how do you treat your child's cough

[SusieR]

Hi,
DS (3) has a terrible cough at the moment. Last night we was coughing all night ( and I mean all night) with a horrible hoarse dry cough . We gave him some simple linctus but I am doubtful of any use iy may have. Does anyone out there have any other tips so that he might sleep better tonight.

Unfortunately, there is very little you can do for a cough I know from bitter experience, DS gets terrible coughs and chest infections. He does seem to get some temporary relief from a swig of glycerine syrup, and sometimes sucks those cough sweets, but I am sure it is more of a placebo effect for him than anything else.

the old fail safe honey and lemon has been proven to be as effective as many cough medicines.... and it tastes nice too

I'd forgotten about honey & lemon or anything really simple. DD had a terrible cough recently that would leave her barking at night. Will have to get some of those in to keep in the medicine box.

I've been plastering baby vicks on ds's chest to treat his terrible cough, but I'm not sure how much good it's doing.

I sympathise, it's horrible when they're coughing all night and nothing you can do seems to help them. Last time DD had a cough I propped her up on a couple of pillows so she was sleeping in a more sitting-up position, that worked wonders for her that night - however your DS has a dry cough, you say, so that probably won't be much use!

I sometimes put a bowl of water on top of a heater, to try to make the air in the room a bit humid (is that the word I'm looking for...?)

Plenty of warm fluids, moist atmosphere (humidifier) if poss. Elevate head of bed/cot. (or pillows). Honey and lemon (cough syrups not much cop to be honest). Pain relief as poor chest will be sore. Can last 3 weeks
GP if: fever, coughing up gunk, looks unwell, rapid breathing, wheezy breathing, looking exhaused with effort to breathe.
Also consider allergy cough.
Poor you and DS

My freind boils a kettle near them with the lid off so that the thermostat doesnt turn it off, i think the steam helps soothe their chest/cough. (obviously supervise)

I second the 'warm moist atmosphere' suggestions as being most effective. If it drags on, however, if the child is getting a very sore chest (crying in pain when coughing, for example) and if there is any odd-coloured mucus then see the doctor because it can easily develop into a chest infection