My DS is coughing CONSTANTLY, but is sort of asleep, what can I do to help?

[Novacane]

He has a virus (he's 4 and just started school)

He's coughing constantly, he's filled up with medised and dowsed in karvol.

Oh, and i've rolled up a towel under the top end of the matress.

Any ideas? I'm a little edgy about it as he has had pneumonia twice, but his temp is under control with paracetamol/ibuprofen atm.

My DD is the same but is 6.5 months, she has just started nursery and has had it for six long weeks!

Is the cough on his chest or in his nose IYSWIM? Have you given any cough mixture?

With DD nasal drops are helping because all the snot really irritates it and calprofen brings down the swelling in her throat caused by the coughing that then makes her cough!

Do you have a humidifier?

Rub Vicks vapour rub on his feet - honestly. It really works, on DCs and adults.

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My DS also has a horrible cough at the moment which keeps waking him up - I've been putting drops of Karvol in hot water and leaving the jug in his room, and it's helping a bit I think.

poor little thing. i've been there a lot with my ds who's 2.5 and has had lots of bouts with croup and cold/flu. a small thing that helps is just making sure he sleeps on his side - so if he's coughing just roll him over. also, i'm not sure what has caused his cough but asthma relievers [ie the blue one] can help on an ad hoc basis if you wanted to discuss that option with your gp.

Thanks for the tips guys, we've had an okish night, although I gave up and ended up on the floor in his room when his temp shot up about 5am.

I'm a bit reluctant to add more moisture to the air as we livein an old cottage that suffers from damp if we are not careful, but may try the steamy bathroom tonight.

Am going to get some vicks vapour rub- well its worth a try!! and I might get a karvol plug in- has anyone else tried these?

I hope all these coughing dd/ds's get better soon!

mimsy, he has had a salb inhalor prescribed before- but how to succesfully administer it is beyond me!!

there's actually a thread about that exact issue here:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/childrens_health/618853-2-year-old-and-asthma-spacer-how-can-i-en courage

also i doubt it is asthma but as you already implied sometimes damp can be a bad thing for coughs. it really triggers my own allergies and asthma so we actually use a dehumidifier.

good luck!

Karvol plug ins are really good, I use them all the time for my DS.

right, I've got a sudafed plug on and some hicks-but the poor chap has got a corking case of tonsillitis. He has got anti biotics and some difflam spray from the dr's- how the heck I'm supposed to squirt that down his throat I have no idea! Looking forward to another broken night! And work all weekend, jolly good!