Is there anything else I can do to help DD, 1, with her cough (possible asthmatic)?!

[MeadowHay]

She's been on Ventolin for a few weeks now...maybe a month even? She has two puffs in the morning and 4 puffs before bed. The GP said to do 1 puff a few times a night or whatever but after speaking to asthma nurses through Asthma UK we increased it before bed after a week or so. We saw huge improvements, hardly coughed at all anymore whereas before was having coughing fits every hour or so at night and then getting distressed and crying so hardly sleeping. But yesterday evening the coughing was a bit bad again and she woke up and coughed quite a few times in the night but didn't disturb her too much. Then today she's been coughing a bit again and since trying to get her to bed she keeps having awful coughing fits. We finally managed to get her asleep half an hour ago (which is late for her) and already she is up screaming after having an awful coughing fit. DH says she can't have any more of her inhaler. She's already had paracetamol at 6.30ish as well as we think she has a sore throat. And we've put her to bed on a small pillow too in case raising her would help but obviously it hasnt. She is seeing paediatrician for the first time on Tuesday morning but in the meantime surely there is something we can do so we don't all have another two horrendous nights of next to no sleep and screaming every hour and her suffering with coughing? :(

OP just a thought, she may have and allergy to dust mites if it's a bed time mostly... have you wet wipes her room and put her clean sheets on her bed... also teddies are horrendous for dust.. have you tried her with antihistamine?

I'm not keen on the idea of montelukast tbh cos of the side effects but then nor am I keen on steroids cos of risks of stunted growth...

This medication helps the asthma but has awful side effects! My daughter is no longer on it but takes a clenil inhaler twice a day and her mental health is sooo much better!

That's true being too hot makes coughing worse.
Any pets? Especially cats.

Could be purfumed bedding.

If a cold could be postnasal drip so raising head, olbas oil on tissue out of reach, even piriton might help.

I have asthma and i realised it was also triggered by red dye cochineal which is in some yoghurts.

Things like reflux can also cause coughing as can food allergies. Something like soy allergy.

And avoid feather pillows etc.

I think swollen adenoids can also cause a cough.

My dc seem very sensitive to the adenoviruses which cause croup, fever, d&v, conjunctivitis and uti.
My eldest had awful croup at 3yo

Some GPs dont associate the coughing fits with an asthma attack I found too.

They all stopped with preventative inhaler though! We have found the nurse practitioners to be more knowledgeable avout asthma and better with advice than our GP (who refers back to them for asthma anyway!)

I turned up with my child having a coughing fit once and was embarrased at taking up the NP time but school had mentioned she couldn't stop coughing when she started. And got sternly told it was an asthma attack! I just hadnt recognised it as my asthma attacks include wheezing and hers dont.

We had many many many nights of coughing fits or croup (in A nE) and weve had neither since being in the inhaler. Unless we forget for a few days but it comes back under control.

Absolutely everyone is different and obviously noone should take medical advice online!! But I thought my story might be helpful. Particularly as I considered myself knowledgeable due to my own asthma!!

I'm amazed with all these medical people around you, that you've been using a reliever inhaler multiple time a day for almost a month tbh

I agree. I do not think the ops d has good care

That's what the GP told us to do until she saw the paed given the appt was already booked. GP said first investigations for asthma in a child this young would be a ventolin trial first for a few weeks and given we already had paed appointment and that the ventolin wouldnt do her any harm thats why it was more like 4 weeks. And when I've done online research they also say a ventolin trial first. Plus I spoke to the asthma nurse at Asthma UK and she agreed all was fine on that front although did tell me to increase the amount of ventolin initially to make the night-time cough totally go, which I did, and which worked apart from last night really. As I say she is seeing the paed tomorrow so I'm sure will either start steroid inhaler and/or montelukast from tomorrow. I'm only doing what medical professionals have advised me to do. I've sought lots of medical advice as I've explained.

Incidentally she didn't cough once after giving her cough syrup last night . So I'm not sure if the coughing was her chest last night or more throat irritation as she seems to have a sore throat atm. Poor little thing. DH has a cold so they've probably got the same thing that's probably aggravating her chest.

I will definitely take note of all the possible triggers everyone has mentioned to try and reduce stuff wherever possible too ofc.

Good luck with the paed x

Hope you get some answers today op.

Well...paed was nice but feel a bit like I was expecting more from the appt. She said babies at this age don't have the receptors necessary for inhalers really (altho I know that's disputed and there's not clear medical concensus on it) so she wouldn't recommend steroid inhalers or any other treatment atm. She said continue to use ventolin as we are if we think it helps her. She is poorly atm and she checked her throat and said it was red but nothing to suggest it's not just a virus but to take her to see the GP if she's worse or the same in a few days time as she may need antibiotics as it may go on to become a bacterial infection. Checked ears - fine, checked joints - fine, checked tummy - fine. No explanation for why she cries so much and always has done and said as she's growing well she has no concerns and so no reasons to do any further testing other than arranged a chest X ray for her persistent cough. She had X ray and we will have to wait and GP will contact us if any concerns about it. She said her development sounds a little behind/slow but not so behind as to warrant intervention so just to keep an eye on her for now and revisit at 18 months if she still hasn't said a word or started walking by then. And I asked for some advice about weaning as it's not going well and she advised to cut out her afternoon bottle but other than that said the health visitor would be better to advise. I did tell her the HV told me to cut out all sweet food and just leave her hungry for days on the assumption that eventually she will eat when she's hungry enough and the paed said she wouldn't necessarily go that far but didn't really suggest anything else other than cutting a bottle out. I love her so much and I really feel like I have just failed her to be so poorly all the time and behind with most things :(

You're not failing her. That's why you're getting her checked out

Some dcs have more colds/illnesses than others-just the luck of the draw OP. As gandolf said yr not failing her-you're looking out for her. You're not neglecting her. Hope she gets well soon.

DS has asthma but has got better over the years. If she has a coloured inhaler e.g. brown then she may need a stronger one. I'll just tell you what happened with DS and his asthma and it may help.

Originally he was on a brown inhaler (not sure of it's name) but had ventolin as well but didn't take that all the time (only when it's bad) but his asthma wasn't getting any better. We went to the paediatrician and they gave him seritide (purple inhaler) and it has helped so much the stronger dose. He also takes montelukast tablets at night as well as his seritide to help his asthma through the night. He's started doing his sport more often and we think that has helped as well.

Seeing the paediatrician is a good idea but if she just takes two puffs/pumps of it before going to bed with a raised pillow and vapour rub on her chest will help and if she wakes up through the night she can take two more.
Hope this helped.

She could be reacting to pollen or another idea is to try a dehumidifier in her room which I've been told helped with a child we know and I know my asthma is better in warm dry conditions.