coughing at night

[nancy75]

my dd is fine and healthy through out the day, she goes to bed and a couple of hours later starts coughing. sometimes it lasts an hour, other times it goes on all night. A couple of nights ago she was coughing so much she was sick. its very distressing for her and disrupts her sleep.
i have been to the gp several times just to be told oh its nothing just a cough, give her calpol (gps answer to everything) the other gp said oh its nothing but give prescribed an astma pump "just in case" , i have given her the asthma medicine, this also does nothing, so, according to doth brilliant gp's probably not asthma. anyone have any ideas?

It could be post nasal drip? Enough to drive the nicest of parents insane with lack of sleep. dd goes though bouts of this as well as an asthma cough. We've had limited success with antihistamines sometimes. I feel for you because it is an underestimated torture.

Hi there. How old is your dd? Does she always cough at night?

Have you raised her cot/bed at one end?

she is 3 years 7 months. the cough is not every night, we can have 2 weeks of no coughing then 2 weeks of coughing every night. her matress is not raised but she does have a pillow so not completely flat.

what is post nasal drip?

I would try putting a bowl of water on the radiator in her room and raising her pillow further!

What about Tixylix night time cough medicine? She is over 2, so can have it. I have found it to be very good.

its where the gunk drains from the nose into the back of the throat. When lying down it can cause coughing.

nancy75 your story is our story! We have had this for 9months, tried treating for asthma, made no difference, tried tilting the bed, no difference, tried calpol, cough liquids etc etc.

We hear our DS 15months cough from 7pm till 7am, he is not awake just un settled and who can blame him! I cried at the GP the other day as I had had enough!!! At last she took me seriously and refered me to a ped.

Cutting a long story short we switched to a Soya diet last week and as of 3 days ago NOT A SINGLE COUGH!!!!!!!!

problem is she doesnt really sleep on the pillow, as soon as she's asleep she wriggles round and her feet end up on the pillow!

ohyoubadkitten - can you do anything about nasal drip?
sexonlegs - have tried cough medicine, told by gp not to bother with it but will try again
tryingtobemarypopins - by soya diet i take it you mean cut out dairy? willing to try anything but dd is the fussiest eater in the world and about the only thing she likes is cheese, can you get soya cheese?

Alpro yogarts, cheese, milk, custard all from tesco. My DS loves it and its very healthy. The ideas is this will dry up the nasal drip.

Cough mixtures won't do anything. Piriton helped a little. Soya diet won't be forever but we are DELIGHTED!

nancy - I've tried all sorts out of desperation. Once dd was diagnosed with a sinus infection and antibiotics sorted it. Sudafed has helped. Clarityn has helped too. (not at the same time!) Sometimes a spoon of honey has done the trick as an instant calming down. Dark chocolate was quite good. Steaming her room til it was foggy was pretty effective. Problem was that nothing worked for long.
Good luck!

tryingtobemarypopins - thank you will get some soya stuff tomorrow. Do i need to watch out for things that dont obviously have dairy in them? i dont know like cakes?

so reassuring to hear i am not the only one. it sound ridiculous but i have been sitting here googling things like TB (yes i know mad mother).

Our dietition said to start with switching to Soya milk as a drink, soya cheese and yogarts. This cuts out the bulk of diary but as it won't be for long don't worry about cakes etc.

Your not mad - listening to coughing all night is enough to make anyone mad!

tryingtobemarypoppins - thank you, she does have lots of milk cheese and yogarts so this could be the answer, i have never had an alergy to anything so it would never have crossed my mind to change her food.

Talk to your GP but we are so please with the results. I would ask to see a dietition as this was very helpful and supportive.

i have apointment to change my gp next week, mine really are useless, like i said, i could go in with my arm hanging off and he would recomend calpol!
i will definately ask for a referal to a dietition, it cant hurt and it sounds like its working for your ds, which is great.

Have you tried a humidifier? here
Depends why she is coughing but it could help

thanks humpdebump, i have one in her room and mine,i hate the dried out feeling you get in the winter from having the heating on, so i have used these for a while.