Chest infection or just a cough?

[Marne]

Dd1 has had a cough on and off all winter, at the moment it seems really loose and chesty. She seems alot worse at night and first thing in the morning. I f it was a chest infection would she have a high temp or not?

I was told it wasn't a chest infection unless they had a temp and their breathing changed, got faster or was wheezy or rattly.

How old is your dd? Can you use over the counter meds? DS is still under 2 so I can't use anything, hence he's had a cough pretty much the whole winter.

She's 5, her breathing is a bit rattly but she's not getting out of breath and seem otherwise healthy. I have been giving her tixylix but this doesn't seem to be helping a lot.

Have you tried lots of steam? Is she well in other ways, eating properly, able to sleep etc etc?

She had another bad night last night, started coughing at 2am, i covered her in vapour rub and gave her cough syrup, woke again at 3am and then dd2 started coughing at 4.45am. I think i will take dd1 to the gp tommorow, she seems well but her chest sounds wheezy. She's eating but not sleeping very well.

When DS had a chest infection last year his temp was slightly higher than normal - 38. When I had a chest infection recently, I wasn't aware of having a temperature or feeling warmer than usual, can't remember if GP bothered taking my temp after listening to my chest. Agree about taking her to the GP.