Chronic cough in 1 year old - Lung Conditions C...

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Chronic cough in 1 year old

Butterflies27 profile image
19 Replies

Hi i am new to this site but am at my wits end trying to find answers to help my daughter. If anyone could add anything to try I would be so appreciative. For the past year my daughter has had a chronic cough which happens day and night. We have tried inhalers, montelukast, neoclarityn with no luck. This all started after catching bronchiolitis in Jan last year and then this resulted in my daughter developing a chest infection every 3 weeks after a cold. Blood tests and sweat test have come back fine. In Sept a consultant advised it was protracted bacterial bronchitis and prescribed a 1 month dose of co-amoxyclav. For 3 months the cough went completely. My daughter has now caught her first cold and although she had croup and got over it she can't shake this cough off again. So far we are on day 23 with coughing day and night. We are shattered from lack of sleep and worry and no idea where to go. We rehomed one of our dogs, bought air humidifiers/purifiers, asthma hoover, anti-allergy bedding all with no luck. My daughter is 2 in March and I think the doctors are hoping she will grow out of it but it's a long time to wait and hope.

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19 Replies

Coughing is a reflex i guess coz she had few problems think she will grow out of it.

As to goving something to surpres coughing am sure that would not be a good thing as it clears her chest.

I would try calpol for babies BUT would talk to your doctor if she taking other stuff

Mandy6513 profile image
Mandy6513

lemon , honey in hot water, let it cool and its great for easing a cough it works better than anything but have you checked that she is infection free the cold could have created another infection so back to the gp x

sassy59 profile image
sassy59

I agree, try more simple ideas perhaps. Honey is a natural anti bacterial food and might help but do see your GP again if no improvement.

Wishing you well. Xxx

jabber profile image
jabber

I suggest you telephone the BLF helpline (03000 030 555) and talk to one of their nurses. They are experts and will be able to advise and I hope reassure you.

I can only imagine how worrying this is for you. I do hope your daughter's health improves very soon. Very best wishes, Jan

Butterflies27 profile image
Butterflies27

Many thanks for all your replies, it's nice to know that no one thinks it's anything serious -which is always a worry. I will give the honey, lemon and water a try and will also try the number above, thank you. It's so hard as her cough goes from wet to dry constantly. We could handle a cough now and again like all kids but she has coughing fits until she gags that last hours especially in the night. She then will get a few hours rest before she starts again. This is the same at her day time sleep. She has no other symptoms of a cold etc. We have gone back to our doctors and they have re-prescribed co-amoxyclav as they think this cough should have started to clear now if it was viral. This is my third child and none of the other children have suffered like this.

in reply to Butterflies27

Could be lingering infection i know i cough when the not quite cleard

Sounds like you have good doctor .. Hope she inproves can only imagen how hard its bin for ya.

One thing which just occurred to me is she may be dairy intolerant. Although a lot older one of my sisters (without a lung problem) had a bad cough for no obvious reason. She experienced with dairy and found that milk and ice cream made her cough. Once she stopped having them the cough has gone completely. Just a thought x

cofdrop-UK profile image
cofdrop-UK

Hi Butterflies

It makes me very sad to hear your little Daughter is struggling so much and how difficult for you. My own late Mum went through very similar with me as a baby but I would add I have a totally different diagnosis to your little one.

So glad you have a respiratory paediatrician. Your consultant sounds very proactive if they have done a sweat test already. As you say your little one is waking up coughing both day and night, it sounds as if once she has laid down for a while she is becoming congested and therefore needs to cough.

Paediatric respiratory is very specialised and if I were you I would definitely contact BLF as suggested by jabber.

I wonder if they have considered referring your little one to a respiratory physiotherapist so you could learn how to help her when she is wet coughing. Might be an idea to see if they think it would be beneficial.

I hope things start to improve for your Daughter and for your family.

Please let us know how she gets on or just come on to offload.

With love

cx

Butterflies27 profile image
Butterflies27

Thank you for your reply cofdrop I will definitely contact the BLF tomorrow and see if they can advise anything. I will also mention the physio when we go back to our Drs as that hasn't been mentioned before. I think the hardest thing with this is we know a cough is a symptom and no one knows what the condition is causing it for sure. We are hoping it won't cause long term damage to her lungs.

cofdrop-UK profile image
cofdrop-UK in reply to Butterflies27

I am sure you will find the BLF team helpful. They are just as knowledgeable with paediatric resp as with adults.

Hope your little one has a better night.

Love cx

Butterfly try sinoman stick lemon a small bit of ginger and elesse it is a seed green open it up and put all the seeds in a spoon of suger boil in a pan of one cup of water simer until sinoman stick is soft and leave to go luck warm and leave her sip it or give it by spoon

201251 profile image
201251

This brings back memories of my daughter when she was 2 years old. Her constant coughing left her too exhausted to even play. I was fobbed off by different GPs and eventually took her to a herbalist. Within 10 minutes he diagnosed Post Nasal drip and made up a medicine which was garlic based. Within less than a week the coughing stopped. She is 41 now That cough never came back !!!

Butterflies27 profile image
Butterflies27 in reply to 201251

Oh wow thats amazing 201251. I hope the same happens for us. Where would I find a herbalist? Can I ask if you ever tried an antihistamine. The reason i ask is my daughter was prescribed neoclarityn which is an over the counter antihistamine for a possible post nasal drip but it didn't work. She had allergy testing done which also came back negative for dogs, cats, dust, pollen even the consultant was shocked. We have really had to push every step of the way as our Drs say it's viral every time, as a parent of 3 kids I know it's not normal. x

201251 profile image
201251 in reply to Butterflies27

At that time I found a herbalist in Yellow pages x

201251 profile image
201251 in reply to Butterflies27

Google Herbal clinics in your area x

201251 profile image
201251

Hi. No she was only prescribed a basic cough medicine. Mind you that was when she was 2 and she's 41 now ! Whenever I hear a child with a troublesome cough it brings back memories of that awful time x. Kath

Fennella02 profile image
Fennella02

This sounds incredibly similar to my daughter's experience. She developed pneumonia and Septicemia as a 3 week old baby and was ever so ill with 2 respiratory arrests. That was the beginning of years of exactly what you describe to the point that she would cough every single minute to the extent that she would vomit at night and not even wake up. Every single cold or virus resulted in weeks of exhausting coughing. She was given inhalers but they were ineffective. At times she was nebulized and would then be given soluble oral Prednisolone which seemed to be the only thing that helped. She seemed to be trying desperately to cough away massive irritation - this was finally diagnosed as bronchospasm as part of asthma but never responded terribly well to the blue and brown inhalers.

The good news is that by the time she was 5 or 6, she had largely outgrown it and now at 11, it seems a distant memory. I do remember acutely how distressing I found it so I really do feel for you. Interestingly, at the age of. 48, I seem to be heading this way myself and can vouch for everything she experienced. In desperation, I tried antihistamines for myself to reduce the hypersensitivity, honey and lemon and also some Prednisolone but nothing works brilliantly.

My daughter is 1 of 3 children too and the only one to suffer this. We were told post-viral aswell which I was never happy with but with the benefit of hindsight I think they were probably right,

Butterflies27 profile image
Butterflies27

Thank you for your reply. I hoped when I posted this someone might have gone through something similar and could advise on different conditions or a light at the end of the tunnel, which you have. I do hope this is nothing and viral but it's so tough when viral means weeks and months of no sleep. Not having a definite answer makes it scary and Drs never quite give enough reassurance.

Butterflies27 profile image
Butterflies27

Little one had a bad night last night coughing on and off from 1am till 5:30am. She is a lot worse today for coughing even though on antibiotics. After a big coughing fit I tried a blue inhaler as a last resort and she's calmed down. No other symptoms of a cold so don't know why she's bad for. Back to doctors today to ask to be referred back to respiratory team. I know we all cough but coughing every day and night is just not normal surely.

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