Constant throat clearing - 8yr old

[BettyOBarley]

What could this be?!

8yr old DD has been doing this regular throat clearing for a few months. At its worst it's every few seconds and seems worse when she's eating, but is fairly regular anyway.
When I ask her she says she's coughing (she does also have a cough/cold currently) but it's not, it's constant ahem ahem ahem.
Her class teacher has now told her it's distracting!

She once had a harsh cough a couple of years ago and was given a brown inhaler which cleared the cough. We've tried it again for a week or two recently but it hasn't made a difference.

@BettyOBarley I'd also have a word with the class teacher and let them know it's inadvertent and you're looking into it - you don't want them faffing your DD about it and making her feel bad.

My 8 year old did this constant throat clearing too, for about a year and a half, it was like coughing, but not.
It was like a tik but her doctor said it was post nasal drip. It did stop eventually and now she only does it occasionally when she's been ill.

@Doublevodka

My DD had this aged 7. Went on for several months and she developed lots of other tics along side this such as blinking, flexing fingers and toes, developed sudden sensitivity to some clothes, shoes and other weird behaviour. All her symptoms were actually textbook Tourette’s syndrome. However it all disappeared after a few months. I learned it was actually very common for this age group to have verbal and sometimes motor tics.

This is exactly what happened to my DS at about 7 or 8. It only lasted a few months

Has she had covid?
As dp had a throat clearing for about a year after.

Ds used to do it loads. It turns out it was reflux brought on from dairy intolerance. Since cutting out dairy he hasn't done it.