10 Month Old Coughing.

I would eliminate dairy. Many children have an allergy to it and allergies can cause GERD as well. It's very scary giving a child medications like that and I know they hand it out like candy but there is a reason his body is responding the way it is so you need to find the basis of it, not cover it up. This is on the opposite side of the age spectrum but my grandmother had GERD and was coughing horribly. I had her cut gluten out of her diet and she hasn't had a problem since unless she eats something with gluten.

Try infant's probiotics and immune boosting supplements - it doesn't sound like acid reflux but I would recommend light eating for a while (mother's milk, fruits and veggies) to help clear mucus and allow his system to get back in balance so the coughing goes away. Avoid cow's milk dairy until he recovers since dairy causes mucus buildup. I wouldn't give a kid that reflux medicine, doctors are trained to drug people and often do so without really finding what's wrong or considering ways to help the body heal and balance itself.

I was in your shoes a long while ago. My son coughed and coughed. He did it so much that he would throw up. I took him over to the peds several times. They finally had me go to the peds lung specialist. It seemed that no one believed me, even when he coughed right in front of them. They just brushed me off by saying he had allergies or acid reflux. The same with the lung specialist. They wanted me to humidify his room, which I did. I also bought expensive ($250/ea) room air purifiers. I had them do chest xrays on him... then the peds clinic refused to show them to me saying they had to get an xray tech to go over it with me. I argued with them until I was blue in the face! They told me he had pnuemonia, then they said it was just a small chest infection, then they said it was something else. ARGH! My boss (who doesn't have children) was getting mad at me for missing so much time off. It felt like I was fighting an uphill battle all by myself, defending my son! I hope I'm not being to discouraging. Anyway, I was on my way out of the AF (separation from military) to stay at home with my son and new baby girl. Then he stopped coughing. I think while he was in daycare, the facility was covered in black mold and he was reacting to that. Please see about getting an air test sample done if the peds aren't doing anything about your son. They are expensive, but if you live in an older home or even just a few years old, I would look into it only if the peds aren't helping. If I would have known that I would have demanded air test results from the daycare and brought it up the chain of command!

Good luck.

I have twin girls that are 10 months old. They both have reflux and are on Zantac. I was hesitant to give them a medication, but it really makes a difference. My youngest had a dry cough. SOmetimes she sounded like a cat with a hairball!! My other daughter had a hoarse voice all the time. It is amazing how quickly the medicine works. I can always tell if I forget to give it to them. Hope this helps. Good luck!!

If the Zantac does not help, the symptoms also could be from teething. My daughters both had a hard time with coughing (especially at night...but at the worst of it, during the day as well) and fussiness while eating and it turned out to be:

1. Excessive saliva due to teething causing the cough.
2. Pain from teething causing the fussiness at mealtime.

We just had to wait it out...and lose a lot of sleep while it was going on!

Good luck!

Think back. Did you change laundry soap? Dish soap? Anything he comes in contact with. Are you giving him any new foods? The coughing could be from a thousand different things. As long as the doctor thinks it may be allergies that is where I would start. If it were acid reflux he would be vomiting along with the coughing. Also burping a lot. My daughter was allergic to #10 yellow dye when she was a baby. I couldn't give her anything that had that dye in it. Also she couldn't have oranges juice, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc... She did out grow it by the time she was three years of age.

Hi S.,

My 4 year old boy has had Reflux from been born, when its bad (we tried taking him off his meds at one point) he would cough all the time to the point where he would vomit. So yes the cough could for sure be a sign on the Reflux. He was on Zantac for a long time and now Axid, it makes the world of difference. Also keep him upright as much as possible (he loved his swing), elevate his bed, is he on solid food yet, that will help as will cereal in his bottle. Most babies grow out of it by 18 months but my little guy didn't but we've not had any problems so far this year with it (touch wood). Give the Zantac a try, I bet it works wonders.

Good Luck:-)

Jo

I have had both issues with my children. Yes, reflux can cause caughing - especially right after eating or drinking something that affects it and laying down shortly after eating/drinking. We used Zantac as well and it worked. I only had to do this for about 3 months and then slowly took him off of it to make sure he was getting over the reflux. They usually grow out of it.

Yes, allergies can also cause chronic caughing. The drainage of the mucus (sp) down the back of the throat can cause caughing. This is really stimulated by laying down at night and it all draining as well as in the morning after it has pooled together and starts to drain again. I have gotten into a habit of giving my son childrens claratin when I hear him start an evening caugh. Usually a few days of doing that and it is done.

Good luck!

I cannot speak to this issue in children, BUT... my 67 year old father FINALLY went to the Doctor TODAY, at my and my mother's insistence he do so, because he has been coughing for almost a month now. No fever. just the coughing. Now he has gone almost hoarse from it. I was literally expecting the doc to say he had walking pneumonia. No. He is having sypmtoms from his GERD (Gastro-esophageal reflux). They are altering his medications a bit, and he also may have some allergy stuff going on (so he's starting to take some Claritin)... but even just sleeping with his pillows propping him up all night LAST night, my mom said he did better. He knew he had GERD before, and takes some medicines, but apparently it wasn't being adequately controlled. Also, my mother and I are thinking he may have been snacking a little closer to bedtime than may be recommended... :)
I would take him to the doctor with a written list of symptoms (and lack of) and as much of a "log" as you can... what time he eats, when do symptoms seem worst, etc. Try to track it very carefully until you can get him in for an appt.

Best wishes to you both.

If your child drinks regular milk I would try eliminating it. Your son's cough sounds similar to what we experienced and it was related to cow's milk. Once we eliminated the milk the problem went away in 2 days. And it does come back the same night he drinks milk again.
Good luck,
T.

That's crazy. I have a 16 mth old that has been coughing for 1 1/2 mths now. At first the doctor said it was nothing and sent her home; then they put her on some antibiotics and liquid breathing treatment; then it was the nebulizer; they said to stop the treatments after the weekend, but she's still coughing. No other symptoms. The cough changes also: sometimes dry and sometimes wet. She also goes to coughing so hard she starts gagging. I'm not sure they (the doctors) know what they are doing; atleast in this case. I hope and pray they figure it out so that our children can be relieved of this persistant cough.

Check your filters in your cold air duct returns. We struggled with nighttime respiratory issues for months. A big puzzle. Turned out we had completely forgotton to change our filters for an entire year. Got new ones, check and change them every month, and problem gone. Check it out. Also consider mattress, pillows, blankets, etc. for allegy if it's triggered at night.

could he be teething? Sometimes they cough from the extra spit. Fussiness at meal time can be from tteth and gum pain of teething.
Or could he be allergic/sensitive to dairy, if you are giving him formula, or allergic/sensitive to something like dairy in your diet if you nurse. Cow's milk is mucus causing for many people. Another possible food sensitivity would be wheat.

reflux is my business:
http://www.mamasource.com/business/14059862321568677889

I would look at diet, too. cut out ALL milk protein (this is NOT lactose! lactose is milk sugar) and soy protein for a good 2 or even 3 weeks and see if the cough improves...if you're breastfeeding you cut it out of your diet. if you give formula, try neocate, slowly switch to it...

contact the INternational Chiropractic Pediatric Association for a referral in your area- acid reflux in children is usually a corrected by a gentle adjustment-k

you might also try a humidufier. the air in your house might be dry for him. More so at night. and if you would like something natural for his stomach Papaya is very good for taking care of too much stomach acid.

I am the mother of a six year old son and a two year old daughter. A few years ago my son started coughing during the nights and mornings for no apparent reason. I took him to the doctor a number of times for this and eventually he was diagnosed with cough variant asthma. Cough variant asthma is different from the ordinary asthma mainly because of the consistent cough with the absence (most times) of wheezing. Recently my daughter has been diagnosed with the same thing. They both use an inhaler that helps tremendously and also have liquid meds that help them. It would be a good idea to research this type of asthma and if it seems worthwhile, take them back to the pediatrician and suggest that they check themm for this illness.

Hi- My daughter is four, and has had this with the same two answers- i recently took her for allergy testing and found out she has many food allergies, including wheat, once you rid them of the allergens, the night time coughing goes away.

Coughing can be caused by sinus. The Mayo Clinic announced in 1999 that 95% of sinus is caused by fungus! The best way to fight fungus is to starve it by omitting sugar and processed carbohydrates from the diet. (cereal,crackers, bread, etc.) Also if you empty a few capsules of probiotics (acidophilus, bifidophilus, etc.)into his bottle will help crowd fungus out of the intestines. He will need that for a couple months. Also try chewable probiotics. GNC has a very good one. I use it myself as I am diabetic and diabetics are prone to fungus infections.
Good Luck and God Bless.

one way to find out what the problem is, is to do exactly what your doctor tells you: give the medication a try, and if it helps, problem solved! It puzzles me why people (not just you) go to their doctor for advice, and then refuse to follow his/her recommendations. Doctors go thru 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, at least 3 years of residency training and then gain even more experience as they continue to practice medicine.... they are the experts here, not us!