My daughter was diagnosed on Monday with croup and an URI. The doctor prescribed her steriods for 3 days. She just took the last of the dose and it doesn't appear to have helped at all. She is still coughing enough that she is throwing up at night. Her nose is still draining and is green. She is walking around whining and crying because she is miserable. She had a fever of 102 on Monday, no fever yesterday and a slight fever this morning. I know if I bring her back into the doctor he won't prescribe anything for her. The poor baby needs to sleep. I would love to give her something to knock her out to sleep off her cold!
My question is - Can I give her OTC Children's Cough & Cold medicine? She is 11 1/2 months old and is 19 pounds, 6 oz. Help me, I am desperate and sick as well.
Thanks for all of your posts - she seems to be in better spirits however her nasty cough and runny green goopy nose isn't getting any better. I am going to watch her over the weekend and if nothing changes I will take her back into the doctor's office. BTW - I did not give her any cough medicine.
Take her somewhere else. She needs more help. And be careful she isn't dehydrated. My daughter and I spent half the night in the emergency room with her on an IV drip because though she was drinking all day she also vomited and had diareah. So she was dehydrated and shaking...she even started to hallucinate.
Be careful with OTC meds. It's too easy to overmedicate children. Keep Vicks rubbed on her chest and back with a t-shirt over..snug and warm clothing. Get a vaporizer, not a humidifier! Keep it in the room with her and make sure it has vicks in it also. Nothing opens you up like Vicks. Child needs lots of liquids and sleep even if you have to hold the child for hours at a time in a rocker. Moms closeness is very important. Keep blowing nose also. Good luck. Jeanne, Elk Grove Vilage, Il
I feel for you, as my son just has a nasty cold. What I heard was that in little kids, cold meds do not help-at all. What about Vick's Baby Rub on her chest, steaming her in the bathroom, and a vaporizer?
Good luck!
I wuold not recommend OTC meds for croup- it does not help or make it better one bit which is one of the main reasons these meds were taken off of the shelves. You could try childrens benydryl. That should help your daughter rest. If she is has a fever and not getting better after 3 days. I would recommend seeing her dr- perhaps she has an ear infection?? But at least childrends benydryl should help knock her out and sleep some of it off.
Hang in there. My daughter, who is also 11 months old, had 2 bouts of the Croup. It stinks but it does go away. In fact, my daughter was never put on meds. We used a humidifier in her room 24-7 and we would run the hot shower and give her steam treatments when she was really congested. They also recommend taking her out in the cold for a brief time to also help her breathe. At one point, I did give her a nebulizer treatment but that is only because I had it here. The other recommendation that our doctor gave was to minimize milk products and give some watered down juice. The only other things that you can do is try to keep her calm (so she doesn't throw up) and wait. Oh and my daughter, when she had the Croup, didn't sleep very well at night but she would sleep great during the day. So, when she woke up at night, we would just let her stay up until she was exhausted. In other words, we didn't try to fight it.
Hang in there. It will be gone soon.
N.
Most OTC cough and cold meds for young children don't do much. The only one I have found to be helpful is Delsym...it is great and you can use for kids and adults. Here is info/dosing on it.
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/T089701.asp
BUT....before you give her anything, I think you need to talk to a doctor again. If she still has croup, a cough med is not going to help. Croup inflames the air sacs and air passages and cough meds aren't going to help that....only steroids and breathing treatments. Also, if they said she had an upper respiratory infection, she should have gotten an antibiotic for that. If it has been over 3-4 days and still has the same symptoms I would ask about that....esp with the green mucous. In addition to an antibiotic, if she doesn't have croup anymore, I would get clearance about giving her the cough med at night since she is a little young and then just give her ibuprofen alternating with tylenol for the fever when it gets high (usually I do over 101) and seems to be bothering her. If it isn't bothering her, it is better to just let it run it's course cause those meds give them a false sense of wellness and then they run around like they aren't sick and exhaust themselves.
If it is croup, cold night air (we got plenty'o that!) helps with an attack, or sitting in a steamy bathroom.
First of all, DO NOT give your child any OTC cough and cold medicine. The FDA is on its way to banning their use for children under 2 (or may have already done so) and probably for older children too. They have caused serious complications and even deaths in some cases and at best appear to be ineffective. You should use a humidifier and hold her upright while she sleeps, which has helped my children in the past. It sounds as if she may have or be developing an additional infection and so you should bring her back to the pediatrician to determine if she needs an antibiotic for anything. The steroid doesn't do anything for congestion, but it should have relieved her croup symptoms--namely wheezing and the barking cough. If she has a barking cough and is wheezing when inhaling, you should take her to an ER at a good hospital (Lake Forest) to make sure she's breathing okay. I hope she is already feeling better--good luck.
My youngest son gets croup a few times a year. It can take awhile for the cough to go away after croup. These are two things my Dr always tells me to try.
First, try turning the shower on as hot as it can go, shut the door and sit in the bathroom with her for awhile if the coughing is bad, this usually helps loosen things up.
Option two would be to take her outside and let her breath in the cold air. This helps to open up the passage ways and ease the irritation so that the cough and breathing will ease up a bit.
I might also put a vaporizer in her room while she is sleeping.
Good luck.
I wouldn't do it. They pulled all the infant cold meds, and you usually can't get anyone to give you a proper doseage amount for that reason. You could ask your doctor for a prescription cough medicine, but croup isn't usually treated with meds. When she gets into a coughing fit, you can briefly bring her outside, since the cold air will help, or you can go into the bathroom, shut the door, and turn the bath water as hot as it will go to create a steam room.
Are you using a Humidifier in her room while she sleeps?
