6mo baby with hacking cough for 7 weeks. I can't take this anymore, please help

[Zara87]

7 weeks ago ds2 age 6mo got diagnosed with bronchilitis and an ear infection. He had a cough and high temp. Put on antibiotics for ears which all cleared up.
However the cough hasn't gone and is getting worse by the day.
I have been back to the docs at least once a week for 7 weeks now, which may seem ridiculous but everywhere we go everyone is telling me how poorly he sounds. It's relentless, day and night. I see different docs most of the time who all listen and say he doesn't sound infected and put in steamy bathroom and just wait for it to to.
This weekend has been particularly bad. He's now off his milk and food.
I took him to the out of hours docs yday morning who checked everything. Said his throat looked inflamed but his oxygen level was 100% and normal temp, chest still clear but constantly hacking cough while we were there. Doc diagnosed croup and put on steroids for 3 days.
However since yesterday he is so much worse. He can't sleep, he's coughing and coughing and coughing. He won't stop crying, I can't stop crying. He looks in so much pain and so sad. I have a ds1 age 2 who is fed up of us staying in all the time but when ds2 so is this poorly I don't feel we can go anywhere!
I know I have 2 days of steroids left but listening to croup coughs last night on YouTube, this doesn't even sound like what he has.
I should add, his temp often goes up to 40 and he's been quite violently sick 3 times in the last week too. Totally unsure if it's related.
If anyone has any advice as to what the hell I should be doing id be very grateful :(

Go back -

Can you video a bad episode of coughing? But yes go back.

@Hawkmoth my phone is full of 2 months worth of coughing episodes.. no joke. I show them to the docs and they say "ah yes I see what you mean"
And then nothing happens.
He's gone to bed tonight after finally drinking 1oz of milk and crying himself to sleep as he just couldn't stop.
Broke down in tears to my cleaner today. She asked me how I am managing to stay sane (she has heard it every Friday for almost 8 weeks now) only today he was screaming hysterically.
I felt so bad, she didn't know what to do! She just walked him round the house for 10 mins to calm him down.
If by Monday there is still no improvement I will really push for a blood test. I feel like other than that there is nothing i can do as nobody is prepared to do a damn thing :(

I'm really grateful for the advice and sorry for ranting. I feel so bloody awful for him it's absolutely heart breaking

Phone 111 tonight or go back to children's A&E-

Trust your gut instinct & don't be scared to go back.

Should have added that if he has had under half his daily liquid intake they will take that seriously - dehydration can happen quickly in little ones.

Would he take a dream feed in a hour or so - to get his intake up?

@notasnowploughoratiger
I will try a dream feed that's a good idea. He has only had a max of 2oz per feed 4x a day for about a week now. He used to drink 7oz 4x a day. Everyone that's seen him has said he isn't dehydrated and in fairness he's weeing lots still.
So so hard knowing what to do for the best

The care you have received has not been good OP, I'm so sorry. I think you need to get back to A&E (is there a paediatric one near you?) and insist on a chest x ray. Have they checked his heart rate? Tachycardia can indicate an infection.

There is a paeds a&e ward at the hospital we went to the other night. They were extremely busy (doing the kids obs in waiting room and 2 kids had sickness and diarreoah and were forced to stay sat in waiting room as there was physically nowhere to go! So I'm sure my baby with a cough was not of much relevance).
His obs including heart rate were all 100% normal. In fairness it was past his bedtime and he was half asleep in pushchair by the time we got seen.
The doctor asked me "what do YOU want" and i said "a chest xray".
Her exact words "I would never in a million years radiate this baby. Your baby just has a cough". I cried. She gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder and told me about how stressful it is because her baby had a cough for 6 months and she understands it's hard. Then sent us home
I felt ridiculous

That is awful op, and so patronising of her. I really hope your baby is OK and nothing underlying.

Do you have health insurance? Time to go private.

I have it with a Aviva privately through work. Would he be covered or would i have to pay separately?

How is your LO today?

Through your work they would have had to have listed your LO as an extra - should state on your yearly update/letter.

If still poorly today please just phone 111 or go back to Children's A&E.

Write down a detailed history of the last 8 weeks. A list of dates, every single time you've sought medical advice, what you were told, what medication was given.

Include how much milk he's had over the last 48 hours, how much he's taking at each feed, and how many wet nappies.

Emphasise that this hasn't improved in 8 weeks, that steroids don't seem to have made a difference.

I'd be worried about pneumonia, you might have to be really firm. I wouldn't worry about one x-ray (that was a stupid thing for the doctor to say). My DS has had about 11 chest x-rays and a CT scan.

I know what it's like to be ignored. It took a month of me going back to the doctors and A&E before DS was diagnosed (serious lung defect).

Left out the most important bit. Back to A&E, especially if he's struggling to breathe or you think he's dehydrated

Normally children need to be added to a policy, ring them and check.

OP I had this with my DS when he was 12 months. He was ill with a cough for a while then suddenly we had a weekend where he just couldn't really do anything without coughing, had a very high temp etc. All though this we had Drs listening and saying he sounded fine. At A and E, when he was evidently struggling, they still said he sounded fine. Luckily they did decide to X-ray his chest. Infection found on both sides of his chest and a double dose of antibiotics prescribed. He was well within 4 days. It's definitely possible for them not to hear something.

How is he today OP?

He's definately been coughing less today and hasn't has a temperature for the first time in weeks!
Its typical really as we had decided 100% on going private tomorrow and seeing a gp down that route. Now I feel that it's going to be a waste of time! Obviously I'm pleased that there does seem to be an improvement. The issue is the lack of milk still, he's had 4oz the whole of today. The last if that being at 11am, he won't drink water so I've been giving him watermelon mashed up. I'll monitor his fluid intake and speak to hv if I don't think it's worth going to docs for again

Thank you for asking :-)

Also @1sttime
Thank you for sharing your story and I'm really glad your little one improved. That's really luck they did a chest xray! I wish they would on my ds because my worry has been for weeks now that he has something that isn't showing up just by listening. Thanks again

Me again....
18 days on from my OP.
Things are still bad and getting worse.
He is drinking on average 5-7oz milk a day. Won't touch water and will have the odd spoon of food.
He is coughing day and night and is screaming in pain.
He has an average temp of 38. It will come down with meds but then goes back up again.
Saturday he woke struggling to breathe. Awful chest recession. Called 111 who sent ambulance. He was taken to hospital as oxgen was 90%. Heart rate fine. Temp raised.
He was put on a ward and monitored. Doc wasn't happy so sent for a chest xray which showed all clear. Shift change and baby sent home as new doc couldn't see why he was in and why he had had a chest xray
So here we are, back at square one. DS is an absolute wreck. He finally fell asleep at 4.40am after screaming all night like he was in the worst imaginable pain
Took him to gp today in tears and begged for help. Told him he is having his nappy changed every 4 hours and a lot of the time they're bone dry but all doc cared about was that he wasn't dehydrated right at that moment and he wasn't screaming in pain right at that moment then so we were sent on our merry way. He didn't have chest recession today.

Do i just give up now? I literally cannot think what else to do or what else would be causing this?

Please, any advice at all :(

Jesus OP that is absolutely shocking care. Is there any chance you could see a private paediatrician? Otherwise back to GP and say look: I understand you don't think he's dehydrated right now. In that case, what is your diagnosis? Go through the history and symptoms, print out your posts if needs be. And do not leave till you either have a diagnosis or an admission that your baby needs specialist care as the GP doesn't know what to do.

My son who is nearly 4 has been like that from 9 months I thought and thought until I got referred to a pediatrician specialist as he was poorly every month with a cough and ended up with 3 viruses at one time and was so run down he was exhausted his body just wasn’t getting time to recover, they took swabs from nose, blood tests, X-rays, he had RSV, adenovirus, enterovirus all at one time, and needed nebuliser due to having a tug at his neck with difficulty breathing, does your little one have nose congestion? My DS got given inhalers last year and monteulakest granules to help airways as he was struggling every month with infections, he was doing so much better until this winter but they suspect he is asthmatic and that’s why he has those meds as precaution and it all started at 9 months with bronchilitis and suffered months with a cough then repeated infections, Don’t give up demand Pediatrics referral

Bumping for you, I'm horrified this is still going on.
I'm not in the UK so don't know how easily/quickly private care can be accessed. But this sounds like what you need now.

You must be getting so tired and run down OP but you may have to keep fighting now. Print things out, write them down, don't apologise about continuing to push. Keep referring back to length of illness, dry nappies. Bring your partner to the GP with you also.

This sounds terrible and I’m so sorry it’s happening. Just wanted to say my boy had a terrible on/off cough for 18 months which turned out to be a deep lung infection which needed four weeks of antibiotics to clear. We had all the same ‘chest sounds clear’ / just a nervous mother / clear X-rays while still ending up admitted twice over this period. GP tried sticking him on inhalers but cough just kept waxing and waning and he seemed, when they saw him, to just have a cough. Then finally one A&E doc listened to his history properly - bad case of bronchiolitis at 9 months then 18 months of this cough - and suggested a deep bacterial chest infection which was getting the upper hand whenever he had a virus. She said this happens not infrequently and the cure is a huge long course of antibiotics. It worked and (until tonight, when he’s got a chest infection and I’m hovering nervously by his bed) his cough entirely resolved within a few days of starting the medicine. It took all of 15 minutes of her properly listening to the facts without judging me as overanxious. When I think of all the patronising doctors that kept him ill and me in a constant state of anxiety for all that time when the diagnosis could be made so easily - it’s still so upsetting. I really feel for you and hope you find a doctor who can help soon.

Trying to think of any advice that could help you. What cracked it for us was skipping the GP and going straight to peads A&E when he wasn’t actually ill enough for admission and saying ‘I’m sorry I’m here with this not-so-sick child, but we’re desperate as he’s been ill for so long and we know when he’s going downhill again. We want to do anything we can to stop that happening.’ But it was the individual doctor who decided I wasn’t a time waster and listened. Maybe, as others have said, you could see someone privately just to get past the overworked NHS doctor reflexes? It shouldn’t come to that, but for us it was all down to her listening to the history rather than treating a point in time as quickly as possible.