cough, cough, cough...

[Enid]

My 2 year old has a horrible cough (like the rest of her playgroup). Any advice, remedies (esp 'natural' ones)?

That's funny, I did put a few drops of lavender on her sheet last night, didn't really think it would help with the cough but more as a nice comforting smell to have when you're feeling poorly. And she didn't wake up coughing at all until this morning. So looks like that might be a good thing to do at night.

I have also just discovered soluble disprol! I thought there was no alternative to the ubiquitous Calpol and Calpol-alikes, and my dd will not touch the stuff. I have just dissolved a tablet in a very strong ribena solution and it went down like a dream. Not alternative I know, but hopefully might give her some relief from her cold symptoms.

Enid, we're having the same trouble, last night I hung a wet towel over radiator (which was on til 10pm) and that seemed to help.

Enid, we use Disprol in the suspension form, sugar-free and banana flavoured. We call it 'Teddy Medicine' as there is a picture of a pink teddy on the box and ds gives him a big kiss before downing a spoonful, no problem!

Enid, moisture in the atmosphere will definitely help, particularly if you have central heating. Try putting a bowl of steaming water in your daughter's room at bedtime and then refresh it when you go to bed. You could even put a few drops of lavender oil in with it to diffuse with the steam.
Also try and keep the bathroom as steamy as possible at bathtime to help lubricate her tubes. You used to be able to get bottles of brown liquid called Friar's Balsalm from chemists which you could add to hot water & inhale. This used to be a 'traditional' remedy for croupy/hacking coughs.
Hope she feels better soon.

Yeah - I'm after a miracle on this one too. My 2.5 yr old has got another horrible cough - the third one since September. It tends to take him 6 - 8 weeks to completely shake off a cough, and it disrupts his sleep (and ours dreadfully). He also has a delightful tendency to throw up (violently) a couple of times a day whilst coughing for at least two weeks. The doctor assures me that all this is completely normal!

He is 'query asthma', but an inhaler doesn't seem to make any difference at the moment. Can anyone offer any hope?

My eldest son has asthma and my youngest takes croup whenever he gets a cold so at the first signs of a cold i start to give both echinecia(?spelling). Its a herbal remedy which adults can take too.It is a natural immune system booster and really shortens the length of time they have the cold. I recommend it to all my friends it really is the most amazing thing i have come across, my kids can throw off a cold in about two days without any other cough medicines.Try it next time.

My son and I have both just had horrible colds and coughs which led on to chest infections. This meant he was waking up all night coughing and I was then having to keep him happy all day while feeling exhausted and ill. The doctor recommended keeping his room as humid as possible so I splashed out on a pure steam vaporiser made by Vicks (the same people who do the vapor rub) It was about £20. Not cheap I know but it worked miracles. I just filled it up with water, plugged it in at bedtime and within twenty minutes his room was like the palm house at Kew Gardens. As his room is quite small I turned it off after a few hours - but it does have an automatic shut off that kicks in when the water level runs low. The first night I used it he slept straight through and seemed to hardly cough at all. In fact his cough was notably worse during the day - the exact opposite of what had been happening. In addition I used an aromatherapy stone that has a magnet on it so you can stick it on the radiator. You just add your oils of choice into the well in the stone, they soak in and then the heat from the radiator acts like a burner. Got mine from a friend but suppose most good health shops would sell them. I added a few drops of lavender (for sleep) and eucalyptus (to help him breathe)don't know if it helped but his room smelt fantastic!

Willow2, where did you buy the Vicks inhaler please? R.

Just to say I kept on with the lavender oil and also put a wet towel on the radiator and it has really helped, so thanks a lot ems and everyone who commented.

another thing which may have helped was:

echinacea lollipops

available from health food shops - I tried the adult lozenges first for me and they were amazing!!

Rhiannon, I saw the Vicks inhaler in Boots.

Enid, the lollies sound a great idea, you can really taste my childrens 'ech' drops in their drinks, so I havent used them for ages.

KMG, dd had a persistent cough when she was 1½yo, it took repeated visits to the doctor before they would give us anything, eventually she was prescribed Alupent syrup, which is clear and tastes a bit like caramel. It is a medicine usually used in the treatment of asthma, doc said it would open up her tubes, it did the trick.

My two-year old has a cough that he just can't shake off and it is waking him early every morning - much to our dismay! He sounds like he is coughing his guts up but seems fine once he is up and about. He's been on an inhaler in the past because of a rattle on his chest but we stopped it ages ago as we didn't like giving him the steroids and it sorted itself out. He never had problems breathing or anything. Every cold seems to bring the cough back though. I will try the towel and the lavender - does it cure the cough permanently?

rhiannon - local independent chemist. Have seen a much smaller version in Boots. The one I'm on about is about a foot square.

Ailsa - I also had Alupent as a child. My dd suffers with 'query asthma' and they keep saying to try with the inhaler - she won't have any of it! Do you know why there is a reluctance to prescribe Alupent?

An Indian friend of mine has given me a brilliant chest rub called Bombay Amrutanjan. It is in a jar like Vick and you rub it on your chest in the same way. It has had an incredible effect on the coughs of all 4 of us in just 2 days. We are still coughing but far less and it's less severe and painful.

Don't know if you can get it in England, but if anyone finds it on the internet I'd love to buy some too. R.

AlJA - My 15 month old had a cough before xmas which he shook off after about 4 weeks - clear for 3 weeks over xmas - back at nursery and the cough is also back !! - can Echinecea be given to toddlers ??? _ I know from last times experience the doctor does not prescribe anything for coughs !

I started a cough just before I went skiing at Christmas, it as dreadful, the French pharmacist gave me something but it was so sweet I could n't stomach it.

Yesterday I went to see my GP and lo and behold he says I have whooping cough! So I have come back armed with mega antibiotics and a steroid inhaler. I went to see my really good pharmacist here and he said the best thing for Whooping cough is Mucodyne buti s only available on private prescription, you might be able to get it for young children though. I looked in up in my British National Formulary and it is carbocisteine, guess what?..... thats what the French pharmacist gave me! He obviously recognised my cough and symtoms straight away, it has certainly scared the mums of the two babies I nanny for as they have both not had their one years old vaccinated, and won't. (One is a health visitor would you believe!) I had all my vaccinations many times over as a service child, so I know that I've been immunised, if I hadn't it would have been a lot worse.

I wish I'd done my Kegel exercises a bit more religiously!