persistant hacking cough making my 2 year old sick...anyone have advice?

[woahthere]

He has been coughing so much he is making himself sick and this has happened the last 3 nights and it sounds like hes going the same way tonight. Hes just so tired (and so are we!)We have tried: calpol, nurofen, kalvol, vicks, propping him up, wet towels on the radiator, steaming the room. Nothing seems to work, what can we do, has anyone got any other ideas?

I think you are trying all the right things. He probably needs a trip to the doctor, my DS was doing this in the week and is now on antibiotics for a chest infection.

Thank you for your prompt reply strawb, we took him to the docs today who listened to his chest and said it was clear!!! he said he had swollen glands a red throat and pink ears but no chest infection and that antibiotics wouldnt help. We're at our tethers end. Just feel so sorry for him hes knackered and I feel like if he could just sleep solid for a bit he'd get better quicker. Since posting this I have had to fly up twice because he was making retching noises!

Well hopefully that is a good thing. DS has had lots of times like this and you are trying everything I have ever used. The only thing I did previously was give him medised, prescribed by our chemist (at the time I ddn't know it had been reclassified and obviously neither did the chemist). It did seem to help him sleep because it has a decongestant in it.

I hope he has a better night.

sounds a bit awful, am coming from the lentil weaving side of things here:

Can you give him honey lemon and ginger? make it quite sweet to mask the heat of the ginger? Use lots of fresh chopped ginger and 3 or 4 slices of lemon, chopped up. Cover with boiling water and leave to steep for a good 10 min. Add honey to taste.

HAve been to docs for a cough before and they say this is as good as any over the counter linctus. Ginger helps the body to heal itself, and the vit c helps to fight infection.

I found some interesting things on this site, maybe you will find something there:

www.earthclinic.com

I used one of their suggestions when I burnt myself late one night and it actually worked, so it's not that daft...

Good luck x

not lentil weaving at all quite traditional id say. i tried to give him hot honey and lemon at about 4 but he was having absolutlely none of it. i made it with him, got him to squeeze the honey in and everything but when it came to drinking it he wouldnt even try it...said it was yak! hes quite stubborn about trying certain things/ definately cant see him trying it with ginger! thanks though, if he wasnt a fussy beggar id do it!

my dd likes a chinese stirfry I do, with chopped ginger in it - does he mind things with soy sauce? I add a bit of honey to the stir fry a the end to balance out the saltiness of the soy and she usually eats, messily!

chicken soup with ginger in it?

Can't think of anything else, except pestering your gp... hope he gets better soon.

when my asthma gets bad i cough like this rather than wheeze

cool yes he might eat stir fry, dont know anywhere open that sells fresh ginger today though. Had a pants night with him nad he ended up in my bed....again! He wasnt sick though so its an improvement i guess!

kristina..he has an inhaler which we have tried but it doesnt seem to make any difference unfortunately.

hopefully he'll be better tonight!

DS2 has been doing exactly this. The so called 'night cough' medicine made him 100x worse as it increases secretions rather than reduces them (apparently). We've now given him medised which has a mild antihistamine in it and dried him up a treat. We've only used it at night/nap time as I'm a firm believer in letting illnesses run their course (within reason).

My dd is exactly the same - terrible cough tonight and all last night. She really gags with her cough as well and is so distressing. Am getting really worried about it as no doctor with it being BH tomorrow

I haven't even got any cough medicine and nowhere open today to get some. I do have honey and lemon so might try this.

vicks on his feet...cool but why? it is ventolin...do you mean 10 puffs a once, that sounds like a lot! i thought childrens cough medicine had been banned now? we have had barfage...again tonight, its so tiresome now poor mintyfresh...the doctors do f all about it though anyway.

well actually after one great big hurl he then slept till 4 which is a lot better than he has been, he then came in our bed and slept on till 9.30 so a pretty good night really. Hes still coughing bad today though. We've found that when the house is cooler or if hes outside he seems better so we're keeping it cool tonight, will try the vicks thing and give him more ventolin. Thank you.