Constant Cough?

H.,

My 6 month old has had that since the beginning of August. 4 months and it will not go away. I have taken her to the Pediatrician 3 times. What is going on is that they pick up one cough and before they can really get over it, they pick up another. Hence, it looks like one long cough.

The pediatrician always checks her lungs to make sure they are clear. The last time, because her throat was sore and she was congested, the ped gave me some cough suppresent. Honestly, it doesn't really work that well.

When I move to MN this month, I am going to try again with a new ped to see if she can do anything more. My ped also had us all get flu shots so the baby doesn't catch anything else.

Hope your little one gets to feeling better,
S.

My 6 month old son has had the same thing for at least a month now. He's also been congested for about two months. Like the other women said I believe that he's just getting another little cold before the old one totally clears up. He's also been teething a lot and I know that teething can cause increased mucous, especially the top teeth, which would then drain down his throat and produce a "phlemy" cough. We just went in to the Ped for his check up and she wasn't worried at all since his lungs sound fine, has no fever, and his temperament is pretty much normal most of the time. I have been using the vaporizer in his room with the Vicks vaporizer liquid added to it. It seems to help reduce the coughing at night.

Both my kids and I had it awhile back and got it again. You're doing the right thing with the humidity. There's a virus that is going around and it's this cough that won't go away and lingers for about a month. This is what the nurse told me. There's no medicine that will help because it's not a bacteria. If his chest sinks in while breathing or becomes barky then I'd say bring him in. You could consult with a nurse for free at your clinic because of his age, but I think it's just one of the many virus's going around right now.

BTW, my daughter had the neb. treatment because she was having a hard time breathing. Her chest would sink in pretty good.

You should probaly bring him in to the doctor being only 6mos. and lasting that long. It could be whooping cough or something else possibly even asthma symptoms. My daughter started "wheezing" at 4mos., old and her chest was retracting symptoms of asthma and I had no idea anything was wrong til a nurse pointed it out. I just though babies make grunty noises and such. She was given a nebulizer and has to use it occassionally when she has a cold or in the winter months. A nebulizer is basically a machine that the kids breath in medicine through mist to help clear their airways etc. My daughter's now 6 and we still use it occasionally.

The humidifier is great, or steam up the bathroom and bring him in there, go outside and get some cool air, lots of liquids preferably just water and not breastmilk or formula as much.

I too don't like to medicate my daughter for everything. If we don't have to we don't use medicine. I pretty much only use medicine if their's a fever, infection, or just complete miserable symptoms otherwise she has learned to live with it and deal with it. My 6year old has had a nasty nose for a week and I'm not doing anything for it, just pushing the fluids and making sure she blows her nose often to get the junk out.

It could be allergies that he is developing. It sounds like post-nasal dripping that is irritating his throat. You could try giving him Benadryl - just to test to see if it dries it up and he stops coughing. If so, then you will want to take him to the allergist and see what the offending allergen is. He may not have to be on medicine if you can rid his environment of the allergen. Good luck!

Hey H.! 6 months already??? Wow!
My take is that it's probably nothing, but I always bring the boys in when a cough lingers. JUST so they can listen to his chest, make sure the ears are clear, etc. They won't prescribe anything (which is always fine by me), but then you can go on making him comfortable with his cough and know that he's otherwise healthy. B has kind of the same thing, and like another poster said, I think it's from teething and dry air. We do the humidifier & inhalent every night, and it makes a huge difference. I also read, and have now tried, putting vicks vapo-rub on the soles of their feet before tucking them into footie jammies or socks. It actually works for us! But when in doubt, get him checked out so you can get on with baby's first Christmas!!
-S

I think that you should take him into the doc's. But honestly, unless it is something serious (which I'm sure it's not), they most likely won't prescribe anything. Sometimes this frusturates me when it comes to my child, but I know that just ruling out anything serious helps ease my mind as well.