Prednisolone or calpol?

[MamOfTwo]

DD had a barking cough in night so took her to GP - she says without hearing it, she can't be sure if it is croup but has given me prednisolone. However, now DD seems fairly OK and it seems to be more of a sore throat/milder cough. Not sure whether to treat with calpol or the prednisolone? I have just read the side effects of predn. and they scared the hell out of me! Anyone have any experience of prednisolone? She has her birthday party at weekend so desperate to get her better for that.

My dd has had to take prednisolone quite a few times. She has asthma and if she has a bad cold and gets very ill she needs it to give her a boost and strengthen her lungs.
I can only imagine if your doctor prescribed this drug for your dd she must have felt it was needed.
But you should also go with your gut. If you feel she seems a bit better and would be fine with just calpol then go with that.

I'm not here very often so don't know about the scaremongering, but when my dd has used this drug, I was very glad of it because it made a massive difference and really helped.

Coughing often gets worse at night. I would give her the prednisone. Calpol won't do anything for a cough.

croup that needs prednisolone is more than just a barking cough. What you need to look out for is a noise made when she breathes in called stridor-have a listen to this little boy;

if you watch this video you can also see that the chest just below the sternum is sort of sucking in when she breathes? if you get that def give the steroids and get her to hospital.

if the cough is milder then i wouldn't give it but that's your decision to make.