Croup- nearly 4 year old

[littlemummyfoofoo]

So tonight is another night waiting for the diagnosed 'mild croup' to go to 'moderate croup' or 'severe croup' . .. presently it's just occassional barking cough. But one of us is sitting up sleeping with out 3 yearold learning on us while the is supposed to sleep...not go on mums net...

so our lo has an apparently clear chest ... but most probably croup that will develop over next 48-72 hrs (paramedic at the drs on Friday)
so just waiting for our child to get sicker so we can take him to A&E to get steroids..

We are waiting for...a stridor and or a slight difficultly breathing ..shown in the chest as a small cavity and or his sides to appear make extra effort....Even a bit of a wheeze in his breathing would mean we could justify A&E.

NHS website..when to go to a&e ..
your child is struggling to breathe (you may see their tummy sucking inwards or their breathing sounds different)
their skin or lips start to look blue or grey
(Cyanosis - caused by lack of oxygen)
they're unusually quiet and still
they suddenly get a very high temperature or become very ill

He has had croup before so we know it is very likely coming. Just so frustrating waiting... we know it's a virus so no antibiotics...
Just seems crazy having to wait for it to get worse to get meds to make him better.
18months ago when he had it.. the 1st time there was so much less info. Now we know it's a virus.. that it has to run its course..adults get it too but don't develop the breathing issues normally.
Croup can develop from more than 1 virus.
There are 2 types of steriods .. to treat it in children. One is stronger than the other...the stronger one is 1 dose, the stronger one is 2 doses.. 12 hrs appart..2nd dose only given if croup stridor not completely gone.

my 1st question.
first time lo had one lot, 18months ago.
2nd time had both shots and that was thursday 17th Oct 19..we got him checked on the monday by a dr ..we were told the cough will go in a few weeks or so (so we took that at 3/4) ..
Now since then he has had it.. in the background...all this time and it suddenly got a little worse Wednesday...much worse thursdsy night..so dr on the friday..

I'm expecting the stronger drug this time?
so if these episodes happen again.. where do we go from there?
If virus's change as meds get stronger is he going to end up on something much stronger later?

argh.. so frustrating can hear him coughing. well better sleep. hospital bag packed ready..
anyone else been through this?

ps ngs website says no steam... i had croup... i spent hours in a steamy bathroom..

is there evidence steam works/doesn't work..
or do they just say that because kids kept getting scolded???

Here to offer a handhold. Not much experience with croup but very similar with dd's asthma.
We can always tell an attack is building but if we take her too soon we're sent away with advice to up her inhalers but no steroids. And she invariably needs steroids and sometimes antibiotics too depending on whether it's been triggered by a chest infection.
She did have one bout of croup and she got steroids .
It's very frustrating when you know how it's going to go.
Does going outside help at all?

He'll grow out of getting croup eventually.

My middle child used to get it - I spent multiple nights awake reading all the Mr Men books aloud to him one after the other to keep him calm and help him drift off.

There isn't a croup virus which becomes resistant to treatment, it doesn't work that way.

Croup is an inflammation of the airways in response to a viral infection - the common cold or a flu virus usually.

Keeping them calm often stops it getting worse, and it usually gets milder with age and then stops happening altogether by age 5 or 6.

We only had to take him to A&E once, the first time. After that we were prescribed suppositories to give him if it became severe - we were allowed 2. Only had to use them once, and instructions were to take him to A&E if they didn't work after asset time, and doctors next day if they did. It always happened at night.

Good luck - it's scary but will be fine, sit up and read aloud to him.

He'll grow out of it in a year or two, it won't be worse in a year or two.

Hi. Ds2 suffered from croup very badly he would have about 6 episodes a year. We knew when it was coming.

No one would help until he was having breathing difficulties.

After a while we went to the GP with a video recording of him when he had stridor while calm and not crying, she immediately knew it wasn't right. I begged her for some steroids so I didn't have to keep dragging him to A&E but she couldn't prescribe. She referred us to the ENT people who gave us a prescription to have at home and use when it kicked off, he also had a camera down.

He's 7 now and hasn't had an episode for over a year.

If you end up in A&E you want the Dex steriods not pred.

Pred takes hours to work but the Dex... (sp) works in 10/15 mins, you'd literally see his airwaves opening.

It's bloody awful.

I never found steam that helpful but I did used to sit on the doorstep with him wrapped in a quilt and sometimes the cold air would ease it, unfortunately we'd then put him back to bed but he'd be awake again distressed.

We have done cold air or steam
It's frustrating that you have to be in dire straits for the NHS to offer any treatment

All of mine have been prone to it, only one had hospital treatment (in the US, massive cost but got prednisolone without any problems)

The Gp allows us to have two doses of dexamethasone at home at a time. It took a while and a lot of midnight A&E dashes to get sorted. The consultant in A&E wrote to the Gp and asked that it was prescribed. DS2 has absolutely no warning or build up, he goes from sleeping peacefully to severe in a heartbeat.

He's 8 now and showing no sign of growing out of it sadly.

lunar1 wow that's hard - I was most perturbed that dc2 was still getting croup at 6, having been assured by the paediatrician that he'd definitely grow out of it by 5... He did grow out of it before he turned 7 though. He also always had a build up during the evening of rasping, wheezing breathing, so I knew I needed to sleep in his room those nights. In the end we both knew what was happening and it was really only the addition into the mix of his non sleeper little brother which made it really hard. The actual croup was never as bad again as the first time when he was 18 months old and we were actually admitted to hospital for 2 nights. After that we had the suppositories and I knew what was happening so I was less scared, so he was less scared, so it didn't usually become severe. Just meant a sleepless night.

I didn't realise some children go from nothing to severe without build-up.

Thank you everyone for your firsthand accounts of croup. So we got through the night with just barking .. and the occasional faint wheeze ... so uncomfortable for lo.
He is also snotty.. so we have Dr app later with the out of hours dr...I suspect we'll be told his chest is clear as the app is 12.45 whichis probably when he seems least ill.

and be told to keep sitting him up... we are all tired as none of us feel we have had a good night's sleep for weeks! I will be on tonight sitting up with him...so glad he's not still in a cot and we spent extra on a good quality mattress!
Jammy, I am taking on board several of your helpful bits of advice esp videoing him while he is so bad. ...and everyones advice on which steriods to ask for.
So sad for everone who has to go through this but then after seeing children in need Friday we are lucky if this is the worst we are dealing with.
Thanks to everyone again for your help..and chats...

huge love to all your lo.