4 year old cough keeping her awake?

[CarrotCakeCrumbs]

My 4 year old has a really awful cough, we got the test results for covid today and they were negative so that's a relief however her cough is bad that she is unable to sleep. It is much, much worse at night but she does also cough during the day. I'm not so concerned about the cough itself, she is fine in herself otherwise, but it can't be healthy for her to only be getting a few hours sleep a night and this has been on going for a week now. I know I can't give her cough medicine, but does anyone else have any ideas on how to ease it for her? She has had an inhaler prescribed in winter for the last 2 years, but hasn't actually been checked for asthma (no tests have been done, the doctor just gave us a spacer and blue inhaler) so I think it may be that, it just seems alot worse than previous years.

That sounds like an exacerbation of her asthma, are you using her blue inhaler regularly?

Saw it on MN years and years ago, but something to do with putting Vicks on the child's feet is supposed to help...random I know tho when you get to the "I'll try anything " stage...

She needs a refill, I will be phoning her doctor tomorrow but the doctor I had spoken too wouldn't do anything until she had the test results.

I've had asthma since I was 4 and had the same issues at night, the things that helped me were
Keeping cool, even in winter, getting warm under the covers made things worse.
Sitting upright, as soon as I laid down I'd cough, sleeping sat up made things easier, even now I use an old feeding pillow if I get chesty
A peppermint and eucalyptus oil mix on a cloth in the room, does the same as the old karvol capsules, I find it opens up the airways and clears a blocked nose so I'm not relying on just breathing through my mouth which causes more coughing.

I hope you get some help or advice from the doctor, ask about using additional puffs if she's struggling at night.
If the doctor does believe it's asthma maybe a preventer will help lessen it getting to this stage.

Why can't you give her cough medicine? Vicks may help, you could also prop the mattress up at the head end so she's more upright.
Definitely get the inhaler refilled and ask for a peak flow meter so you can keep a diary of that for asthma diagnosis. Then she can have a preventer as well. Asthma is often worse at night.
Did she have any other symptoms that made you get a test or just the cough? Wondering if could be a virus making her worse on top of the asthma.

I have found Vicks on the chest and top of back is great. Not getting too hot with covers. Maybe a fan on. Extra pillow. Maybe place it slightly lower than the other, so more area raised, so top of shoulders are also higher up. Does she have a bed where you can get to the top feet of the bed? I have had 2 catalogues (in the days of a good Argos book!) under each top foot of the bed to raise the top half of the bed. They are then sleeping at an angle which helps to stop the coughing too. Have heard of Vick on sole of feet and socks on but always forgot to try