how can i shift dd's cough?

[mum28]

dd has had a annoying cough since beginning of december.it wasn't too bad to start with.took her along to the doctors a few days before christmas and he said she had a chest infection and gave her some amoxycillin.she finished that but it was no different so i asked them what might help eg cough medicines.they said they don't usually advise giving them.a friend said tixylix was good so i got some.this hasn't helped much either.the cough sometimes seems worse at night.i think she keeps coughing then swallowing it again.she won't let me blow her nose either.i think she would get rid of it if she could sick it up or something?.has anyone else got any ideas?

At a guess, I would say if the amoxycillin didn't work, it's probably viral - I should give her lots of water so her body has enuf fluid to produce the phlegm to cough it up and wait it out! (I always find coughs, sore throats etc are worse at night, maybe its the lying on the back that does it????) Don't worry if she swallows it, so long as she's coughing it up
HTH

If she is in a bed then it may help to give her a couple of extra pillows to raise her head. I understand that cough med encourages the cough to produce more phlegm, which obviously makes them cough more, and many gps and chemists don't advise giving med at night. Swallowing isn't a problem. DD has had a persistent cough since end of Aug - yes, really!! No infection, not in smokey environment. She has been given an inhaler to use, which does make a difference, until another virus does the rounds!! Running the hot water sometimes helps too!! HTH XX

sympathy mum28 - dd has a nasty cough too. Doc gave antibiotics which shifted her wheeziness, but she has had a cough for over a month now. Doc also gave ventolin syrup, but it doesn't seem to help so I stopped giving it to her (damn prescription happy Spanish doctors! ). Water is the only thing that helps, but she won't always take it. I think it's one of those things.

If her cough is worse at night, see if you can get some cough syrup with pholcodine in it, as this suppresses the cough. My DD1 has just got over pneumonia and we had some stuff from the doc called eucalyptine pholcodine which made sure we all had some sleep (and made her a lot more comfortable too). Tixylix night and the cough and cold ones have pholcodine in them, but only tiny amounts. The eucalyptine one had about 7 times the amount of Tixylix. Not sure if it is available in UK tho. Think Benylin Tickly cough has it in too...we're not hypochondriacs, honest!!

Have to say ventolin syrup may aswell be water as it doesn't work. My daughter was pescribed it several times by g.p and then eventually doctor at hospital who diagnosed her asthma said i may aswell of just tipped it down the sink.

Dd has had an awful cough since early Dec. I was fairly sure she didn't have a chest infection but saw our triage nurse 2 days before Christmas just to be sure. She prescribed Ventolin with a Volumiser; dd's not asthmatic but had bronchiolitis a tiny baby and is likely to suffer from coughs until she is much older.

I was dubious but it has made a difference (days when it has been forgotten during the holidays have been very obvious).

How safe is it to keep giving her Ventolin ? We were advised to give 2 puffs up to 4 times a day for as 'long as necessary'. I've been sticking to twice a day as that is what I'm advised to do for my own chest problems.