Baby has sore throat, sounds hoarse

[hub2dee]

dd is 15 months and at tale end of a mildish cold, but now she sounds a little seal-like when she makes noises / tries to laugh.

The supermarket medicines all seems to indicate 2 years +

Obviously I can't get her to gargle salt water, and we're giving her calpol, but is there anything else to do for he hoarse throat ? Is it a GP job to check there's no infection ?

Mucho thanks.

It's the tail end, not the tale end, hunker.

As she's over 12 mths you can give honey! if she'll take it warm, try a small bit of orangejuice (high juice tastes nicest) in warm water with honey melted into it, otherwise melt it, then let it go cold, then feed. My mum used to give me this as a kid and it always worked!

Hi there

Not sure if it is a barking cough you are describing....could be croup if so which sounds awful but isn't actually serious. But best cure is steam/humidity in room apparently or breath's of fresh air. Have had dd in a&e twice with this in middle of night only for her to make a miraculous recovery as a result of being outside.

The throat sounds sore / and slightly hoarse but she hasn't complete lost her voice IYSWIM and is not the (what I imagine) very barking sounds of croup, purple.

Will try a nice warm water / OJ / honey concoction. Thanks Friz.

HTH's

Hope she's better from that (delicious sounding!) drink...just wanted to mention that my dd (20 months at the time) did sound just like a seal when she had croup, and she didn't completely lose her voice. She sounded a bit like Marlene Dietrich on 40 a day, but didn't lose it.
Also, she was more or less ok during the day - just had the cough and distress at night - and never had a temperature.
Steam helped a lot (humidifier) and keeping her calm and soothed at night, and we were lucky - it was mild and gone after about 3 days.
Hopefully its just a cold starting, but worth keeping croup in mind, esp this time of year.

Thanks Eliboo. dd has no temp and the voice is better during the day, so I will keep a close eye on things.

Can I ask if there is any actual treatment for croup (aside from steam !) - it doesn't require ABs or any specific medicine does it (IYE) ?

btw - is it pronounced 'crew' ?

Hi there

Re treatments for croup - we never needed abiotics, I think it is to do with babies airways being very narrow and therefore easily congested and they sound like they are in terrible pain and/about to pass out/suffocate. Usually in middle of night so quite disturbing and weirdly cold air/steam inhalations work.

We have ended up with a ventolin inhaler and a big mask thing to adminster by which dd absolutely hated and thankfully no diagnosis of asthma - just one of those toddler/baby things.

One other thing - in adults so I assume it is the same in babies 90% of all throat infections are viral which means that antibiotics wouldn't work anyway. So it is just a case of riding it out and giving pain killer. As you say honey is likely to be soothing and any liquid is I guess.

wishing you a good night!

Pronounced 'crew-p'!

No treatment as such, it is to do with narrow airways, but if its severe and a child is struggling to breathe (watch their tummy, if its going in and out with the effort - they're really struggling) A&E will usually administer steroids. Happened to several friends' kids, but don't think its the norm.

My gp said that often kids who are struggling at night are better by the time they get to hospital, as the cool damp air helps - though warm damp air is even better, as in humidifier or running hot tap in bathroom to fill room with steam, and sitting in there holding child.

I hope you have a peaceful, croup-less night Hub - just worth knowing about in case etc, but hopefully will stay theory!

ps just in case....I found with dd, that sleeping on a mattress in her room I could soothe her as soon as she coughed - and that way she never got really distressed, or cried. Crying makes the breathing harder work, hence keeping a child with croup calm.

Thanks all. We'll do the steam thing, we'll do the could air thing, she can sleep with us so she doesn't cry (this will please the little sausage immensely) and I'll keep a close eye to ensure the breathing isn't laboured. Hopefully it's just a sore throat and will right itself within a few days, but thanks again.