Croup? What do I need to do?

[NoBiggy]

DD2 had a fever last night and a strange barking cough. This morning the cough is normal again. So I'm thinking that was croup last night (her breathing wasn't affected).

Should I expect a repeat performance tonight? What can I do for her?

Put a damp towel on the radiator in bedroom to help make the atmoshere 'damp' if very bad take into bathroom, shut door and run shower on hot to make it steamy - this helps breathing.

Good luck

I find steam helps. If you have a shower then go into the bathroom and run it. I put a bowl of water on the radiator in her room, with wet flannels - to make her room a bit steamy. If she struggles for breath or is obviously very unwell then she may need a short course of steroids - often just 3 days.

OK thanks. Will Medised or a cough medicine help at all?

She seems fine now, but was so ill last night!

Hi NB - ds1 used to have croup whenever starting a cold. It would be worth a visit to your GP to discuss strategies, as I seem to remember that cough medicine can make it much worse.

DS1's croup used to always kick in at 1-2am. Our GP stressed that we should immediately give infant neurofen/paracetamol, as it is important to get the temperature down, and also to wake him fully to allow the body full chance to fight it, so don't just snuggle up in the bathroom, chat and reassure him, whilst getting the taps on. You need to have the bathroom full of steam by the way, so shut the door to build up a good steamy atmosphere. If that does not work, take them outside and sit on the front doorstep, wrapped up in a blanket or coat. The fresh air will usually help.

Best of luck. DS1 had it for about 3 years, increasingly severely, but grew out of it quite suddenly by 6.

I had used medised in the past, but then sure I heard somewhere that you shouldn't with croup - but can't remember why. Wouldn't bother with cough medicines.

I suppose you wouldn't want them knocked out if they have to struggle to breathe. No Medised then.

This has been so useful, thank you all.

Ooh, I used medised the other night, and DD had good nights sleep, haven't used it since and she's woken up very stressed with a chesty cough. Wonder why you're not supposed to use it, please try to remember boco

If you are sedated it depresses your breathing, so not a good idea to use meds that make you sleepy.

Everyone should know that, so why did I just find that out this morning!

I'm a little bit alarmed that I might have caused problems for DD just by trying to get a good rest for her.

It was worth coming on MN today for that alone.

DD2 had croup on friday night - first time I've ever seen it despite her being my 4th! Got my mum on the phone (she's a GP) and she told me to give her calpol (she was REALLY hot) and I took off her sleeping bag and pyjama bottoms as well. Then I plugged in a humidifier and sat with her and read some books etc. SHe coughed up a load of mucus, and within 30 mins was much cooler, breathing easier and coughing much less.

My mum told me to keep her inside the next day because cold air can irritate it again, and keep the humidifier on the next night. But apparently it almost always starts at 1-2am (dd2 was 1.30), it is generally only for a night, and they are usually fine within 36 hours.

So hope your little one is OK tonight! I'd make his room humid with wet towels on the radiator before he goes to bed though, and keep him inside today.

Ok, that makes perfect sense. I m a bit neurotic bout usung medised anyway, always feel like it's more for my benefit thn hers, so feel guilty about it, so haven't used it much, but will be really careful about it now.
However, I have to say, that when my dd gets these respirtory probs, they are really affected by stress, and they get so much worse if she wakes up. When she had bronchiolitis ages ago they said the most important thing was to keep her calm!

I was told last week that Medised dries up the nose and throat - makes breathing more difficult if they have croup. I think it's the opposite effect of adding humidity. Calpol is fine.

Yes DD was really upset when she woke up, I think her own barking cough really scared her, half the battle was calming her down hence the books (god, "spots noisy walk" is bad enough at 2 in the afternoon let alone 2 in the bloody morning fgs!)

Medised is generally dodgy stuff IMO. Chuck it out. There isn't much that calpol or nurofen won't deal with.

but now there is calpol night time which, I'm guessing here, has the same sedative (anti-histamine) as medised........ my instinct is that it is not good to dispense sedatives to smll children, but my goodness, it is hard to ignore the fact of a good nights sleep at times when they are struggling. Oh what to do?!
I won't be using it again when it's a breathing thing though after reading this thread

I think calpol full-of-sugar is wonderstuff. I don't seem to have any problem with them sleeping after it - it does deal with pain well and they seem to sleep fine once it kicks in..

we get through a fair amount of calpol and never really use anything else.