Croup

[Ladyem]

My DD (3 next week) has got a second lot of croup since Christmas. High temp (38.5) and rosy cheeks yesterday morning, but came down with calpol. She's very upset and clingy and is holding back the cough as it seems to really hurt her to cough and I think that the times she has coughed it has scared her as she can't catch her breath easily in between coughs.

Dr has said paracetamol for the temp, which I'm doing, but said that cough medicines won't help due to the nature of the illness being swelling, not congestion of the airways. I wondered if any one has any ideas to soothe the cough and her throat?

I'm told that the 'steam' thing is also an old wive's tale!

As a result we are having a duvet day and I am being subjected to watching the film Robots for the 3rd time today!!

TIA!

Thanks so much for the reply! Well I was a bit shocked to hear that steam wouldn't work as I know that when I have a cough and cold I feel so much better in the bath!

We do have asthma in our family (oddly all the men!), but neither DH or I have it, so hopefully she won't either, but I will ibuprofen with caution if I do need to use it.

I've just put her in bed for her afternoon nap, so hopefully she'll have a good sleep (and I get a break from watching Robots!! )

So horrible to see her so poorly. She is usually so lively and active that I always know when she is ill as she just doesn't want to do anything. Only up side is that I get some lovely cuddles!

Thanks again!

My daughter had croup for four nights last week to she is 2.7 and has had it on and off since she was a small baby.

The steam thing is the best thing to do IMO, its always worked for us, we did have an en-suite so I used to put the shower on really hot and sit on the loo with her, within 10 mins she was breathing much easier. My bathroom is now too big to fill with steam so couldn't do it this time!

I second the Ibuprofen to seems to do the trick for DD, her cough is terrible at the moment and now she has got an ear infection, I feel so sorry for her

Hope she feels better soon xx

Ahhh, sorry to hear about your DD mummytowillow. Hope that she feel better soon. Sometimes it's one thing after another, isn't it?

I tried out the steam by putting her in the bath when I got her up from her nap this afternoon. She was very miserable and really trying not to cough, so I just ran the bath and let her play in it. Within half an hour she was much perkier and even had some tea tonight!

Fingers crossed that she is on the up, if not it will be more baths tomorrow!!

Thanks for all of the replies!

I have also heard that the steam thing is an old wives tale. However, it seems to work a treat for DD (23mths) who has had croup twice. The first time she was hospitalised with it, but by the second time she got it we had bought a humidifier in Lidl, where they happened to have them on offer. We put the humidifier on in her room at night and during naps, and the cough quickly got better and was gone in two days. Now we put it on whenever she has a cold, and it really seems to help.

My brother used to suffer with croup and was also hospitlised, although it was many years ago!!

My mum used to give him stewed apples! I don't know why but they worked!!

Oooh, never thought of a humidifier! Will make a note to look out for future colds/croup!

Thanks!

My DS had croup just before Christmas.
Standing him in a steamy shower worked well -as did sitting outside in the cold air for 5 minutes.

But in the end it got so bad we ended up taking him to the out-of-hours doctors surgery - he was distressed as he was struggling so much with his breathing and he couldn't sleep.

They gave him a one-off dose of steroids (soluble) which really helped and he was much better from then on.

Glad to hear you DS is feeling better, Kimlouiseb! I wasn't sure if the cold air would set her off coughing again, like it can for asthmatics, but I might give it a try today. She's already fed up and asking to go out in the garden!! Hopefully that's a good sign that she's feeling a bit better!