4 month old hacking/bad dry cough?

[Nuttyaboutnutella]

My daughter is nearly 5 months old. We've all had coughs and colds as my 2 year old goes to nursery a couple of times a week, so dd has also had a bit of a runny nose etc. Two nights ago, she started with a cough that sounded 'chesty', took her to GP yesterday, chest was clear. Feeding well, no temperature, not really irritable, quite happy in herself. She's also had green and kinda smelly nappies for last few days.

Last night, the cough sounded awful and similar to the hacking cough my DS had last year with whopping cough.

Should I ring out of hours? She's okay in herself just hasn't slept much because of the cough which sounds dreadful at times. She also brought up some of her feed at 1am because she was coughing quite badly.

Worth getting her checked out again or keep an eye?

Get her checked, better to be safe than sorry. Follow your instinct. Hope your DD is better soon x

My 6mo son is exactly the same vomiting with coughing been going on for a week had him at docs said it was viral. Both my kids been sick over a week with cold cough and now myself hubby and grandad have it.

Could've written your post OP. My 5 month old has the same. I left it thinking it was viral and she'd get over it but few days ago she came up in red itchy rash too.

I took her to GP who said it's oral thrush infection (probs from being run down and having cold last week). 'Chesty' cough but doc said chest is clear. I've got drops for her mouth and cream for the rash.

I'm not convinced it's getting better yet, in fact the rash is getting worse. supposed to clear up within a week.

Has DC got white milk-like covering on tongue? Are you bfeeding?

My DS at 5 months had a horrible dry cough, but was generally happy in himself and feeding fine etc. When I took him to the docs, I was told he was possibly teething as the extra saliva really irritates their throat. A tooth came through a couple of days later! May have just been a coincidence as I didn't really feel like it was teething, but you never know!

Yes, get her checked out. At that age they can go down hill very fast, and if they have whooping cough they don’t necessarily have the whoop so it’s hard to establish. One of my twins caught whooping cough as a baby although he was only 2 months and still only 5lb - he was sick but okay and very quickly deteriorated to the point we had to call an ambulance.

The difficulty is you really can’t tell what their oxygen levels are like until they’re already dangerously low - hospital discharged us saying he had bronchiolitis, told us to come back if he got worse but he stayed the same, we watched him day and night in shifts. Then we went to nicu for a check up and his o2 had dropped into the low 70s and he seemed no sicker than he had when hospital had checked him a few days before.

Does she show signs of working harder to breathe - nostrils flaring, skin around her ribs or throat / collar bones pulling in when she breathes, stomach muscles working when she breathes? This is what they told us to look out for. Breathing can get worse after feeds as their full stomachs mean their lungs can’t expand as much.

I would call 111 now and see what they say. I hope she’s okay but I wouldn’t take any chances