Night-time cough in 8 month old

[Kathy1972]

My dd (8 months) has a nasty night-time cough which she has had for at least a month now. It wakes her up in the night and she gets upset, poor bunny.
We mentioned it to the HV at her 8 month check but she didn't seem to think it was a problem. Anyone have any similar experience or any tips on how to deal with it? Will it get better by itself or do they last for months?

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Your poor dd. My ds was the same. Had a dreadful cough, just at night, from between about 8 months to about a year, and then it miraculously disappeared.

I took him to the doc a couple of times, as I was concerned, but every time his chest was clear, and he was always in good health otherwise (eating well, no temp etc). The GP said that sometimes in children under 2 the airways in their lungs are just really tiny, and they do get congested if they've had a cold, and it can take a while to clear. Apparently it's v common. He also went through the symptons for a chest infection so that I could easily tell the difference (shallow breathing, air sucking in from under the ribs, flaring nostrils, temperature etc). He said that if ds still had the cough when 18 months to 2 years, then they would investigate further as it could be asthma (we had no family history of this that would set alarm bells ringing earlier).

We did all the normal things we could for coughs - raised head of cot, wet towels on the radiator, vaporiser in the room, chest rubs, cutting down on dairy as much as we could etc etc and eventually it just went.

I'd take your dd to the GP to get her checked over, just incase, and ask their advice. HTH

We went through same thing with DD2 - every time she got the slightest cold she would cough at night for the next 6 weeks, often longer. I kept asking and asking different docs about asthma but always got fobbed off with "we can't diagnose asthma this early". Eventually when she was 2.5 she had a full on asthma attack and at A&E we were given inhalers which have literally changed her life - and ours. Six months on she doesn't cough at night and better still she's got loads more get up and go - we used to think she was lazy but realise now she was just permanently short of breath. What I can't understand is the reluctance to give the inhalers when they're obviously so incredibly helpful. My SIL is a GP in the STates and put her own child on a preventive inhaler at the age of 4 months, when he developed clear asthma symptoms. She is as baffled as I am about the approach here and feels DD2 has gone through 2 years of unnecessary suffering which makes me feel pretty awful. Of course, none of this may be relevant in your DDs case - I just started writing and couldn't stop!

Thank you very much guys - v helpful.
She eats like a horse and has bags of energy, so it's probably nothing serious. We will try the damp towels etc - perhaps her room is too dry for her? It's the room with the airing cupboard in so although we keep the heating down low and have a room thermometer so it doesn't get too hot overall, this may make a difference. And we will get her along to the doctor at some point to have her checked over.

Just to update & thank Happymum for the suggestion re. damp towel on the radiator - we have been doing this for a month now and no more problems with coughing! So, thanks - another success for Mumsnet!!

sanatogen baby vitamin syrup!!
cost the same as cough medicine but contains the vitamins as well as the only ingredient that cough syrup has, glycerol!
vitamins plus cough medicine, fab!

Hi had exaxctly the same prob with DS it started at sx months old and would come and go. he would cough after he had been in bed for a few hors it happened at about 8.30 every night and it would come and go.

Anyhow went to GP so many times and he finally diagnosed that DS had a common strain of Whooping Cough. it did dissapear eventualy though.

Its awful for babes though as theres not an awful lot you can do to relieve symptoms. I did buy a steam vapouriser for my son though which seemed to help, with a little olbas oil in the resovouir thingy.

My son had a night time cough from 18 months - it went on for quite a while and eventually the GP referred us to a specialist and he did diagnose Asthma. We used a preventative inhaler every night with a volumiser and face mask - which he hated - but needs must - made a huge difference - the coughing stopped. H always had bags of energy and had no other symptons other than the cough. He grew out of it at 4 years he is seven now and we have not used an inhaler since he was 4. He only suffered in the winter as well. We never had to use the inhaler in the summer. DD has had a cough for 6 weeks now - it is getting worse, we are both loosing about an hourse sleep every night. I have booked an appointment at the GP's tomorrow morning as I am sure it is Asthma. We'll see what he says. Will try the damp towel tonight nevertherless!