Continuous coughing at night (tried all remedies)

[Brooklet405]

My DD is 2 yr 3 mth and she's been suffering from continuous coughing (only at night) for over 6 weeks now. During day she has runny nose but rarely any cough. Every single night the initial couple of hours are fine but around 1 or 2 am or so her coughing starts and it's literally continuous after that and we get no sleep at all from that time onwards. For 6 weeks, been barely sleeping just a couple of hours daily and it's really taking the toll on us, especially DH as daughter insists on having him next to her all the time at night while I sleep many times with my other DD (I've twins).

I have read numerous posts on Mumsnet about this but nothing seems to work for us. We have been to GP 3 times and paediatrician one time. Every time they said chest is very clear and there's no asthma (she does not wheeze and no one in our family has history of asthma). The GP prescribed blue inhaler which worked first day but then back to coughing from second night. We have tried humidifier, honey/turmeric, changed bedsheets, mattress, (we don't have any pets) etc. but nothing is working.

We are at our wits end especially as we cannot go on any longer this way with just a few hours sleep daily. Desperate for help!

It's the runny nose, she's got mucus dripping down the back of her throat while she sleeps and it causes the cough. The problem is that she's lying flat. Can you prop her up more with pillows/tilt the cot?

Have you tried Piriton?

Also sounds like propping her up would help.

Thank you very much for your suggestions - we have been using a pillow to prop her head but she moves a lot in her sleep and it is rendered useless within a few mins of putting it there. Maybe we shall tilt the cot and see.

We have been using Allerief which ahs the same content as Piriton (chlorphenamine maleate).

A blue inhaler gave initial relief for our daughter but when the cough returned the GP prescribed a brown inhaler. It stopped the cough almost immediately and she has it twice a day now (one puff dose). I think it's worth pushing a bit more on that.

The only other thing to try is cutting out dairy but that seem extreme and possibly unwise without medical advice.

Could it be silent reflux? I had this after my second child and would be fine in the day but then would cough all night. It was very annoying for us both in bed!

Yes , brown inhaler stopped ds's too so go back to the GP asap. Ds has seasonal asthma which is triggered by allergies.

Have you tried a dehumidifier? Absolute game changer for us!

Put a pillow under the top bit of the mattress, just a slight prop otherwise they roll, that way the pillow is not in the cot itself so not a potential hazard. I actually used to use folded sheets or a towel so it was a very slight elevation only to stop them rolling down

I'd suspect nasal drip too (not a medic) as my GP FIL said it's common and both my children had this

Classic asthma sign, push for more help. IME got inhalers for croup that tackled the. Ighttime cough too but they won't (or didn't at the time) diagnose asthma under 4

I agree with PP I would push for them to try a brown inhaler. Have you given up with the blue inhaler? If you have I’d try again. I’d give it before bed and then 4 hours later if she’s coughing.
If that doesn’t work I’d ask to try Montelukast tablets at bedtime. They can’t just leave her like this. Kids need their sleep (as do adults). They need to keep trying to solve this for her.

We had this situation. Dr gave us blue inhaler only. Cough was persistent at night, ended up going to A & E and they were surprised we didn't have a brown inhaler so gave us one, it worked and hardly ever needed the blue one. Now two years later my little one has grown out of it so we don't need anything.

My DS didn’t wheeze either, but his night cough still went with a brown inhaler.

We went to the GP again and he referred us to a paedatrician who again confirmed that DD doesn't have asthma. He did an allergy (prick) test which seems to suggest that DD may have birch pollen, dust allergies but still to be confirmed by blood test. His view was that since she doesn't have asthma, there's no point of using any inhaler but the overwhelming view of you all is that brown inhaler should do the job. I'm going to ask the GP to prescribe that. Just one quick question: brown inhaler has steroids and so is it ok to use it? I did google and there were mixed opinions.

Matilda, can't use dehumidifier as DD has eczema.

The child dose of steroids in the brown inhaler is low so it didn’t worry me. I was more worried about her not sleeping and being miserable all the time because she was exhausted.
What’s your worry re the humidifier and eczema?

The only things that have stopped my night time allergy cough are taking the antihistamine at bedtime instead of the morning and using a daily steroid nasal spray. I'm not asthmatic but I get a cough and wheeze and the blue inhaler works there and then but doesn't really relieve the cough for a whole night. For me, the nasal spray is the game changer that stops the cough.

If you're seeing the GP, perhaps they could suggest a steroid nasal spray suitable for children? I find after about 1 week it's pretty much done its job and my symptoms hugely reduce.

I'm interested in the brown inhaler for myself now 🤔

Sounds like an allergy. I'm allergic to dust and have a nocturnal cough. Disappeared after a few anti dust measures.

Im not a medic but how is the GP so sure it’s not asthma? When my DS was diagnosed (due to excessive night time coughing), he was given a peak flow meter and told to come back in a fortnight. GP checked the results and prescribed the brown inhaler which cleared the long term cough up within a couple of nights. My DS has never been a wheezer.

When my child had this we were told by the GO it isn't really possible to diagnose asthma until 4 years old? Try a different antihistamine as they have different medications and one might work while another doesn't. We have to rotate them

We’ve had this

we have had to do a combination of things. Saline drops not spray in the nose before bed. Benadryl not piriton - more affective on this kind of allergy.
humidifer in the room - DS has eczema as well and this has caused any problems.
brown inhaler - this was tricky as it took a good while to work for us it wasn’t immediate because he was in the midst of viral infections etc but once it kicked it the cough almost went completely … until he picked up this new throat infection! But it was barely anything and nothing like he had been.

DS would cough so much he was sick (and still does when he’s poorly) but his chest was always clear, no wheezing.

we’ve also found no milk or dairy after lunchtime really helps.

Make sure you try and see if antihistamines with different active ingredients make a difference. I’m not sure which ones are safe for kids but I’m on two types as one sorts out my itchy skin and the other my rhinosinistus (tried 3 or 4 types before hitting on one that worked).
I also had coughing at night after a chest infection. Turned out to be cough variant asthma. I have always got a bit wheezy on occasion but wasn’t most of the time. I got given an asthma test where you breath into it as fast as you can (peak flow monitor) to take home and record results over a couple of weeks. I took a brown inhaler at the same time and during the month you saw when the brown inhaler started to have an impact as my peak flow stopped fluctuating and stayed steady.

Piriton 3/ 4 times a day as on box
Steam bath
Vicks on chest throat back soles of feet
No milk 3 hours before bedtime
Propped up pillow
Saline spray several times daily
Fresh air daily (getting out)
Keeping a good sense of humour (parents) remembering these times pass and sleep will resume
Accepting this is life for now

My DD has this, it’s been ongoing since she was 6 months. She’s now 22mo. Things that have helped is tilting her cot, and not much else. The more you try loosen the mucas, the more it drips down her throat and causes the cough. She is due to have her tonsils removed as these are grade 4, and adenoids.

Could be a bit of silent reflux, hence the coughing when lying down, irritating the oesophageas (sp?) try some gaviscon before bed if you haven’t tried already ( haven’t rtft)

Bricks under the top of bed so bed is proped up and brown inhaler.

V low dose of steroids much less risk than sleep deprivation. Has she done a peak flow?

You diagnose asthma based on symptoms and response to inhalers not by examination so don't see how the doctor could confirm she doesn't have asthma. A chronic cough can often be the only symptom (you don't necessarily have any wheezing). You find out whether a cough is asthma or not by seeing if it responds to an inhaler. My brown inhaler fixed my chronic cough surprisingly quickly.