Poor DS and his rotten cough

[teacher123]

Poor 8mo DS has had a cough on and off for the last two weeks-ending up in casualty last week with breathing difficulties. He's just woken himself up for the third time in half an hour through coughing, it's so rubbish. Everytime he drifts off he coughs and wakes himself up again. We have a calpol plug in diffuser thing, have put baby Vicks on his feet and raised the head end of the cot. He has an inhaler and we've just given him some calpol. I don't know what else we can do! He's so tired and is just sobbing because he wants to be asleep. I am now wide awake as well and too anxious to sleep. Rubbish rubbish rubbish.

Poor DS and poor you, is he any better upright?

Could he sleep propped up on your chest for a while?

Does his inhaler help? How many puffs does he have?

Hope he's better soon.

He's just had two puffs of his inhaler, which (touch wood) has helped a bit, I can still hear him making noises in his cot but he's not coughing as much. He won't sleep on me at all and he won't cosleep-that baby is stubborn! He won't even go to sleep with me in the room-he just cranes his neck to look at me and starts babbling...!

And now DH is snoring. Doesn't look like my early night was very successful, does it?!?

I spoke too soon... Big loads of coughing and now some crying...

Oh dear, maybe a couple of phone books (or similar) under the head end cot legs to raise it a bit and a swift kick or sharp elbow for snoring DH

Good luck

Have you tried a steamy room? That sometimes helps when DD has a tight chest and a cough.

Have you got the heating on? If the air is dry could trigger cough - place a bowl of water on top of your radiators to put some moisture in the air. Also rub vicks on chest as well. Hope lo gets a good nights sleep :)

No ideas but if its any consolation we're in exactly same position with 10m DS. He's just vommed for 2nd time tonight after choking on sputum...

Well after an hour and a half of 'silence... Cough cough... Waaaaaaah' (repeat cycle every 15 minutes, just long enough for me to drift off and then be woken up with a jump!) he eventually settled back until the morning. Dr said that these things last ages and there's nothing he can do. Oh good. Thanks for solidarity in the middle of the night. As for DH's snoring-I just killed him.

And to add to the misery of the never ending viral cough, he has now caught a cold as well. A more miserable baby you will not find. I put him to bed half an hour early after his naps were crap today and he was sobbing with tiredness after three hours awake in the night coughing and crying. He has woken up crying 4 times in the last hour. I honestly don't know what else I can do. He is at breaking point and so am I. The poor baby is just so bloody knackered, but the coughing wakes him up every time.

Oh poor baby! Is he any better now? There is not much you can do for a cold except ride it out - open a window for fresh air and plenty of Vicks on his feet and chest and plenty of water and Calpol. Hope you both get some sleep.

Vicks on the soles of his feet, and some Olbas baby oil :)

Feel so sad for you and your poorly boy, it can feel so unbearable I know. Try a humidifier in his room. Read reviews on Argos and Amazon. We have a Vicks cool mist one, which has really helped in the past when our daughter's had a cough. Seriously try it. And good luck. Hope he's all better soon.

Well, we got through the night-he eventually settled properly at around 7ish, and then only woke twice before getting up at 7am, so the night wasn't as bad as feared thank goodness. Poor little mite keeps being sick at every meal time as he's coughing so much. So have yet another drs appt this morning, just not sure what else they can do really. Thank you for messages and suggestions, I've got to the point where I'll try anything!

teacher123 Am sorry your little lad is poorly. Mine is the same at the moment. Can I ask if there has been any improvement? It feels like our 18-month-old has been awake (and therefore us too) for the past three days and nights coughing. The week before, he had a vomiting bug. It's utter shit :( He coughs and cries as it hurts :(

Hope your lo is able to catch up on his sleep during the day a bit and that he feels better soon!!! Same situation here, with a 2 yo and a 3 mo...seeing my little baby suffer that scares the hell out of me !!! I have returned tonletting her sleep on me to be honest, so that she at least gets some sleep....for the rest we are using humidifyer, olbas oil, etc....nothing seems to help though....hope everyone gets better quickly!

Hi tickle i'm sorry to hear about someone else in the same situation!

Right, we went back to the drs on Monday and he had a temp and his snot is really thick and green (sorry for the tmi!) which means that it is a chest infection. So the dr has put him on a 10 day set of antibiotics to try and kick it into touch, and fingers crossed he seems to be FINALLY on the mend! It's been 3 weeks of crapness. At the moment our poor over-medicated baby has the following: calpol, cough medicine, amoxicillin, Vicks on his feet and chest at bedtime, a diffuser plug in vaporiser thing (costs a bloody fortune- £1 per little capsule!) an inhaler twice a day and olbas oil on his sheet near his head!!! Have also put towels under his mattress to raise the cot up, which does seem to make a difference.

No doubt what will happen is that he will get better and then start teething and all sleeping will be suspended once more!!

Hi teacher, so glad to hear your little one is on the mend. I know what you mean about over-medication - feels like we've got through so much calpol/nurofen and baby Vicks the last few months. He's not got a temperature, thankfully, but is really hot to the touch on his head/cheeks/upper back. That makes me think his 2-year molars or other canines are on their way (they're the only ones he's got left to come! He's more teeth than baby). Guess we just keep on keeping on. At least he hasn't lost his appetite this time around... he seemed to get so skinny during his recent vomiting/diarrohea fest!

Sanne Sorry to hear your little ones are poorly too! DS has started the night in his cot the last three nights but only really slept when cuddled up with me on the sofa in his room. Hoping he doesn't get too used to that - my back is killing me!

Wishing you all a good night!!! Must admit Im preparing myself for just another awful night, running up and down between two crying children ... Really hope this gets better soon as im already now exhausted and it is only 8pm....this is going to be a looooooong night....i know what you mean tickle that you do not want your LO getting used to sleeping on your lap and all the other creative things we come up with to get through these nights, but for me its most important that my 3 mo gets SOME sleep, and i deal with the consequences later (will probably post another thread then in despair about her newly developed poor sleep habits :) Good night!

sanne I take my hat off to you, I have struggled with only one!! And at least DS isn't at the teeny weeny stage any longer, it is tough going when they're only 3 months. Hope they feel better soon and you get some kip!