humidifier

In all honesty, that is what I would do with my own DC (it's what I used to do with DS1) - but obviously I can't see your DS, and would hate to say "oh he'll be fine", and then it turned out he wasn't.

If you're undecided then call 111 or your out of hours doctor's number. The only advice you can reasonably get from non-medical people on the internet is, quite rightly, to err on the side of caution and take him to A&E.

I'd ring OOH's and see what they say, tbh.

Thanks for all this advice. We avoided hospital on Sat night but ended up there last night. Things seemed better after steroids and nebulisers but he is struggling again this morn.

Hiya it totally sympathise with you on this me wee daughter had this since she was 3 months she's now coming up for 10 months on the 1st and she only got rid of the croup and broncholitis at 9 months she stopped breathing and everything she turned blue was so horrible and she just was struggling at breathing everyday eventually after being at children's hospital and drs for months on end after im steroids medicine ect we got her an inhaler it was call salamol because they think rather than it still being croup and broncholitis it gave her a touch of asthma we got the inhaler at 8 months she used it for a month 3 times a day and after that she was totally better so might be worth a trip to the drs to see about an inhaler for your little one hope they are better soon xx

My 13 month old DS2 has had a similar experience over Christmas, night 1 couple of tell tale noises, night 2 croupy cough and noise when crying, night 3 was bad noisy breathing even when calm/sleeping so went to a&e, nebs&steriods.

At this point thought he would turn a corner but night 4 he was poorly again! Woke with noisy breathing and couldn't get it to settle so took him back to a&e, given more steroids but his sats etc were a lot better that time.

Eventually on night 5 he settled all night and was on the mend but had a bad cough for a week or so after.

I worked on the basis of if his breathing was noisy while calm/sleeping I wanted him checked, even though I could see he wasn't struggling (breathing fast, pulling in at neck/ribs) as at the end of the day I'm no doctor and just have my instincts to go off!

DS1 is asthmatic and I've had my fair share of breathing issues but I found croup very worrying indeed and the hospital were more than happy to see to him both times.