If your LO has croup, do you stay in all day?

[Thankyouandgoodnight]

DD is 17 months and the poor thing has croup. We stayed in with her all day today but I wondered whether she would benefit from a potter round outside / round the shops in the buggy for a change of scene and for fresh air.

Her breathing isn't tooooo bad but it does sound laboured and 30 mins in a steamy bathroom helped for all of 20 mins afterwards. She's running a fever which we're keeping down with neurofen and calpol etc so she doesn't actually have one most of the time.

What do you think?

Cooler air outside will probably help her breathing, I'd go.

i think id be inclined to stay in aside from being poorly if shes with other people shes wide open to germs- maybe you could sit in the garden but i personally wouldnt risk public plces - croup is very serious. hope shes soon better a tip i can offer is when shes in bed (safe in her cot0 take the ettle filled with water upstairs and plug it in in her room let it boil then tke the lid of the room soon becomes steamy and this lways eased my ds chest along with a pillow under his mattress and avoiding lots of dairy as milk made him more mucousy.

How long will it be before she's feeling better - it started yesterday. She finished a course of antibiotics last week too for tonsillitis - she's just not having much luck.

oh yes, fresh air v good.

Don't let her get overtired and keep an eye on her from early evening onwards but any other time of day, fine.

I found with one of mine (both still get croup grr) that cold air actually helped.

I don't know. I cannot remember how long - the spells get shorter as they get older (I found).

Umm maybe 2-4 days? really can't remember at that age

My DD2 is a croup monster - she has it now in fact . I have found taking her out helps a lot - the only exception is when it is windy as that makes her cough worse.

I have made a couple of trips out in the dead of night to the emergency docs only to arrive there and find it a lot better than I had described over the phone. The doc was very understanding and said that getting them out into the cool evening air actually seems to help them a lot.

I swear by putting a tea towel which has been soaked in boiling water over the radiator to humidify the room at night - we put one in at bedtime and change it for another when we go to bed (make sure it is out of reach of your DC course). Keeping the windows in their bedroom open all day really helps too - dry dusty air is the worst thing for it.

Also I think a change of scenery is good for them - takes their mind of the whole thing. If you are worried, don;t go too far them you can come back if it doesn't help. Air-con, air systems in cars can cause a coughing fit with croup though so keep the vents closed if you go out in the car.

Arghhh X-posts (chatting to DH and typing don't mix)...my DD2 has just turned two - I would say expect 4 days min usually (esp if she has been run down beforehand). It does defintely go quicker as they get older. The temperature bit might not last 4 days though - just the cough . Hope she is better soon.

Will I hear in the night if her breathing gets really bad do you think ?

She's not coughing so much but breathing is laboured. But she's still breathing through her nose rather than opening her mouth - definitely her wind pipes rather than a snotty nose (which she doesn't have).

yes, you'll hear but in all honesty, and I'm so not a co sleeper, when mine were that age and breathing badly, I'd sometimes bring them into bed with me so I could hear their breathing close up (or I'd sleep on a spare bed in their room)

DD1 has croup at the min started yesterday had the barking cough last night and the fever running..usually with ds it is 2/3nights of bad cough and couple of days of fever so am expecting dd1 to be on the mend by tuesday. I am taking her out tomorrow[depending on how she goes over night] but we stayed in today as she also has quite bad asthma so not worthing picking up more bugs

I doubt you'll get much sleep tonight regardless of how anyone answers that question , I'm sure you'll feel the need to keep checking on her. Have you phoned NHS direct for advice or has she seen a doc about it? Are you certain it is croup? Main thing with croup for my two is the barking dog-like cough. You are not alone in this btw - DD2 just woken up crying because the cough hurts so much - just put more steam in her room.

She saw the Dr last night who wasn't concerned.

We can't steam her room because we have an electric radiator in there which we need to keep the room at a sensible temperature (difficult to explain!). We did chuck her in a steamy bathroom for half an hour earlier on and it helped for 20 mins max. She's ok as long as she's calm I think but when she coughs, it hurts, she wakes up and gets in a state and then sounds really bad.

I hate this.

put a damp towel on her radiator as it moistens the air. Key thing is the trying to keep calm which DD1 is great at in a kind of sad way as she is so used to being chesty

I hope it gets better for you all soon, I really do.

My dd is 7 (8 in the summer) and ds is 6 (7 at the end of the year) and this is the FIRST time since they were born that we've gone 6 months with no croup so I think we MIGHT (touches wood) have outgrown it (at bloody last).

I feel for you all and only hope that their bouts are shortlived. One thing about croup is that it often seems to disappear as quickly as it appeared doesn't it.

foxin when I took ds to gp with his last bout he told me he was 'too old to have croup' at 4.3yrs think it is generally under 4s but there are a few who carry on until they are 6/7. Ds is a screamer when he has it because being ill is so alien to him which of course makes the cough 100 times worse

The NHS direct page for croup is here if you want to have a look but tbh I think you are doing everything exactly right so well done.

It is so horrible hearing them cough and get upset and not being able to help. I have to be careful what I do with my DD2 as she is a rascal and will take advantage of my good nature if I let her, but when she is upset I take her out of her cot, hold her upright, take her into the bathroom or outside if it isn't too cold. When I am feeling really worried I sleep in her room with her (although once she is better she expects me to carry on with that one!). Definitely do what you can to help keep her calm as that will curtail the coughing a bit. It will all be over soon though I'm sure.

yes nemo, we were always told they would outgrow it but it just kept on coming. I wish they hadn't told us that because it just meant every time they got it, it would make me think aarrghhhh they haven't outgrown it yet iyswim. (interestingly, dd always got it worse and she is the one with asthma).

It definitely got less severe as they got older and they got MUCH better at handling it. I think, as babies/toddlers, it's very frightening because they can't tell you how bad it is. As they get older, they can understand that crying makes it worse and can indicate if they feel they are really struggling.

when mine got croup (ds1 and ds2 got it regularly) we used to boil a kettle with the lid open in their bedroom, well ours actually as they were in with us, and that would make the whole room steamy and it seemed to help ease their breathing