My daughter has had a horrible cough for over a week and all the doctor says we can give her his Honey it's obviously not curing her cough and it keeps her up all night long including the rest of us , not to mention hearing her suffer is painful !! Help!!
When did she last go to the doctors? If it was several days ago and she is worse, take her back to the doctor. Some times things progress and kids end up needing an antibiotic etc.
We were told no cough suppressants at that age. A humidifier, Vicks vapo rub, keeping the head elevated, and plenty of fluids seemed to offer some relief, but baby and therefore the family had to endure the coughing
you don't trust your doctor but you trust the internet?
if you don't like this doctor's advice by all means find a new pediatrician (there are some cough syrups that can be given to tiny people, but not many, and they're not cure-alls either.)
i agree there's not much worse than hearing and seeing your baby be miserable, and it's instinctive to be super pro-active in fixing them. but not by taking a bunch of internet advice, KWIM?
khairete
S.
Please be very careful about following the advice below about Vicks on the feet. It was part of an email thing that went around years ago, but it wasn't endorsed the way people said it was. The Vicks company does not even suggest that it will work, and there are some agencies that have recommended against using camphor products on young children! Here's a link (or go to Snopes.com, a good source for rumor verification, and type in "Vicks on feet" for the details): http://www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/vaporub.asp
Honey isn't going to cure the cough - it will only help soothe a sore throat from too much coughing.
You can try to elevate the head end of her bed (don't just put her on pillows - put a folded blanket under the mattress to put her on a tilt). A hot steamy bathroom can help - have one parent hold her while the other is showering if you don't want to waste water.
Definitely hydrate any way you can - don't worry much about food at all if her appetite is less. Water, popsicles, watery fruits, anything to help flush out what's in there.
I'd consider a second opinion if she's not making progress.
You hold her in a steamy bathroom (run the shower, close the door and don't run the fan).
My Mom always used Vicks Vapor rub on our chests - and I still use it when I have a cold.
At that age croup is possible - the steamy bathroom will help if that happens.
Keep her well hydrated.
There's no medicine you can give her that will help.
Our son had pneumonia at 14 months.
I had to give him nebulizer treatments with albuterol and squirt antibiotic down his throat.
It was a miserable few weeks but he came through fine.
Additional:
Vick's on the feet never worked for any of us.
I actually LIKE the smell of Vick's when I'm sick - and I can't smell it if it's on my feet.
Jeez Louise, do NOT give your baby Triaminic as someone below suggested. If there isn't a cough medicine that your pediatrician recommends, talk to them about safe remedies to help with sleep. I'm thinking of teething tablets that are made out of manzanilla(chamomile) but again, talk to your pediatrician as well as a pharmacist.
Unless your dr will ok a dose of medicine, the best you can do is:
- use a warm mist humidifier, preferably the kind with a place for liquid vicks. You put the liquid vicks in the small hole and the warm mist puts it into the air to make it easier for her to breath
- get the baby vicks rub and rub it on her chest and bottom of her feet
- make sure she can't reach it and rub that into her eyes. I assume at 14 months she is in a onesie or something so she can't reach that
- use a wedge so she can be inclined when she sleeps
Honey is not going to do anything and may be the culprit by exacerbating her allergies. You can find the liquid vicks and baby rub at walgreens. Good luck, it stinks to see them so miserable at that young age.
Coughs are from different things. So it depends on if it's viral, or a wet cough vs. a dry cough, or if it's a barking kind of cough .. did your doctor tell you what kind of cough it is?
I do different things depending on what's making them cough. This is a good website that explains it (Parents is a good site). Your doctor likely went over all this. If it gets worse, go back to doctor.
Cough medicine as you know is not safe, but allergy medicines can be. My husband started giving our kids Zyrtec at a young age, can't remember exactly when they started, to help with their cough at night. It helped, still does. I would call your pharmacist and ask them if zyrtec is safe and what dose you should give. That's their job and they can answer you in 2 minutes.
vicks on the bottof of the feet and cover with socks. worked for both my kids with a dose of nighttime honey cough stuff from zarbees. not a cough all night.
A steamy bath before bedtime -- even just holding her in a steamy shower with the door closed will help. But otherwise, I HIGHLY recommend Zarbees for nighttime coughs. It's a honey cough syrup with lots of added vitamins, and the nighttime version has melatonin. It works so great with my son, we still use it now that he's almost seven, and I've used the adult dosage for myself as well.
triaminic - the purple one not the pink, for night and nap time only, it really works, go by weight, so if it says 6 and up, an average 6 yr old is 60 lbs, your kid is probably around 20 lbs, so if it says 1 tsp only give 1/4 tsp, err on the low side to be cautious.
They used to make that brand in a strip that melted in the mouth and it was so good, worked every time, and it was so easy to use.
I know they say not to give cough meds to little ones but to me that is just mean - we don't want to have to put up with non stop coughing in ourselves cause it wears us out and hurts our bodies so why do we make little kids suffer? Just cause they can't say how they feel is not a good enough reason and neither is that people were giving the wrong dosages.
