Croup - DD has it - Keep your eyes out for it

[mojomummy]

DD came come with a husky voice yesterday. Woke in the night a little unsettled & then this am sound really awful.

I thought it might be something she had caught of me as I have a bit of chesty cough.

As she is normally very well, we took her to the drop in clinic & she was diagnosed.

Nothing serious, just needs to be caught early I think & she has some steriod tablets which help to relax the throat. Hoping to see a big improvement tomorrow.

Just in case it's coming your way & you're not sure if it's just a cough.

mojo also when she gets croup attack put her in bathroom and run the hot taps
steam allieviates croup
wishing her a speedy recovery

oh no, is it croup season agin?? DS gets this every year

thanks doormat the dr did mention something about steam, didn't think about making our own

sparklymieow, not sure how old DS is, but I think they tend to grow out of it when they reach 4 or 5 yrs ? I've never heard it before & sounds just awful

mojo it is horrendous and mainly at night croup attacks happen
spent many a night in steamy bathroom when a couple of the kids had croup

Sounds madness, but cold air helps too - if you bundle them up and take them for a night drive with the windows open a bit, it seems to relieve it.

Oh no not again. Ds had it last year and ended up having steroids too.

My ds gets it every couple of months.
Ive got some good top tips for you:

1. put a wet/damp towel over the radiator in the childs bedroom to circulate some humidified air at night especially.
2. If you have a veg steamer, fill it and put it on with the lid off in the bedroom (high up so they cant reach it)
3. Air the bedroom, open the window for an hour in the morning, let fresh air in and stale air out.
4. Elevate the head of the bed with extra pillow or a phone directory under the matress. Breathing is much easier and less noisy when they are lying in a more upright position.
5. dont panic, it always sounds much worse than it is.
6. It shouldnt last for more than 2/3 nights and is always worse at night. Good luck, i always sleep on the floor next to ds's bed at night as it scares me so much having said all that.

My ds (11 months) was in hosp with it for 3 days. He was on a nebuliser and had 4 doses of steroids instead of the usual one dose.

It is a swelling of the voicebox and can be very serious.

I took ds to the hosp at 3am and he was v poorly with it. I really hope he doesnt get it again.

That is the worse case scenario though isnt it collision?

Some children seem to be more affected than others - I guess it must all be down to the size of their little tubes.

DD is the milder form, just horrible cough... my friends children (who are all petite) generally end up in hospital.

Is there an age limit / typical age on this? I always imagine it to affect babies.

A good friend's ds (aged 2) had this last weekend and phoned NHS 24 who sent her to see on-call doc and her wee one was given a one-off steroid medicine that zaps it and clears it up within an hour.

She was told that they no longer recommend steaming as too many children had been burned [rolling eyes]

Whereas my ds is 2 and is now growing out of it. He just loses his voice and has cold type symptoms.

Were the parents holding the children over the kettle????

my DS is nearly 8, buut because he has Cerebral palsy, he doesn't move about as well as a normal child so croup still affects him. Hopefully this year we will miss it.

DD (23 months) had croup for the first time in the summer this year. We did use a humidifier in her room, but to be honest I think the main help was keeping her calm...she was still taking milk from a bottle at the time, so I let her suck on her bottle a bit, and cuddled her a lot, and as soon as she calmed down she stopped coughing.
Crying starts up the cough, which in turn panicked her, which made her cry more etc etc....so soothing her was a priority. I slept in her room for two nights, soothed her as soon as she squeaked, and she didn't have another bad attack.
I think we were lucky, but also fairly average. Two of her little friends did go to hospital, and had steroids - but DD got through with steam and TLC.

Does anyone know whether croup can be a one-off, or whether it tends to come back again and again?

Hope your DD feels better soon...its horrid, even when its mild.

well DD has been looking quite ill - very pale skin & red-ish lips. we've had in-laws round today, but she spent most of the time watching Dora & being cuddled.

I gave her calpol at 4 hrly intervals, which she quite likes. She also told me "medicine, no doctors"

I noticed when she was having her milk this evening that when she needed to cough, she laid face down & flat out on the sofa, stopped coughing & then got up again. Obviously this gave her some comfort.

She is sleeping ok, heard some coughing earlier, but seems ok now.

My poor little girl

She has had the steriod tablets (all 6 of them in one go ) & the Dr said they'd take affect in 6 or so hours.

my son matthew is 16 months and got his first lot of croup in july when he was 1 he needed to go into hosp and had steroids, then he got it again in sept again needing steroids and he jsut had it mild last week now has the after cough so thats 3 times in just over 3 months and its horrid
i hope he dont get it again
but he has chest probs anyway so is more prone to these things
good luck to anyone child who gets it its such a scarey thing to hear
love nat