What could be causing 2YO coughing?

[BabyBunnyMama]

I'm wondering if anyone has had any similar experience or has any advice.

DD is 2YO and has a persistent cough. It has been going on for about a year/year and a half. It's at its worst during the night and first thing in the morning and sometimes brings up a bit of mucus.

Due to covid appointments about this haven't happened and been dealing with GP on the phone. She has given us a brown inhaler for prevention and a blue inhaler to use if needed. We haven't needed the blue inhaler since starting the brown and it does seem to be helping.

Along with the cough she has flare ups of excema on her cheeks and chin which we have a steroid cream for and Aveeno cream to use daily to keep it moisturised which seems to have it under control. She also seems to have hay fever so we have medicine for that too.

So everything's being managed OK but I'm wondering if there could be an underlying condition linking these 3 symptoms together? She had bad reflux as a baby and suspected CMPA but we done the milk ladder and weaned her on to cows milk quite easily at 10/11 months with no issue.

I'm wondering if she does still have a mild intolerance or something that could be causing it?

Asthma! Keep going with the brown inhaler, it can take a while to settle. Try a humidifier to moisten the air and anti allergy bedding. Do go back to the doctor though, you may need to increase the dose of the brown to get on top of it.
If the coughing episodes are prolonged then do you the blue.

Asthma and eczema go hand in hand so it all seems to fit.

Sounds like asthma.

Eczema and hayfever very common with asthma too.

Often worse when hayfever is happening.

Could be exacerbated by dusty environemnts, strong perfumes/scented products, cigarette smoke, changes of atmosphere (eg going from warm house into cold frosty air), exercise etc.

Poor baby and poor you having to struggle throughout! I’m interested too in that she has all three things going on. Don’t know if there’s science to it but I often think there could be milk intolerance involved in eczema and ongoing excess mucus . Might be worth looking into her diet and environmental causes. Would you get a sessitivity test? Try organic food, plenty of water, cut down on dairy , dust , feather allergy. There’s a theory about local honey being good for hay fever .

Thank you for your replies! The Dr mentioned it being Asthma but as she hasn't seen her in person said it's hard to diagnose.

I don't really have any experience of asthma in my family so not sure of the signs or how to deal with it.

We have a review in a month so I think I will mention the possible connection to dairy, though thinking there would surely be more of a reaction if it was dietary? She doesn't get sick and her excema break outs don't seem to be triggered constantly by dairy. She has milk quite a lot in her diet so would expect more than just the cough as a reaction, but think it's worth mentioning.

Asthma and eczema come hand in hand for some strange reason.
Keep going with the inhaler but insist on her being seen.
GP's have to start seeing people from Monday so they can't hide behind covid anymore!

Congestion is probably causing the coughing. That along with the eczema can be a sign of allergy. With the reflux as a baby, too, it does seem to fit.

There are two types of allergy; Ige and non-ige. There is a test for ige allergies but not for non-ige, so it's possible to test negative but still have an allergy. The only way to confirm a non-ige allergy is to eliminate the suspected allergen from your diet for a certain time (for dairy I'd suggest 4 weeks) and see if symptoms improve. If symptom-free you then confirm the diagnosis by reintroducing the allergen (just once to test) and see if you get any symptoms or reaction. Sometimes a one-off portion is fine but they can have a build-up reaction when they have too much.

So my advice is to do a dairy-free trial and see what happens.

Allergy U.K. has some helpful info about CMPA on their website.

My DD had CMPA, she still gets a rash now if she has milk to drink, (she prefers not to, and can tolerate it in foods daily)

Luckily for us hers was the non-IgE delayed reaction, which can appear up to 48 hrs after milk.

The consultant said she should grow out of it by age 5 ish, but she is 8 now. So the symptoms are getting less.

The NHS website says CMPA symptoms are -

Skin reactions– such as a red itchy rash or swelling of the lips, face and around the eyes

Digestive problems– such as stomach ache, vomiting, colic, diarrhoea or constipation

Hay fever-like symptoms– such as a runny or blocked nose

Eczema that does not improve with treatment

DD skin was so sore, and her nose was constantly green running, she had trouble doing P.E at School as she was coughing so much, and a bad stomach. It took me a while to work out what it was.

They did give her an inhaler initially until we worked out it was the milk issue.

Why don't you just let her have it in food for a week and see if it helps,

DD has Coconut, Almond, Oat or Cashew milk in smoothies etc.

Unfortunately there isn't really
A test for asthma at age 2. It's more of a try the inhaler and see if it helps kind of thing.

How many puffs of the brown are you giving? We started at 1 puff morning and night but had to go up to 2 morning and night to get it under control. We're back to 1 know which is fine unless she gets a cold, then we go back to 2 and use the blue one for coughing episodes.