coughing at night

[mum2oliver]

13 month ds keeps coughin at night.Dont believe its ashma,but could it be dust mites?How often should the matress be changed or shook or hoovered?

I may be unhygienic, but DS is now 19 months and I've never shaken or hoovered his mattress.
He does go through phases of coughing at night, and I've always just put it down to mucus and stuff. When it's particularly bad I put a couple of blankets underneath the mattress at the top, just to raise his head by an inch or so. This usually helps. It could also be something as simple as a dry throat and a drink of water might help - only problem with this is they soon develop a habit of coughing deliberately until mum or dad comes in and gives them a drink.

Teething seems to make my dd cough a lot at night. In the winter a wet flannel/towel over the radiator helps. My GP did say if it was persistent it was a possible sign of asthma, but its more on and off than that.

My DS (22 months) coughs a lot at night as well -has done this off and on from a few months old. Seems every time he gets the slightest cold, he gets a cough. After a few days the cold goes but the cough stays for a couple of weeks and is always worse at night. The weird thing is, it's always worse at certain times of night - usually 10:30 or 11pm and again at 5am. Don't know why that is.

Anyway, GP says it could be a variation of asthma but says not to worry about it too much at this stage - many grow out of it. And it doesn't inhibit his activity at all. Also, as JiminyCricket says, its not that persisent - sometimes it goes away completely for a month or two.

Frequently I leave him and he settles himself after a while. If it sounds bad (even if it doesn't actually wake him) I give him Nelson's Sootha (a mixture of homeopathic bryonia and honey). And sometimes I put a humidifier in his room at night (although the wet flannel on the radiator is probably just as effective).

I have to admit I have never hoovered his mattress, although a few times after he's been sick I've put the top layer in the washing machine (his mattress has a zip-off cover).

Does the coughing wake him? What happens if you leave him alone - will he go back to sleep?

I do leave him to cry for a while but I knw when its time to go in.It has only very recently started to wake him(last 2 nights) Im not used to having to go to him in the night.Have been lucky.
Im just really curious why he is coughing.Sure its nothing.
Iv ellevated the cot with books,turned heating off at night,opened window,bowl of hot water in room,removed pillow(small) (NHS helpline advice)but still coughing,will it maybe take time to take effect if they were the probs???
By the way,I NEVER hoover my matress either,just heard he could be coughin due to dust mites,thought id illiminate everything.

I bought some dust mite covers for my ds bedding - duvet cover, pillow and mattress. A bit of an outlay at first but he stopped coughing almost immediately at night after they were put on, he had been diagnosed with a Dust Mite allergy (amongst other things)

hth