At my wits end! Help!

[queenbeetofive5]

So I have an almost 15 month old DD, for months I've been taking her to the doctors about this cough she developed at night ONLY it's the weirdest thing!

So in the day she naps like any other toddler and not once does she cough even in the day when she's awake playing there is not one cough, come the evening she'll go to bed with a bottle of milk and will fall asleep no problems, after a couple of hours of being asleep she'll start coughing until she's sick inside her cot.

Now this has been going on for months sometimes it'll happen again in the middle of the night, I'm totally exhausted and having to strip her bed and bath her in the early hours!

I honestly don't know what it could be, the doctors gave her an asthma pump incase it's night time asthma but it's made no difference, I've propped her mattress up so she's not laying flat, it can't be the room because she naps in it in the day for upto 2 hrs it's literally at night, I'm totally at my wits end

Does she have a full bottle of milk at any other times? Could it possibly be the milk triggering her cough?

Could you bring her last milk forward, and use a cup instead of bottle.

Does she have any Far Eastern / Oriental heritage? If so she may lack the enzymes needed to digest dairy products.

Milk, laying down on her back, reflux.
Something specifically triggering in the room, stuffed toys, mold?

Having a big milk at night is like having a big roast dinner then going to bed, at 15 months this big meal is needed less so you could reduce the milk ounce a night until it is token or put it in a cup and give it earlier, upright or move milk to the morning.

We switched our toddlers to being a morning milk instead of night.

Are there other times she has food or milk and lays straight down, as she may have a bit of reflux which is worse when just eaten and lays down, the acid creeping back up makes them cough or it could be night time asthma?

Is there anything different she has at night to the day nap?

Try removing soft toys and any allergens to see if it makes a difference.

Does she have a bath before bedtime? Could it be shampoo/soap etc irritating her airways.

Is it the room or do you use that room in the day too?

my sister had this as a child. Sick nearly every night for years, turns out her tonsils swole up at night. Tonsils removed at 4 and never happened again since, was random apparently according to doctors!

I agree that it’s probably the big drink of milk. Try reducing her milk or giving it to her earlier and see if that makes a difference.

Adenoids???

Often you only get symptoms at night with this. Google it. Ask your gp for a referral to ent if you think it could be adenoids or tonsils.

Oh and video it so you can show gp - they often don’t believe you without a video

Is there a particular time it happens? Wondering about picking up her and cuddling upright for a bit before the coughing gets going, then settling her back in her cot after 20 mins or so. Less of a pain in the arse than cleaning up sick?

Removing the nightly bottle sounds sensible though.

Op my youngest was exactly the same, she would have it twice a year. Started before her second birthday, we thought milk too so stopped that and still it persisted. She had chest xrays etc but all came back clear. We started using inhalers (brown and blue) without a dx of asthma and the blue inhaler did give her relief at night but she would still vomit. We never got to the bottom of it and if she has a cold with a cough it still can happen but it's seasonal rather than nightly. I wish you and your little one the very best, it's very tough.

I'm inclined to think an ENT issue. We went though this at a similar age, although not for such a prolonged period of time. My DD used to get lots of ear infections and she used to vomit about an hour after bedtime. It turned out she had enormous adenoids and since having removed last summer she's had no more problems.

Thank you everyone for your comments I'm going to try all these.

She's been given a brown and blue pump but it hasn't made any difference so not convinced it's asthma, it can't be the milk because she has one in the morning with her nap and she's perfectly fine then.there's no damp or teddies either, I've suggested acid reflux to the doctors in the past because her dad, uncle and both grandparents on her dad's side all suffer with it but they've said it's not hereditary and ruled it out although I'm convinced that's what it is but they will not listen I'll google the tonsil thing though as I've not heard of that.

She's been in bed since 6:30pm and fingers crossed there's been no coughing yet!

This used to happen to my DD all the time, she had tonsils and adenoids removed and it has made a huge difference. Does your DD snore or splutter in her sleep? That can be a good indication of enlarged tonsils.

Adenoids more likely than tonsils!

Or both to be fair. But please listen to the people who have already been through it. If her symptoms are nighttime only and much worse with illnesses then adenoids and tonsils def the most likely

What happens if she spends the night in your bed? Does it happen still? Might be worth having her in your bed for a night and seeing if you can see a trigger.

She snores now and again but not all the time.

I've just picked her up because I could hear her coughing, held her for a couple of minutes and put her back down, she seems to have settled for now.

I'm going to start giving her evening meal earlier and her bedtime bottle and see if that helps, she's back at the doctors on Wednesday so I'll mention the adenoids and reflux again.
I'll try her sleeping In my bed too, at this point I'll give anything a go x