My little boy, who will be 2 next month, has started coughing at night. The strange thing is that, he doesn't seem to do it during the day or at nap time, really. He doesn't have a runny nose. I give him cough medicine and put vicks on his chest at night. We use the humidifier.......nothing works! What's the deal? What could the cough be? I don't want to keep giving him medicine every night, but I feel like I have to try something. It's been going on for 4-5 days now. I haven't called the pedi's office because I know they will just tell me to do what I am already doing. Any suggestions?
In addition to the honey and vicks on their feet I heard the other day that dark chocolate is supposed to have an ingredient in it that soothes coughs and the great thing is I don't think you'll have much fight getting him to eat a little.
#1 - check and smell his pillow, bed, and sheets - make sure that some moisture hasn't gotten trapped and started growing stuff... I know that is less common up here in dry air, but check anyway - it's a fast fix.
#2 - Just because his nose isn't running down his face doesn't mean it isn't running down his throat when he lays down.. it makes them cough before it shows they're sick.
#3 - Is it possible he has reflux?
#4 - At a week, it's time to call the doc.
you've gotten some good advice! one more thing.......has the heat been on in the house more at night? That could also be contributing.
Put Vicks on the bottom of his feet and put socks over them before he goes to bed. It really works.
I give my son a spoonfull of buckwheat honey. It helps. I read that in a study that it worked as well as meds. I don't know about that, but it did help. You can get it at whole foods and specialty grocers. I also agree with the other poster to change sheets often and use gentle detergent.
I would try elevating his bed under his head, if you haven't already. I put a folded blanket under my daughters mattresses and it helps. (They had bronchitis and pnemonia about two weeks ago.) Also, make sure he isn't dressed too warm. That will make it worse. He may not cough during nap because he isn't dressed as warm. The thick footed pj's are the worst when they have a cough!
We found that Delsym cough syrup works better than any other.
It could be allergies. My son coughs at night when his allergies are bothering him because the "stuff" is running down the back of his throat.
We've dealt with this for about 5-6 months, I believe. Our son is the same way mostly coughs at night, not during the day. My son has asthma, the coughing kind. We used the nebulizer and inhaler and even after all that, he would still cough. We went through lots of cough syrups, the elevating the head and having the nebulizer in the room. Some of it helped, however the coughing kept continuing. He had a sinus infection in November, so he had antibiotics for that. He had an appointment with the ENT Dr. (a follow up) from having ear tubes put in last year. I mentioned it to him, the coughing, and not sleeping well and wondered if it could be his tonsils or adenoids? He asked, does he snore? I said yes. My son also drools some and he is 3 years old and shouldn't be drooling so I told him that. He said it was the adenoids that was bothering him and causing him to cough, excessive drooling and not sleeping well. He recommended the adenoidectomy surgery. We just got it done on Friday, still having a little bit of the coughing, however they said that will go away after 1 week.
If it continues a few more days, I would have your pediatrician check him for drainage and possibly sinus infection. Are you using a nose spray? I would try one of over the counter ones first for kids and then you could get a prescription one if needed. If no sinus infection and nothing else relieves the coughing, then I would get an exam by an ENT. Dr. Mark Palmer is great and came highly recommended to me by friends whose children had the ear tubes/adenoids taken out. He's in Fort Worth and does the surgery at Cook's Children's Hospital. Another option would be to go to an allergist, we see an allergist as parents and our child sees the same allergist. He can do allergy testing and you could try medicine at night and see how that works too. We see Dr. Tanna for allergies and he's great with adults and kids. He's in Fort Worth also.
Hope it gets better.
Hello S.,
have you changed detergents lately? or shampoo, soap, etc? do you use candles, air fresheners, etc? something could be irritating him. skip milk tonight....I mean give to him earlier and try to do water/ before bed time to see if that helps w/ any phlem that might be building up. now my favorite cough med he won't even have to drink it...
on a tissue or paper towell:
4 drops peppermint oil
1 drop rosemary oil
1 drop basil oil
put it in his room (out of his reach of course...don't want him to grab it)
I have not used regular cough medicine in a couple of years. you can get the oils at sprouts, wholefoods, Flower Mound Pharmacy, Abundant Health.
Good luck! ~C.~
we are actully dealing w/ this right now too. my son was coughing only at night for about 3 weeks. finally took him to dr and turns out, he had sinus infection. no runny nose, no daytime cough...apparently his sinuses were draining into his throat while sleeping..making him cough...on antibiotics now and doing better. his cough has subsided and he can sleep at night:) good luck:)
