Coughing for months

[Emmaaa1990]

Hi all

My little girl picked up several colds since starting nursery in feb. We had a small
Break where she wasn't coughing but it's literally lingering now. I thought it was getting better but then she started coughing at night again last night. Doctors and paramedics have said it's 'viral' her 'throat looks abit red' and we 'just have to let it run its course' it's been months now, this just doesn't seem normal but they don't seem phased? So maybe it is?

Anyone else has experience of a cough going on and on in a baby/child?

Thanks

My daughter had an on-going cough when she was around 4 years old, they checked her for asthma and acid reflux as on-going coughs can be indicators of both of those things. Wasn't either in the end and it did eventually go away but those are possibilities you might consider.

Yes, it was allergic asthma in my son's case. Raise the cough again with your GP. Is it worse at night?

Thankyou both I did consider asthma but they checked all her oxygen levels, blood etc and said it was fine (I'm not sure what tests they do to check for asthma just assumed if her oxygen was good?)

I would say it's worse when she's awake tbh she has been sleeping fine but it was last night again where had a coughing episode for about an hour on and off.

Been told it's not in her chest either it's in her throat. So bizarre I just want her to not be coughing, think I will raise this again with the doctor altho we only went last week again. Getting silly now!

My DD had similar, it was worse at night. Despite the fact it went on well beyond any isolation period and she had negative covid tests the GP wouldn’t see her. They prescribed two lots of antibiotics, neither of which worked, then an inhaler that she was too little to use, and then an inhaler with a mask thing we had to pin her down to use and I doubt she breathed any of it in.
It went away after maybe 3 months.

@KFleming oh god yea all the covid tests too we've done so many on her poor thing! Oh bless her that sounds like a right ordeal. I'm hoping it eases off soon just feel so sorry for her and brought so much to try and help her! And all the doctors keep saying is it's viral! That helps loads 🙈🙈

To diagnose asthma they have to do lung function tests, blood oxygen just indicates current status, for DD that involved about half an hour of breathing in different ways into a special machine. But if they think its in the throat rather than the chest then acid reflux seems more likely than asthma, if it isn't just a post-viral cough like they think. But red throat and throaty cough would make me ask about reflux.

@Natsku ohh interesting Thankyou! She's only 11 months so not sure how they would get her to breathe different ways haha. Yeah maybe acid reflux could be the cause, I think I will
Give the doc a call and get them to look into that, Thankyou :)

11 months will be too young to diagnose for sure, 3 at the youngest really. Hope the doctor figures it out, or she stops coughing by herself soon.

@Natsku yeah I thought that and it's quite young to even have I'm sure! Yeah I will get her checked once more and query it, hoping it's on its way out especially with warmer weather coming. Thankyou for you help :)

It could be acid reflux causing it but honestly I’d go for a second opinion. My cousins little boy had something similar and it turned out he had tonsillitis (was told it was viral at first) and needed antibiotics.. it went on for weeks before she got a proper diagnosis for him.

We have had this with our 3 year old - tonsillitis needing antibiotics seems to be one factor for him and the other seems to be allergies - in desperation I tried giving him a spoonful of piriton in the evenings (as we have a family history of hayfever and dust allergies) and it's made a huge difference to the cough.
We kept getting fobbed off with its probably asthma despite inhalers making no difference at all (family history of that too 🙈)
His is worse at night though although he sleeps through the coughing

@Vicky1989x yeah it's awful isn't it! Horrible seeing little ones suffering. Looks like I'm not being silly then if I keep persisting! I just want her well must be tiring coughing all the time.

@Smurf123 oh that's interesting making she is allergic to something, you can give Piriton from 1 can't you she's 1 in just under 2 weeks, wonder if that would help her. I will do anything to help her, we have a humidifier in her room, vicks, the lot poor thing. It's crazy how the doctors probably just see us as hypochondriacs thinking our children are really ill! I feel like you just don't get taken seriously do you! See she was coughing at night but that had stopped until last night she had some coughing again last night does sleep through it's me who doesn't haha. Just want some relief. Feel like I need to go back again :/ Thankyou :)

@Emmaaa1990 definitely especially when they seem otherwise well and atm its almost impossible to be seen in person!
You can buy piriton over the counter for 1 plus but a gp can prescribe it to you for younger than 1.. We reached the point of anything was worth trying especially as then his creche were insisting on new covid tests because he would cough a bit more some days rather than others even though it was never a "new" cough as it had never fully gone away.

@Smurf123 oh my god! Yes our nursery is wanting us to get tests left right and centre too! It's the same cough it's so frustrating 🙈 we have to keep getting PCR ones done because they won't accept lateral! Hopefully it all ends soon!

My god we are currently on a 20 minute coughing episode! I feel like the cough that has been lingering is getting worse again? Just been in to sit her up for a minute and give her some water but she's basically asleep coughing. This cannot just be a viral thing I am being fobbed off I'm sure!

My daughter started with a cough after a cold when she was 6 months old. It took a lot of doctor trips. We eventually got referred to the paediatric respiratory team and since she started on inhalers it controlled it really well. I used to dread her getting a cold and it was make her wheeze etc. She’s now 2.5years and we are slowly weaning off the inhalers and she seems to be growing out of it. Humidifier in her bedroom helped a lot at night!

I’d say my daughter had a cough for about 4 or 5 months pretty much continuously when she was 7months-1 year. She had 3 bouts of bronchiolitis in that time, one of which she was hospitalised for, and just constant colds and so on. She used to cough so much she was sick most nights, even when not seeming unwell in any other way. The doctor told me coughs can linger in babies for a long time after they are over the illness. (This was all pre covid, she is now 2, in the past year she has had only 3 coughs - I remember cos each one has obviously necessitated a covid test - one bonus of social distancing I suppose!!)

So anyway - your daughter sounds like mine was. Unless she is unwell in other ways it probably isn’t anything to worry about, as far my doctor told me anyway.

Currently experiencing it myself. DD has had a perpetual cough since September.

She's 20 months, and has had more Covid tests than myself and my husband put together now. We've been told viral, and tried one bout of antibiotics. She also has an inhaler. Nothing works. It just seems to be recurrent colds causing it. She's (usually) completely fine in herself. Resp rate and sats all ok. So long as she hasn't got a fever, we still send her off to nursery.

Hopefully, once it starts warming up, the coughing will disappear on its own.