reactive airways disease in babies - experiences?

[geekgrrl]

For several months ds (6m old) has had a frequent, nasty cough that makes him vomit occasionally and wakes him up many times a night (not surprising and can't really blame him!). I've taken him to the GPs several times for this, he's got an Atrovent inhaler which helps a bit but he still coughs away...
On Friday I took him to see the GP again and he turned out to have a nasty case of bronchitis - second lot, he'd been pretty poorly with it at 2 months old already. Now we've got to wait for the bronchitis to clear and then have another stab at sorting The Cough out as the Atrovent doesn't help completely.
I've tried one of those plug-in menthol thingies but it didn't make any difference to his coughing. He sleeps in a carrycot with the top end raised, is still almost fully breastfed, we don't smoke and don't have carpets. What else can I try? Has anyone had success with a steroid inhaler for a baby? The GP said that they're not really recommended for babies but that we'll try one next.
Might he outgrow it all and not become asthmatic later? Fat chance I suppose as I am asthmatic and dd1 has eczema, but is there hope?

Geek, he may well outgrow it. My ds (now 2) got bronchiolitis when he was around 5 weeks old. He spent the first 4 months of his little life coughing and puking and we had loads of hospital visits to check his oxygen. In that first year, when they get coughs like that it can take AGES to clear. In fact, he was so poorly that he never cried until he was around 4 months old (which is more terrifying than it soudns!). They never gave him antib's or inhalers though.

Throughout his first year, he had many bouts of croup and chest infections and he was given an inhaler from when he was one. He also had reflux which complicated things as he tended to puke more easily when he coughed. Have your docs checked for this? Because if they are bringing up food in their throats it can aggravate their coughing.

ANYWAYS, to cut a long story short, he is now 2 (turns 3 in November) and has so far, fingers crossed, not had a chest infection for almost a year. He does tend to get a cough when he gets a cold and it takes a long time to clear (often a case of coughing for weeks) but it does go in the end. On the otherhand, my dd (3) has to have inhalers to stop her coughing at night and they have been a godsend. Without them, she would be up all night.

My dh is asthmatic and I had it as a child so mine didn't get much chance either.

I found those menthol things didn't do much. Tixylix night time cough (raspberry but it may be only from one year) helped a little bit if only to get them to go off to sleep easier. It does take ages for coughs to go away when they are little but if the doc thinks he may need inhalers, I would ask to see a paediatrician because he's still quite little. The other thing I found helped was lots of fresh air and open windows. They won't diagnose him asthmatic till he's much older as they can't do peak flow tests etc. when they are this age.
Let us know what happens.

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thanks you two, sounds like there is a good chance that this is a temporary problem. I'll have to sort out some kind of flyscreen so that I can keep his window open at night without him getting eaten up.
Ds does have reflux but it has never been treated as it was mainly a laundry problem and it has suddenly got a lot better over the past couple of weeks.
robinw, I was wondering whether it could be whooping cough - he does the characteristic long coughing fit with sharp intake of breath afterwards - but dismissed it because he's been vaccinated and he's not sick enough. Maybe it can take a milder form in a vaccinated child?
Thanks for all the suggestions.

mieow has whooping cough as a baby.

dd1 was perscribed atrovent once, we found it useless. dd2 had brocholitis (sp??) twice in her 1st year, it was awful. dd1 had a steroid inhalor at around 1yr old. it does help her. they started her off at 50mg (the light brown one) and when she was 2 she went onto the dark brown one as it wasnt working as effectivly.

is it this only a night-time thing? or does he cough throughout the day as well?

i hope you find something that helps soon. my mum had brochitis last summer anmd the cough lingered for months. she was perscribed salbutamol for it.

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