Night Time Coughing

Hi A.,
I have had the same problem lately with my youngest -- I put a pillow in his crib that is flatter than a normal pillow so that he can't roll off of it or be suffocated by it and it seems to be helping some. I don't know if this will help you but it sounds like he keeps getting congested when he lays down.
T.

I had the same issue with my daughter (14 months), and we were using a vaporizer as well, my doctor recommended a humidifier instead and it works wonders to stop the coughing. Also, I used to work at a child development center and we would use a wedge shaped object to prop up the end of the mattress where the baby's head would lie. Hope this helps.

you might want to try checking his pillow and stuff like that for dust and allergins because a friend of mine's daughter caughs alot when she sleeps too due to dust and stuff on her pillow so they had to get a plastic cover for her bed and pillow to avoid the dust and stuff stuck in the pillow and bed.

Nighttime coughing is often a sign of asthma. My 7 year old daughter has asthma and I believe the dr diagnosed her with this between 2 and 3 years old. With the change in weather and all the trees budding up, this is a time when kids with asthma may start to suffer. If his coughing is keeping him up at night, definitely take him to the dr to see if this could be the cause. The medicine they put him on will really relieve his symptoms. Hope that helps!

Hi my son had a chronic cough also when he was 3-6 months old. The doctor was not concerned about it but I was for obvious reasons. When he was six months old I changed all of our cleaners, personal care products, and laundry products to chemical free products. His cough cleared up right away. I know that chemicals can cause asthma to act up, so if it is that you may look at switching your products. If you would like to learn more please contact me I can help. We can get you chemical free products in your home with a money back guarantee for 60 days so if you find you don't like them you can send back the empty bottles and get all your money back - minus shipping of course. :) These products are also less expensive than your name brands at the grocery store or target. I would love to help you out.

D.
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Have you taken him to your pediatrician? I would... That poor little guy sounds miserable. They can at least give him some cough medication or something. It can also be something more that you can't see. It could be drainage in the back of his throat that is making him cough.
Something you can do to help is give him a pillow if he doesn't already have one.It helps prop his head up... This is only if you feel comftorable doing this. My fifteen month old uses two pillows but he's had problems with acid reflex and ear infections. they seem to help him sleep.. good luck and i hope this helps.

HI A.,
You need to take him to the doctors. My son was coughing, similiar to how you are describing. We finally took him and found out it was bronchitis!! I felt terrible for not taking him in sooner because if not taken care of soon it can only get worse not better. The doctor then told me to take colds a little more seriously for now on because you dont want a kid that young (he was 20 mos) to get bronchitis it can lead into pneumonia which is tough for little kids. I hope that helps. But I would definitly take him in. It doesnt hurt! Good luck and I hope he gets better soon!

my son is 19 months and he also has had a cough for a few weeks. i took him to the doctor and he said there is a virus going around in our area. so there's nothing really he could do. so i do a vaporizer and vicks and i also give him a warm bath. there is a vapor bath wash that is made just for babies with a cold. it works wonders!! and i also give my son some pedia care cough syrup. it has just medicine for cough....no fever reducers or anything else (i give him about a half a teaspoon). coughs are horrible and it's ok to give them something so the both of you can get some relief. i am addicted to WEBMD. it has so many useful articles and you can find anything you are curious about. so good luck and i hope you son gets better.

my 2 year old does the same thing. i have taken her in for this and all they say is just make sure her head is on a pillow or somehow up a little to help. there is really nothing the docs. can do for me. so, i went to the store to see what is out there for the coughs. i got robitussin pediatric cough long lasting. it helps for 8 hours. i only give this to her if she really needs it. i also make sure she has enough moisture in the room too. she tends to sleep with her mouth wide open. :) i also make sure she has water to drink for the coughing. i live in az., but my mom lives in omaha. she is a rn nurse and i get most of my questions answered from her or i call my ped. also, its that time of year for colds, coughs, etc. here in az. its so dry here too. this is one of the reasons why we are moving back to omaha when our house sells. i might even take her in or call the ped. here soon. i really dont like going to the doc. inless its really needed. there is no fever, she does sometimes have a runny nose, but other than that, its dry. i have been told that she could have allergies too. my 3 year old gets allergies every so often. my hubby has allergies every month. i didnt have it til i moved down here. if i do go to the doc. about the cough and it hasnt gotten any better, i will let you know what they say. thank you for the info. i was going to put in a request for this as well. T.

My daughter just went through this from Feb, to March. We went to doc once--just a cold, use a decongestant. 3 weeks later--some skunky smelling antibi. that she wouldn't take. 1 week after that, we finally got to see her reg, doc and he gave her 3 days of Azithromiacin and she cleared instantly and has been cough free for 4 days now. Worked for us, wouldn't hurt to ask your doc about it.

My son had the very same thing when he was little , but his was to the extreme that he would cough till he spit up or vomitted. his family dr diagnosed him with what they called"reactive airway" (they tend to use this term on smaller kids trying not to label them with the ashthma diagnosis apparently) only later to be determined and diagnosed as Asthma. Take him to A pedicatrician and ask him about athma especially if anyone in your family has asthma.............i spent many a nights as you did tying everything until i switched to a pediatrician and my son wa officially diagnosed with asthma..........my son is now 6 and we spent many months of his life trying to figure out what to do for him. i was a much happier mom with a much happier baby when we swiched him from a "family" dr to a pediatrician. Hope this helps.

Might it be Croup? My girls both do that due to croup. The doctor told me to open a window or to take them outside in the cold air because it will open his airways. My girls were also put on nebulizer treatments for the summer time when they get the "barking" cough, but we hardly have to use that.

It sounds like either broncitis or allergies. My youngest only coughs at night and if I give him a benedryl it goes away. I would take him to the doc and find out. My son is amost 8 and has had this problem for four years, at least.

Try propping one side of your crib mattress up. I used my boppy because it was nice and wide and sturdy. . .sometimes that elevation really helps though. Hope it helps for you too!

My daughter had a similar problem with coughing. Our pediatrician sent us to an allergist in January. He thinks she has mild asthma and put her on Pulmicort by nebulizer. She hasn't had a cough since even though she has had colds.

Long before that, when she was five months old, our pediatrician gave her a nebulizer treatment to use when she was going through periods of coughing. This helped as well, and gave me much peace of mind, knowing there was something to help her!.

A. - I'm not a doctor either but sounds like it could be seasonal allergies. Could be irritating during the day and draining at night making him cough. I also have a couple of 2 year olds in my daycare that have been diagnosed with asthma. They coughed alot at night but then also during the day and they wouldn't diagnose asthma until they turned 2. If it's been going on 3 weeks I would certainly take him to your pediatrician to get checked out. Good luck! K.

my son has the same problem sometimes. It helps to prop him up on pillow into more of a sitting position. I've found that it's caused from sinus drainage due to allergies. DO NOT give him an expectorant, my doctor always tries to give us one, it just makes it so much worse. I don't recall off hand what I give him, but I think its benedryl. It has antihistamines for his allergies & also medicine to dry up the snot instead of loosening it. Regular cough syrups don't seem to work for us either, but its worth a try as long as it doesn't have the expectorant in it as well. Good Luck & I hope that helps

Hey A.,
I too had this problem with my son. I took him to the doctor and he has bronchitis. I have to give him breathing treatments with a nebulizer every 4 hours. Hopefully he will grow out of it but you never know. It may sound horrifying to think that you may have to give your child breathing treatments, but there are worse things that can happen. See your family physician and he/she should be able to tell you what is wrong with your baby.

Also, I have found that the Ask A Dr. Websites are not that great. And, working in the medical field myself, half the time you will get an illness of the computer just to have your Dr. tell you that you were wrong and diagnos a different problem!!