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Original poster

miracle cures for night time coughing?

81 replies

mummylonglegs · 11/02/2005 14:09

Dd's got a horrible cough that's keeping us all up at night at the moment. She's 2.4 and although she's had this before this is the worst and has gone on the longest. I've tried lots of things: We've raised the cot at one end, she's got a humidifier to make the air moist, we've got a massive range of cough medicines (none of which do a damn thing), she's got an inhaler from the GP in case it's asthmatic, her room's well aired in the day.

Last night she started coughing at 11.30pm and didn't stop until 2am. Then she coughed again from 6am until she got up at 7.30am. Needless to say we're all knackered. In the day she's not coughing much at all. She's got no fever. This has gone on now for almost 5 weeks on and off but last night was the WORST. 'Normally' she sleeps through from 7.30pm - 7.00am so you can imagine how tired she is in the day. She also coughs during her afternoon nap so doesn't really manage to 'catch up' on sleep then.

Any ideas?

OP posts:

stripey · 12/02/2005 20:43

Tixylix Night time formula works for my ds1 - helps him to sleep and really helps his cough. Its not so effective on ds2 though I find neurophen helps him. I would definitly recommend the Tixylix though.

foxinsocks · 12/02/2005 20:45

muumylonglegs, here's the netdoctor description of the way the codeine works on the cough
codeine linctus

onlyjoking9329 · 12/02/2005 20:51

my DS started with a night time cough doctor said asthma no surprize cos i have asthma, we tried the inhaler but couldn't get him to do it, he has autism, back to the doctors who gave him liquid ventolin which stops the coughing but makes him hyper, worth a try thou

SPARKLER1 · 12/02/2005 20:54

dd1 had that terrible night time cough a few weeks ago. I tried everything going. Tixylix, Karvol capsules on pillow, Olbas oil in hot water in her room. Nothing seemed to help. The only thing I think that had any benefit at all was Vicks vaporub on her chest, throat and back.

Original poster

mummylonglegs · 12/02/2005 21:34

Thanks again everyone. She's been pretty rough tonight again. She was so exhausted when I was putting her to bed that her eyes were rolling in their sockets. But she still started coughing and within half an hour had been sick with coughing. She's just gone quiet now an hour and a half after originally going to bed. I'm hoping she'll be a bit more settled during the night. But am also thinking I'm going to try to find a drop-in medical centre tomorrow as I'd like to maybe get some of that codeine stuff on prescription.

OP posts:

Evesmama · 12/02/2005 21:52

i have a dummy(does she have one? sorry if not or too old)
i have one which you can enclose 5ml of medicine, so you could swap during night which would then allow her to get something to ease her cough without waking her and it releases slowly as she sucks on the dummy.dont know if that helps at all?

Original poster

mummylonglegs · 12/02/2005 22:10

Nice suggestion Evesmama but she rejected dummies right from the start and now at 2.4 I doubt she'll change her mind! I don't have a problem giving her medicine in the night anyway. It's more a problem that the medicine doesn't seem to work .

OP posts:

bakedpotato · 13/02/2005 11:26

MLL, actually i was relieved when consultant said it was an inflammation -- she was on max inhalers, and it wasn't making any diffference to her 'asthma' (we've now cut right back, he said to drop inhalers insummer and see what happens, which we also tried successfully last summer. i'd had a feeling she wasn't asthmatic in the strict sense of the word, but always suffered v badly in wake of colds, which tended to turn into nigth coughs) .

GPs kept saying her chest was clear, but she was sent for an x-ray, they spotted slight inflammation, and that's when the codeine was prescribed. it was so striaghtforward, better within 3 days of starting course.

misdee · 13/02/2005 11:30

dh takes codeine for his cough as well. under docs supervision of course.

Original poster

mummylonglegs · 13/02/2005 13:30

Last night was bad again. I spoke to NHS direct this morning and then to the emergency GP who wants to see her as an emergency tomorrow morning so hopefully they'll be able to help. I think I would like to get her chest x-rayed bp because this is just going on too long for it to be the 'natural run' of a cold / flu thing. Will keep you posted!

OP posts:

batters · 15/02/2005 12:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

eldestgirl · 15/02/2005 13:04

My two DS had two lots of croup last year, the second virus came hot on the heels of the first one and was much worse. Both were treated with oral steroids (absolutely vile tasting but effective).

Original poster

mummylonglegs · 15/02/2005 13:50

Thanks for asking, batters. It's hellish to be honest. Dp took dd to the GP yesterday who said her chest sounded 'clear' which I'm pleased about but surprised because she sounds like she's rattling away to me and I can feel the rattles with my hands on her rib cage. So she thought it must be asthma and has put her on becotide (steroid inhaler) as well as ventolin. We're using it but it hasn't had an effect yet. I'm deeply sceptical it's asthma as I've had it all my life and I've seen dd have 2 asthma attacks after contact with very hairy dogs. Last night she coughed for 3 hours solid, 1.30am - 4.30am. She was sick with coughing twice. I just lay with her in her room the whole time and her little body was just racked with coughing. I don't know what else to do now. I've done every single suggestion here. Should I insist on a paediatricians appointment or a chest x-ray?

OP posts:

bakedpotato · 15/02/2005 13:58

MLL, gp after gp told me dd's chest was clear. it took the x-ray toprove something was happening in there. i'd push for it, then see paediatrician with results (that's what we did, thankfully got a walkin appt for an x-ray at local hospt, which speeded things up after months of this misery).

alternatively, have you asked gp about trying course of codeine rather than upping inhalers?

bakedpotato · 15/02/2005 14:00

mind you the brown inhaler does take a few days to work. is that the steriod one you've just been given?

PrettyCandles · 15/02/2005 14:04

The rattle that you can hear and feel on her chest is often caused by mucus near the top of the windpipe, not the lungs themselves. So probably when the GP said that the lungs were clear he meant that there was no mucus in them.

How horrible it is when you can't just do something for your little one and make it all better. I wish I had a cure for you.

Beetroot · 15/02/2005 14:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

foxinsocks · 15/02/2005 14:24

mummylonglegs, we found that the brown inhaler does eventually have some impact. It can take weeks to work though.

Original poster

mummylonglegs · 15/02/2005 15:50

bp, yes, it's the brown inhaler. I know it needs a week or so to build up on the lungs so we'll continue with it. I'll just be so surprised if it's asthma we're dealing with. I think if things are the same in a week then I'll demand an x-ray.

beetroot, I'll try the oil, thanks. I've tried everything else!

Yes, pc, it's so frustrating. Lying with her all night feeling her coughing and coughing, her lungs sounding so raw and painful, I was desperate to be able to alleviate it for all our sakes.

OP posts:

ggglimpopo · 15/02/2005 15:52

Message withdrawn

suedonim · 15/02/2005 19:22

MummyLL, I know this sounds a bit crazy but could you record your dd's coughing fits on a tape and get your Dr to listen to it? Maybe he could make a better diagnosis then. Best wishes.

Whizzz · 15/02/2005 19:26

We run the hot water taps & get the bathroom steamy. Wrap DS is a blanket & sit him in there for a while so he can breathe in the steam if he has a very bad cough. Otherwise we just use a Boots vaporiser

Babblan · 15/02/2005 20:01

Read somewhere recently, that cocoa (as in chocolate) has been found to be as effective as codein in inhibiting coughing! It sounds too good
to be true, I know, but I will certainly try next time my children are coughting away.(I'll try it on myself as well

dinosaur · 15/02/2005 20:38

Mummylonglegs I know exactly what you and your DD are going through. When my DS1 was three, he had exactly this kind of cough for most of the winter. He often coughed for hours on end during the night, and several times coughed so much when trying to eat that he made himself sick.

The one thing that finally seemed to help was some cough medicine called Propolis Elixir with Teatree and Manuka Honey, from Comvita, which I got from Fresh & Wild (a poncy organic shop in London). I think they now do a version specificaly for children.

But what I would say is, have you tried persuading the GP to prescribe her some antibiotics? I say this just because my DS1, who is now five, had a very similar cough recently following a bout of flu. After listening to him cough all through the night, I took him to the GP, and to my amazement the GP prescribed antibiotics straight away and you know what - the cough cleared up really quickly. I was absolutely flabbergasted, both that we got the antibiotics and by how quickly the cough cleared up.

Schmauskin · 16/02/2005 08:13

MEDISED - worked last night on my daughter.( It has paravetamol and a very gentle anti-histamine in it which acts as a sedative.) She has her first ever cold and was coughing so much the night before ( all that mucus/snot running down the babk of her throat I guess). I raised the head-end of her mattress to help with 'drainage' got a Karvol plug-in, Karvol drops on a muslin an used Karvol chest rub. Finally on the advice of another mum I gave her 5mls of Medised in her 6.30pm bottle. she dropped off very quickly and quietly, and we had NO coughing in the night. She woke this morning in good spirits, if a bit snotty. Does anyone know of a good baby-safe decongestion spray I can use for a couple of days to help with her breathing? am already using Sterimar and an aspirator. Ta x

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