Croup

[pudding25]

Anyone had any experience of this? We ended up at A&E last night with dd (6.5ths). She woke up at 9.30pm, really wheezy. Emergency dr said to take her to A&E. After waiting 3 hrs (fun) We finally got seen and the dr said it was milk croup. She seems ok, just a bit wheezy.

They said to just keep an eye on her to make sure it doesn't get worse. I forgot to ask how long it may go on for. Anyone got any idea?
Thanks.

It's horrible . My dds both had it on and off - for them symptoms didn't start to ease off until age about 4 (dd2 still gets it). It's to do with the airways of young children being really narrow - they get wider as they get older.
The best treatment we found was to take them into the bathroom and get it really steamy (put a couple of drops of albas oil in the bath too) and keep them there for 20 minutes. A bit of a pain at 2am, but they normally get a good night's sleep afterwards.

Also forget to mention, put a couple of cushions under the head end of the mattress so it's wedged upwards, breathing gets worse when lying flat on their back.

My DD1 gets it regularly - first time was very scary, now we're used to it. It's basically laryngitis for children. As PP said, steam really helps though persuading DD1 into asteamy bathroom in the middle of the night isn't easy so I also put bowls on the radiator etc. I also give Medised at nighttime when she has it to help her sleep and cut down on the coughing. it normally lasts a couple of days though the cough lingers. DD1 has also been given an inhaler to help open her airways and help with the coughing.

I think the general advice is if your baby is the slightest bit blue around the lips then you need to go A&E. Hope your DD gets better soon.

I have always heard steam was good for croup - but apparently that has now been discounted. If it is severe the best treatment is steroids at A*E that will open up the airways.

Steam definitely seems to work for ours whether the theory is discounted or not You can buy special dehumidifiers for the bedroom too - not sure how well they work though.
You obviously want to avoid steroids unless it is really severe as they can have bad side effects if taken frequently.
A teaspoon of honey has apparently been shown to be as good as any cough medicine but it has never seemed to do anything for our children (they like the taste though!) I never use any cough medicine as i think that coughing is a good thing (despite being a nuisance) - nature's way of clearing the airways.

Thanks -will have to avoid honey and medised fo a while as she is only 6.5mths. She's been fine today but I can hear her over the monitor and she's a bit wheezy. Her mattress is still propped up from last week's cold.

-I meant mild croup, not milk croup!