Feel like my baby is suffering with his cough

[LittleDidIKnow21]

Hi All,
I'm after some advice and I'm a real worrier of a mum.
My little boy has always been quite chesty ever since he was born. His breathing was always noisy and always sounded like he had so much mucus on his chest.
It's now developed into a constant cough which is day and night. The coughing has started to disturb his sleep and he's now started to vomit due to his coughing spurts. He's trying so hard not to cough and tends to get upset when he has a real coughing fit. The doctors keep telling me it's a viral infection but I'm struggling to believe it as it's never ending and he seems to be really struggling.
The docs recently gave him a inhaler which didn't touch the cough and we recently bought a humidifier which has took the edge off ever so slightly but the coughing fits are still horrendous.
We went back to the docs recently as I've been noticing a few other things, he seems to eat like there's no tomorrow (nursery tell us, he has three portions of his food) but he's still not growing and very small for his age. He's only just stopped wearing 3-6 months and DS is 14 months old. The docs confirmed this as he was in 50th centile at 6 weeks old and is now sitting at 9-25th centile. His poo is constantly a horrific smelling sludge (sorry if TMI) but only recently he's started pooing solids but almost seems like constipation as he cries when passing. And lastly, I and a few of DS family members have noticed he has times where his lips go blue (often passes within 10mins ) but does concern me. The docs have referred us to paed but said not really anything urgent so could be waiting 3+ months. AIBU, I just feel at the end of my tether and seriously struggling with watching my boy suffer.

I would be looking at allergies. Buy an oximeter to check his oxygen levels and record them

I'd cut dairy immediately. It produces mucus in the body and many people are allergic. After that you can start exploring.

I'd be getting his heart properly checked. My son had a hole in heart. Lots of docs listened to his chest over his early years but the murmur was hard to hear until he was older. Then it was confirmed with an ultra sound/ scan type thing. It was easily fixed so don't worry. But it caused blueness around his mouth and lips, coughing and always chesty (we were given inhalers too and also told it was viral... constantly). Also stunted his growth a bit which is very common with cardio kids. They tend to be small and skinny. Is he pale OP?
I wish I had gone private and just asked for a heart scan. Would have saved years of angst.

Are you worried about Cystic Fibrosis? If he had his newborn heel prick screening and that was ok, it's very unlikely so try not to worry. If he didn't respond to the inhaler it won't be asthma either. How long has he had the cough?

@justasking111

I would be looking at allergies. Buy an oximeter to check his oxygen levels and record them

We do have a dog which concerns me, but he's like it wherever we go which has made me question whether it would be that? I'm going to definitely look at purchasing at oximeter. Thank you!

@1940s

I'd cut dairy immediately. It produces mucus in the body and many people are allergic. After that you can start exploring.

I bf and we did cut out diary for about six months but made no difference unfortunately

@whatisheupto

I'd be getting his heart properly checked. My son had a hole in heart. Lots of docs listened to his chest over his early years but the murmur was hard to hear until he was older. Then it was confirmed with an ultra sound/ scan type thing. It was easily fixed so don't worry. But it caused blueness around his mouth and lips, coughing and always chesty (we were given inhalers too and also told it was viral... constantly). Also stunted his growth a bit which is very common with cardio kids. They tend to be small and skinny. Is he pale OP? I wish I had gone private and just asked for a heart scan. Would have saved years of angst.

Sorry to hear and glad your little boy is OK! He has moments where he's pale but not always. I just feel like I'm fighting with the docs constantly as they just never want to act on anything

It might be worth getting him tested for cystic fibrosis if only just to rule it out. I think with those symptoms the GP will refer him for a test. It’s a sweat test not a blood test and doesn’t hurt at all. My son had one at 6 months old - he didn’t have cystic fibrosis but he had some symptoms and I am a carrier so we had him tested.

@user64323

Are you worried about Cystic Fibrosis? If he had his newborn heel prick screening and that was ok, it's very unlikely so try not to worry. If he didn't respond to the inhaler it won't be asthma either. How long has he had the cough?

This was a worry of mine. Too much Googling and have read that the heel prick only detects a certain mutation of cf which worried me further! He's always really had a cough but just seems to of gradually got worse within the past six months. He's breathing has never been great and I'm quite asthmatic and a blue inhaler has always helped me which is why I questioned it being asthma after it didn't touch it for DS. My partners family down the line did have cf so not too sure on this but doc said not overly concerned so he's on a routine appt

@Pitapotamus

It might be worth getting him tested for cystic fibrosis if only just to rule it out. I think with those symptoms the GP will refer him for a test. It’s a sweat test not a blood test and doesn’t hurt at all. My son had one at 6 months old - he didn’t have cystic fibrosis but he had some symptoms and I am a carrier so we had him tested.

Thank you. Yeah I have tried to push for tests but I feel like I'm constantly hitting brick walls. I understand the backlog with covid but 3+ months seems so far away when he's suffering. We are called to collect him from nursery every other week so it's taking a toll on all of us, but I could just be being unreasonable considering the pandemic we have endured

Please get a 2nd opinion. My son had this when he was born and found he had a heart murmur and after a few apnea scares and trips to a and e he finally got scanned and found a slight narrowing of one of his heart valves. He is also allergic to milk and soya and was failing to thrive. Hes nearly 19 months old and still in 9-12 month old clothes. Now that his allergies are being sorted hes gone from being born under wnd percentile to 50th percentile.

It may take you taking him to a and e to finally get listened to and some answers. I had to do that before theyd finally scan him as they kept cancelling the appointment and i knew something wasnt right.

I hope your little one gets well soon and you get some answers.

Could you afford a private pediatrician? I can understand why you're worrying given all those symptoms. It might also be a good idea to ask for an appointment with your PHN to review his weight gain & whether he's tracking his growth centile. That might either reassure you or prompt your GP to take more definite action.

@abbs1

Please get a 2nd opinion. My son had this when he was born and found he had a heart murmur and after a few apnea scares and trips to a and e he finally got scanned and found a slight narrowing of one of his heart valves. He is also allergic to milk and soya and was failing to thrive. Hes nearly 19 months old and still in 9-12 month old clothes. Now that his allergies are being sorted hes gone from being born under wnd percentile to 50th percentile.

It may take you taking him to a and e to finally get listened to and some answers. I had to do that before theyd finally scan him as they kept cancelling the appointment and i knew something wasnt right.

I hope your little one gets well soon and you get some answers.

So sorry to hear and hope your little boy is on the mend. I agree, I'm just so frustrated with the whole thing and find it so tiring at the moment. I'm worried about pushing considering the pressure that the NHS are put under and don't want to be the nagging mum who just becomes a bother for no reason. But at the same time, I feel something isn't quite right so I probably just need to put my big girl pants on and accept I'm about to piss people off

@N0tfinished

Could you afford a private pediatrician? I can understand why you're worrying given all those symptoms. It might also be a good idea to ask for an appointment with your PHN to review his weight gain & whether he's tracking his growth centile. That might either reassure you or prompt your GP to take more definite action.

Thank you. This is our next option but I didn't know whether I'm just being over dramatic considering I'm a real worrier over DS health. I don't even know who our PHN is. With covid, I feel he was just left to his own devices. His last weight check was at 6 weeks old at 50th centile and they decided to check him last week where he was between 9-25th centile but doc said as he hadn't had any growth checks after 6 weeks old it was difficult to tell whether he was levelling out in weight and it's the norm for him?

Just to add, I'm not even sure whether it's relevant but he tends to have a real puffy eye. It's normally on his one eye. Not swollen and is only puffy on his eye bag no where else?

How old is he now? That seems like a lot of centiles to drop. Mine pretty much always tracked in and around where they were born. I have no special info though- just a mum!

So here's you're info
Persistent cough, causing vomiting
Episodes of low oxygenation (blue lips)
Weight not maintaining, dropping centiles despite healthy appetite
Unusual bowel movements

Your GP surely must take action of they're presented with that info.

@N0tfinished

How old is he now? That seems like a lot of centiles to drop. Mine pretty much always tracked in and around where they were born. I have no special info though- just a mum!

So here's you're info
Persistent cough, causing vomiting
Episodes of low oxygenation (blue lips)
Weight not maintaining, dropping centiles despite healthy appetite
Unusual bowel movements

Your GP surely must take action of they're presented with that info.

He's 14 months now. Yes, doctors said they would refer but it will only be a routine appt which could take 3+ months for us to see somebody and doc said they could take a look at him and just say they don't need to do further investigations which was incredibly reassuring...

@littledidIknow21 honestly dont worry about annoying anyone. My little boy went through this in the height of the first lockdown may and june 2020 (he was born 4 days before big lockdown march 2020) and I knew the pressure the NHS was under but its my little boys health and I wasnt going to put it off. Esp after no one wanted to see him face to face. (HV or GP) I rang 111 and told them what was going on and they immediately dialled 999 and a rapid response car turned up and an ambulance and they couldn't believe hed not been to a and e or been properly checked out so took him to hospital for checks. So dont worry about peeing people off. You know your child better than anyone.

Does he get mottled skin at all? My little boy was so mottled and bluish around his mouth when I googled it it came up as a warning and to get immediate medical attention so we did.
Hes now a happy 18 month old with so much energy that nothing stops him and youd never know he had anything wrong with him. Hes still small but he definitely holds his own.

[quote abbs1]@littledidIknow21 honestly dont worry about annoying anyone. My little boy went through this in the height of the first lockdown may and june 2020 (he was born 4 days before big lockdown march 2020) and I knew the pressure the NHS was under but its my little boys health and I wasnt going to put it off. Esp after no one wanted to see him face to face. (HV or GP) I rang 111 and told them what was going on and they immediately dialled 999 and a rapid response car turned up and an ambulance and they couldn't believe hed not been to a and e or been properly checked out so took him to hospital for checks. So dont worry about peeing people off. You know your child better than anyone.

Does he get mottled skin at all? My little boy was so mottled and bluish around his mouth when I googled it it came up as a warning and to get immediate medical attention so we did.
Hes now a happy 18 month old with so much energy that nothing stops him and youd never know he had anything wrong with him. Hes still small but he definitely holds his own. [/quote]
So sorry you had to go through that. Completely agree, I think I'm going to have to grow a backbone and start putting my foot down with it.

He does have mottled skin but wouldn't say it's extreme at all. Sometimes we could notice it and others, you only see it if you're searching kind of thing...

So happy to read that and so glad to hear your boy is full of beans!

Oh thats good its not too extreme. When i look back at all my little boys newborn photos he is so mottled poor bub. He still gets some mottling now but its not too bad.
I would ask for an urgent referral to the paediatrician from the GP and when an appointment comes through call the hospital and ask to be put on cancellation list or explain to them the urgency and see if they can pull the appointment forward depending on how long the wait is. If not I would go to a and e and get a paeds dr to properly look at him and run checks to give you peace of mind. If they find something they can get you an urgent appointment.
When we did that with our little boy after his 2nd trip to hospital via ambulance due to his apneas and going blue round his lips. We'd been told it wasnt urgent after his first trip via ambulance and it would be a routine scan. His heart scan was done in childrens a and e within days after they kept cancelling the appointment and saying no one in a and e could do it and there was only one paediatric cardiologist who was shielding at home. Clearly that wasnt the case once they realised he needed checking properly and it was his 2nd time in a and e within weeks.

@abbs1

Oh thats good its not too extreme. When i look back at all my little boys newborn photos he is so mottled poor bub. He still gets some mottling now but its not too bad. I would ask for an urgent referral to the paediatrician from the GP and when an appointment comes through call the hospital and ask to be put on cancellation list or explain to them the urgency and see if they can pull the appointment forward depending on how long the wait is. If not I would go to a and e and get a paeds dr to properly look at him and run checks to give you peace of mind. If they find something they can get you an urgent appointment. When we did that with our little boy after his 2nd trip to hospital via ambulance due to his apneas and going blue round his lips. We'd been told it wasnt urgent after his first trip via ambulance and it would be a routine scan. His heart scan was done in childrens a and e within days after they kept cancelling the appointment and saying no one in a and e could do it and there was only one paediatric cardiologist who was shielding at home. Clearly that wasnt the case once they realised he needed checking properly and it was his 2nd time in a and e within weeks.

Poor baby Thank you so much for your help. I called the drs today and was told that considering the symptoms we have told them, he should be contacted either by end of this week or next. I've asked for that to be confirmed seen as I was initially told 3+ months as if the latter is the case, we will now be going private as it's unfair on DS. He's calling me back tomorrow to speak with the original dr and see what timeframes he's looking at. Today has been a pretty rough day, cough started out really dry and barking and has developed back into a chesty cough. Seem to go into a vicious cycle of chesty and dry without no main cause? He's also been crying today when trying to go to the toilet and have noticed his solid poos are constipation as he's now actually bleeding from his bum. I just feel so helpless and awful that I can't do anything. Thankfully, after two awful poos we went back to the normal sludge texture (sorry TMI.) XX

@littledidiknow21 oh bless him poor bub. I hope you get an answer tomorrow and it is next week and not months. Its one thing an adult being poorly but when its our babies and they cant tell you whats wrong its not fair.
His cough and chest doesnt sound good at all. I hope he can get some relief soon. If hes struggling to breathe make sure you take him to a and e to get checked over bless him. xx

@Littledidiknow21 did the Dr call you today?

Any news @LittleDidIKnow21

Hi both, @abbs1 and @justasking111

Sorry for going MIA, I've been poorly the past couple of days which knocked me for ten!

The doctor called and said he couldn't give a definitive date but would be sure in saying we would be seen within 1-2 weeks and if not, to call back up to the GP and they will chase it. I currently feel like I'm staking outside of our mailbox and I probably sound pathetic, but struggling to sleep as I have this horrid feeling that something is wrong and it's bad news which I just can't shift, I'm hoping I'm wrong xx