toddler with chesty cough....

[mum2sam]

on my god ds (18mths) woke last sounding awful. Hes been a bit moody the last few days and had trouble keeping his milk down too which i thought was down to teething. But obviously he is coming down with something.

He hasnt a got a persistant cough but when he does it sounds really chesty. He cant even cry properly.He just sounds awful. He also felt really hot last night. Ive given him tixylix, plenty of fluids and tlc. Is there anything else that you could recommend? If he doesnt seem any better tommarrow i might take him doctors just to rule out a chest infection.

bump...

hi mum2sam, sorry your ds poorly.

my dd also had horrible cough, and she's had it for the past two weeks or so, on and off. sometimes it sounded chesty, sometimes "loose", but most of the time it sounded like a barking chesty cough. we took her to the doctors, who said there's no infection. took her back, another doc prescribed salbutamol which didn't really work, tho it took off edge a bit. took her back again and he put her on erythromycin (i think that's how it's spelt!) in case it was a chest infection but that hasn't really worked either. a few nights ago, she was waking through the night and it wasn't doing her (or us) any good. (that's why the ab's and salbutamol [an asthma treatment] took the edge of her illness a bit).

sorry for long post but the upshot of it is that i read a mother and baby mag (or bbc parenting) - you know where they have medical symptoms described) and for croup it said (i think)

• persisent hoarse barking cough, their voice sounds hoarse (and chesty)
• runny nose with sneezing *some children may be treated with streoids *it can affect children between the ages of 6mths to 3yrs *if they have a blue tinge round the face or lips,they are having trouble with getting enough oxygen in and to take them to a+e straight away.

go to the docs definitely and tell them everything. ask them to check for croup, and mention that he hasn't been feeding properly.
follow your gut instinct that something isn't right, don't worry about the docs not believing you - just go see another doc. you know your ds better than them so you know when there's something definitley not right with him. i'm glad i foolowed my gut instinct and took my dd back time and again, though i hope someone listens to you al ot quicker. if whatever treatment they prescribe isn't working, then please don't be afraid to go back and tell them.

hth

good luck fm x

ps hope everything gets better soon for all of you X (if you want, you can post here again)
(((((hugs)))))