Cough, worse at night

[jofeb04]

Hiya,

My dd (4) is well, apart from a really bad chesty cough.
It is much worse at night (she can't get to sleep tonight because of it), and she is couughing up (tmi) brown phelgm.
I've googled, and it seems shes got some kind of infection.

Not too sure whether she needs to be seen tonight (its not a true emergency really, more to keep her comfortable but not too sure what can be done anyway as there are no pharmacists open) or whether she needs to be seen tomorrow in our own doctors.

I'm awful when the dc are ill, never know what to do for the best!

Thanks

She is also wheezing between the coughing fits.

I'd wait until first thing tomorrow morning, and go to gp. You'll just spend hours at hospital anyway if you go now. Ds (20 months) always gets chest infections, really bad wheezing etc, and most of the time there is not much we can do. He now has a ventilator to use if wheezing too bad, so perhaps discuss that with your gp.

Hope you get some sleep!

If it was me and my child was coughing up brown stuff, then I would ring the NHS direct for advice.

My DS1 suffers with those sort of coughs (albeit doesn't have brown phlegm) and he is worse at night. We tend to prop him up and make sure his room is well vetilated and the radiator turned off. A bowl of water in the room does help too. Those menthol plug ins are good. (He does have a brown inhaler that he has to use twice a day every day and a blue one as and when).

Tomorrow as soon as the dr's is open, ring for an emergency appointment.

We have this continuously with DS. He is in hospital as we speak being monitored as his oxygen levels are low and his breathing is shallow and fast. He is having 2 hourly nebulisers, steroids, antibiotics and oxygen (DH is with him tonight as I am home to catch up on some sleep and be with DD).

My alarm bells start ringing when his chest, just under the rib cage and the dip in his throat are rushing in and out. We took him last night because of how he looked. If she is showing signs of struggling, I would take her now to a&e. The wheezing doesn't sound good either, but we were told it is the season for viral infections, windpipe problems accompanied by wheezing. If you can get an appt, I would. If you're concerned about the breathing, I would head to a&e. If not, I would give her some cough medicine, let her sip water and see how she goes until the morning.

Actually, if she's wheezing, I'd ring NHS Direct and see what they say, but then I've had bad experiences with coughs, particularly when they're wheezy.

They might be able to send the OOH GP to see her, just to check she's OK.

I'd always rather be safe than sorry.

Are you sitting her up?

Get her to sing a song to you and see how far she can get before taking a breath. If she's struggling, then definitely take her to A&E.

Thanks all,
Not concerned about her breathing at all. Just sounds really chesty tbh. Waiting for NHS direct to phone back.

Dd has falling asleep downstairs, so hopefully she'll be fine over night.

I am just so aware of how much I hate coughing fits, and feel awful not being able to really help her.

Let us know what they say.

Yes - let us know how you get on.

And remember that if you do end up deciding whether to take her in or not, A&E always see children really quickly, especially if they've got coughs.

Good luck!

Forgot to let you know, Dd is fine. She did not have to be seen last night, and whilst we planned on taking her to the doctors today, the snow has stopped us from doing so.

Glad that she wasn't that bad, although it's still nasty.

I hope you get to the GP's before Christmas, though, or that she feels a lot better!