My Baby Has Been Coughing for 5 Weeks - Help!

If she's in daycare than her constant colds are normal. My daughter had a was constantly sick and constant runny nose her entire infant-preschool years. Totally stunk. She could just jump from one cold to the next so it seems like one long dragging cough.

My daughter was a preemie and was put on a nebulizer at 2mos.old - currently uses it too. They won't label her asthma just call her a wheezer because of insurance reasons when she's an adult they don't want to "label" her. We used it when she was a baby when her chest would retrack, and when she wheezed and now she's 6.5 years old doesn't really wheeze anymore but when she has a horrible cough I will pull it out and neb her. I'm not really suppose to I don't think but I think it works.I think being a preemie that when she does get a cold or upper respitory it hits her harder than other kids. This winter I invested in some humidifiers and it's made a world of a difference in our house with coughing, colds, eczema you name it. We both have one in our bedrooms.

If your not getting anywhere with your doctor take her somewhere else.

My baby is also 5 months old and had been coughing since Nov. on and off. The doc didnt seem concerned at his 4 month check up, but then recently it started getting bad at nite. We just brought him in again and he has an ear infection and they put him on a nebulizer (??? on the spelling). He uses it 3 times a day and goes in for a follow up in a week to see if he needs to keep using it for a while longer or not. He has a resperatory infection, and the nebulizer has worked wonderful so far. We heard a huge difference the first nite already. He is still restless from his ear infection, but the cough is so much better. Mabye they can try that for your daughter. Good Luck with everything.

Apparently whooping cough is making a return, and is very hard to diagnose, seeing how the Doc doesn't usually hear the worst of the cough. If possible, try to record it. There's a website where you can listen to a recording of the "whoop". It says that a cough may last a long time, cause choking like symptoms, and sometimes vomitting. Usually takes 3 trips or more for a diagnosis. Trust your instinct...and look up that website!
www.whoopingcough.net

My son who is now almost 2 went through a really bad cough for about 2 months last year and would wheeze at night because it was so bad. At first I thought there wasn't really anything they could do for him but they ended up giving him a nebulizer and put him on albuterol and pulmicort. This year the doctor wanted to prevent went she called asthma induced from colds and for the entire winter season we give him pulmicort (through the nebulizer) 1x per day. If he gets any sign of a cold we then add albuterol once per day and up the pulmicort to 2 x per day. It has really helped. We have had to do this twice now this winter and both times he got over his cough pretty quickly (about 1 week).

The downside of the meds is I think some of them make him a little restless at night and also the pulmicort is very expensive even with insurance! Talk to your doctor. Good luck,

J.,

My eight month old has been sick since late August. It is one cold after another, usually accompanied by a cough. I have taken her in once a month, but it is always just a simple virus. I know moms who said their baby coughed almost daily for the first year+.

The red flag is when you hear a rattling in their lungs. That is RSV and you don't want to mess around with it. If you hear a rattle, call the pediatrician immediately and they will see you within hours. If it is over the weekend, take her to urgent care / emergency room.

Good luck,
S.

Hi J.

I have a son who was coughing for over 2 months before I got a doc to take me seriously. Even then, when I talked to the doc it wasn't about the cough itself, it was about the him appearing to have difficulty breathing at times and how I suspected asthma. Now we have a nebulizer to help but it should not have taken that long.

I think a lot of docs ignore coughing as a symptom. The only thing they do is listen to the lungs and if they don't hear something your not going to get anywhere. My god if you have access to a pulmonologist then use it!!! I only WISH I had such connections!

A pediatrician-approved home remedy that works for us is to put Vicks Vapo-rub on our son's feet, then socks or footie pajamas before going to bed. After an hour or so, he quits hacking. We might have to repeat once in the middle of the night, but it helps him get better sleep.

As for the cough, does he seem to have runny noses? Is it clear or green/yellow? I find that when my son is teething, his nose tends to run clear, and he's drooling a lot more. The drool makes him cough as much as a cold, but we're starting to figure out the difference.

Trust your instincts...if it still doesn't seem like "nothing," then push someone to look into RSV or asthsma. For what it's worth, I think there is a lot of this going around right now. Good luck!

i take my children to dr.khorey at children's pediatric in woodbury,mn. they are very attentive. they also have an after hours clinic. most doctors at allina arent good pediatricians in my opinion. and general practioners have no idea what to do. the medical community is a machine pushing people in and out. you have to FIGHT for decent healthcare. it is your responsibility to push until she is well.

Listening to kids cough is the worst. My second child had a nasty cough for the first year of his life that we were able to attribute to really nasty reflux. I saw you are a nurse so I am sure youve listened to her lungs... Are her lung sounds clear? If lungs are wheezy, gunky I would be more concerned than if they are clear. If it seems to be more upper airway I am wondering if reflux would be a possibility. Just a thought.

J.,

Childhood asthma has incresed by 166% in recent years and the Tonornto Clean Air Institute attributes it to toxic home care.

Are you using retail cleaners? Please switch to ANY products that don't have fumes that may be making your baby react.

My home business sells a Oprah Special Edition Kit that is 33% off right now and you'll get free membership till Jan 31st. Healthy Child Healthy World and Kids for Saving Earth partner with Shaklee and Oprah has had our home care on her show 5 times since May 2007.

I was declared asthma free after switching to Shaklee products - homecare, supplementation, air and water purification. The $90 home care is worth $3400 in retail products and WORKS!

The most important thing is you consider getting toxins out of your home whether you buy from me or not. I have a CD that I'd be happy to share with you about keeping your kids safe. Let me know if you'd like to watch it and you can check out our products at http://www.shaklee.net/upnorth/prodMain.

My pulmonologist declared me asthma free after 6 months with Shaklee and my sister is back in the game of life from fibromyalgia. My heart goes out to children in respiratory distress - it's terrible.

My friend's husband works for the FDA and he wouldn't consider switching from Windex even though they were 2 minutes from loosing their son at one point to an asthma episode. So I BOUGHT them the Get Clean Starter Kit myself and their son throws a fit if Daddy tries to pull out the toxic cleaners now - he starts wheezing immediately.

Best Wishes,
A. Silberberger
877-765-0047

I guess my question is have you taken her back to the Dr's since the beginning of January????I'm sure as a nurse you know things can develope into more serious conditions as time goes on. As a Mom you also have to go with your gut instinct, if you feel something is wrong you have to be your childs advocate. I would take her back to the Dr.
Good luck

My first son had one cold after another, all with nagging coughs that took a long time to go away. The worst was a horrible cough that would make him throw up when he was 6-months-old. It lasted 6 weeks. The doctors kept telling me it was nothing but one finally gave me Albuterol and the cough went away.
My second baby has been diagnosed with athsma (the symptoms started with a cold). Now I'm wondering if my first maybe had it, too, although not as bad.
You should ask your pediatrician to give your daughter a nebulizer treatment of Albuterol and see if it helps.
Some home remedies that work for my kids are using a humidifier when they sleep, Johnson's vapor bath (it smells like the Vicks vapor rub), and the baby vapor rub. Of course, taking them in the shower with you helps a lot, too.
Good luck!

my gr.dauther has had 9 colds 7 ear infection and she had the surgery and had had one after that. i have heard many parents that they children have had many things in the passes few years. i guess it is because of the weather her doctor told my daughter she has to work thought it and bring her in if you feel you need to. their system has to work thought it.

If your kids go to daycare I wouldn't be surprised if they are sick all the time. Everyone sends their kids to daycare when they are sick and the germs just fly. We used to go to playgroup at ECFE and my kids were constantly sick and that was only once a week. I would ask your daycare provider, if you use one, if lots of kids have been sick.
Otherwise, my youngest was a baby he had a terrible "smoker-like" cough when he would sleep and it was reflux.
Best Wishes,
J.
Mom to 4, going on 5