Expectorant / Guaifenesin for Acute Bronchitis

ETA: You've asked several times about your son's respiratory difficulties. I suggest you talk with an allergist who treats asthma. My granddaughter's asthma started as cold induced. We had to take her to ER several times before she was 7 or so. The doctor who specializes in asthma treatment was able to provide more intensive treatment including a home nebulizer. She did well after that until she was 10-ll. Allergy testing showed that her body's ability inability to deal with the allergies was increasing her asthma attacks; thus a new approach to treatment. In middle school she found that exercise now induced asthma. If your son isn't seeing an allergy/asthma specialist, I suggest that's the next move.
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You"ve given him the med 2 days. The label says to use it for 7 days. What is your concern? Why not give it to him?

You don't need to wait until tomorrow to call the doctor, call the 24 hour nurse line and get professional medical advice there.

Added: I too H. think you're treating this kind of like the band-aid approach. We did the same when my oldest was going through what you are. It's very frustrating because you're treating each symptoms - not the route of the problem.

Things get missed when you go from one specialist to another and back in for one cold after another. You need to write it all down, and talk to your pediatrician.

Every mom I know these days has been told the same thing - asthmatic after colds. In fact, at camps, they say so many kids have that included on their registration forms. I honestly think it's just something they tell parents know when they don't have a clue. I'm sure some really have this - but I think often it's just an unknown.

I'm not an expert - I suspect it's likely allergies your son has (you mentioned earlier they said he had some). My son didn't have any show up at age 5 - it wasn't until he was 9 that they all showed up - but he definitely had symptoms well before that. So I made the changes to our house. No carpet. Our cat died and we saw huge improvement in his health. Air purifier in his room, etc. We also saw ENT. It was really ENT and our allergist who helped our son. The doctors treating his asthmatic attacks were the ones treating the breathing - but not the cause.

Good luck :)

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Well with any OTC I wait and see how they are doing in the morning and after breakfast before deciding if they need more meds. If it were me, and my kid could clear the phlegm on his own (remember sometimes they swallow it - they don't always have to spit it out) - I wouldn't.

One thing I do is before I leave the doctor's office, is to pepper them with questions. I'll ask "What do I do if by Sunday they aren't better?" kind of thing. That way you aren't trying to figure out your plan as you say. They should be telling you this. If they aren't - ask.

Coughs can last quite a while - I hope he feels better soon

You've posted quite a few questions on this subject over a period of years, and your child still gets sick. I honestly think you either need to continue working with doctors with all the drugs you give your child, or you need to switch gears and do immune system support because your current regimen is not working. I'd worry about drug interactions and the amounts to give a growing child whose body is already suppressed, and I don't feel comfortable giving you medicine advice (type or quantity) at all. If you want to do non-medical (neither prescription or over-the-counter), that's something that we educators can help with.

Expectorants don't work great, and they can cause stomach upset. If his stomach is ok, then I think you can keep giving it. But if he starts to feel nauseous or has bathroom issues, before you worry that he's got another virus, keep in mind that it's probably the guaifenesin causing more problems than it's helping.

ETA: I'll add my experience with coughs, since some others did - my son had a chronic cough that started in the spring a few years ago. We went from ped to ENT to allergist to another allergist for 6 months. He was diagnosed with everything from asthma to reflux, except that none of the treatments helped at all. Turned it was allergies - when we got the first hard frost in late fall, it went away, as predicted by the second allergist (who basically told us that it's common for kids who don't respond well to the most common allergy meds to be over-diagnosed with other complicated stuff, when what they really need is better allergy control).

I keep a bottle of Walmart brand Tussin in my purse. We use it a lot this time of year. This way I know where it is. It's a small bottle so it fits well.

I think the whole point of Guaifenesin is to keep the goo moving. If it's working them there isn't any reason to stop. I might space out the doses a bit if you think it's too much medication but otherwise it's not a horrible med with lots of side effects.

Call the doc in the morning though, that way if they think he needs another med to go along he can order it.

We often use a nebulizer along with the Tussin. Some meds expand the airways and that helps get the goo runnier too. The sterile water in the nebulizer med also helps with moistening the goo.

I'd keep it up till the cough is gone.
You don't want it to turn to pneumonia.