Is croup contagious?

[littleboyblue]

My 7mo has croup. Although he is bad during the night, he seems well enough in himself during the day as long as he is sitting up, so I want to know whether to continue taking him along to playgroup or is it better to stay at home? (with a 2yo also arrrrggghhhh! )

I think croup is caused by laryngitis, which is generally a viral infection like a cold. So he probably is infectious, but not with the croup exactly as croup is a complication that won't affect everybody. Tbh I doubt it's worse than any of the other runny noses there. Get a nebuliser by the way - very helpful as you can do your own steroid inhalations at home in the night.

Thanks. That's what I thought. Will just have to see how he gets on.

My dp took him to docs yesterday, but ds hasn't been medicated, even though he has stridor.......I might take him back myself

Sorry, I would avoid babies, tbh, croup (or the viruses that cause it, as Romanarama says) is contagious. Not all babies who catch the virus will develop croup, but a good proportion will - especially the littler ones - and it can be very nasty if they have narrow airways/tubes.

Good news is, its a short lived thing - two bad nights and then rapid improvement, as far as I remember!

And for your ds, I would try steam first - a humidifier if you have one, a boiling kettle in the room somewhere safe, or a wet towel on a radiator, or just hot water running in the bathroom with the door closed and sit in there with him when he's bad.

If he has stridor, though, he may need a nebulizer...don't hesitate to take him back if you're worried. Hope he's better v soon!

Thank you. Eli I'm going to see how he is today.
I'm doing a bit of work at my local childrens centre but no other children will be there but mine todsy so that's ok. Am supposed to be going to a group tomorrow and then working so will be there from 9:30 til 4:30 which might be a bit much.
I think I might take him back to docs myself later or in morning depending on how he's doing. He has ezcema so I'm worried that asthma may have come hand in hand with that too which would make breathing worse but doc said he's too young to diagnose asthma.....