Hey Ya'll! My 3yo daughter who will be 4 in January has a yucky cough. She has no fever and doesn't "feel bad", she just has some drainage and that brings on the cough. She is 41 lbs and I am looking for someting OTC I can give her. I don't want to take her to the Doctor when she is not sick, just to be around a bunch of sick kids and really get sick. Forget the honey, that was suggested by co-workers and she does not go for it, she would rather take some meds... =) Any suggestions would be great - thank you!
Thank you all for you help and suggestions - I decided to go the Benadryl route and last night her cough was way better than the night before. I gave her 1 tsp and that seemed to help, the "Control the drainage Control the cough" idea seems to be working. She does not like spitting the stuff out and she is a gagger so it was hard at night because she would cough and gag herself and puke, ughhhh (I am an easy puker too). The Benadryl seemed to help keep her dry enough to sleep through the night. Thank you all for your ideas. If this stops working or she doesn't get better, I will let ya know. Merry Christmas everyone!!!
Zyrtec can be bought over the counter now. I would try that. Cough medicines do not work.
Good Luck.
Have you tried the child's mucinex? It is a powder form they put on their tongue and it dissolves. Doctor advised us - VICKS and Humidifider in room at night. Old ways, but hey work! Good Luck!
Triaminic Thin Strips are the best :)
Triaminic® Long Acting Cough is what I use. My daughter has asthma and allergies. It works for 8 hours. Her doctor recommends it because it is strictly for coughing, so is you need to give her zyertec or claritin. As one of the mom's said go by weight not age. My daughter is not your average size child. So the doctor has told us to go by weight. Hope it helps.
My pediatrician suggest Mucinex for Kids Plus Cough.
I am not a fan of OTC medicines. I give my son homeopathic medicine, they have the honey natural cough syrup at CVS. Also, I get a lot of my son's homeopathic medicine from Vitacost.com, the brand is called Natrabio. They have a cough syrup too, all natural. I found out about this medicine actually from a lady on this website. The homeopathic medicine works and you don't have the side effects as OTC medicines give.
Hope this helps :)
L.
I would take any child, but definitely a 3-year-old with a cough to the doctor.(My 20-year-old had these symptoms last week, & he was the biggest baby in the place! Sinus infection & drainage...) Sit away from the other patients, putting yourself between your child & the others. Don't let her play with the toys in the doc's office--just my 2 cents worth! Good luck!
I would go get Children s Robitussin. That always seems to work for my son when he has a cough. :) Hope this helps.
Let her cough during the day, its good to let the body get rid of whatever mucous is still there. If she can't sleep at night because of it, try putting vicks on her chest, use a humidifier, you can also buy a plug in that is called sudacare I believe. If that still doesn't help, buy any OTC kids cough medicine, make sure it is just for cough (many of them mix meds like tylonol in with the cough meds), the ingredient you are looking for is dextramathoriphin (sp?). Id just give her 1/4 of the dose it will say for ages 6-12 ys olds. So if it says 2tsp, give 1/2tsp. That's what I do for my 3 yr old. Good luck!
Hello!!
I give my 4yr & 6yr old an expectorant (at bed time only so that the cough can 'work for them' during the day) called Mucinex. I buy the grape flavored mini melts (looks like tons of tiny candy balls). I never get complaints from them-which is amazing! If they get real bad & noses are stuffed up...I use the 'Neil Med' saline rinse (from Walgreens). It isn't fun, but it totally works! My 4yr daughter had 2 sinus surgeries last year (before I learned about Neil Med). Good luck & I hope this helps!!
M.,
www.mindyravinesphotography.com
We use a homeopathic cough syrup called Chestal that I get at HEB (Whole Foods has it too, but it is more expensive there). It is honey-based and does need to be taken more often, but it also has some natural mucus thinners that help keep things moving. I also use a steam vaporizer and Vicks on the soles of the feet (with socks). There is another similar one--the name escapes me--but I definitely feel as though the Chestal works better.
Also, minimize the dairy in her diet and make sure she is getting plenty of other fluids like sugar-free popsicles and diluted juices.
If you decide to go with a dextromethorphan-based cough medicine, you should call your doctor for the dosage. That is the same active ingredient in many prescription cough medicines. However, you may not see any effect, their little metabolisms don't process the medications the same as older children. Anything dextro based always gave my daughter nightmares.
Try Zyrtec. It sounds strange but she probably has some post nasal drip causing the cough. If you can get her dried up, it will help with the cough. Those coughs can be nasty and take forever to get rid of. If she needs something to stop the cough so she can sleep, I suggest Delsym.. that is the BEST cough medicine!! Good Luck!
S., our pediatrician recommended Delsym (OTC). It comes in an orange box and it's a 12 hour cough med. Our two year old only gets a half of a tsp at night. Since I didn't have a dosage for our 38 lb 5 year old, I give him the same dose. It seems to be enough to reduce his coughing significantly. It's best for them to have a cough during the day to keep the gunk from settling. The main reason to give it to them at night is to help them sleep.
Whatever OTC cough medicine you get, you can ask the pharmacist or call your ped. They should give you a dose amount without having to go in. Please don't guess.
Hi There,
Did you try Mucinex for kids? If not, get that one and give her 3-4 times a day. At bedtime, give her Delsym at night which is a cough supressant and would help her sleep throught the night. Mucinex does help lossen up mucus and will prevent from getting secondary infections in ears or throught.
Our pedi. also suggested to mix Delsym and Benadryl half and half and give at bedtime to reduce that urge to cough. However, we just give delsym to our little girl and it works fine. Hope this helps.
My ped said medicine goes by weight, not age. If your child is 40 lbs and 3 yrs then go by the dosing for a 4 YO.
I would give her pseudoephedrine (for the nasal drainage)and guaifenesin (expectorant) during the day and something that includes a cough suppressant at night (robitssin CF) Duting the day she needs to cough up the phlem.
I use Delsym for my kids' coughs, as recommended by our pediatrician (though I generally try to use it only at night so they can sleep). You would give 2.5 ml every twelve hours. Here's the Delsym dosing webpage: http://www.delsym.com/childrens-cough-medicine/dosing.php. Though your daughter is big enough to give the 4-year-old dosage, you could also call your doctor's office and ask about the dosing.
Claritin should help with the drainage. Humidity should help clear up the cough. Otherwise, Robitussin is my usual choice if I have to. You actually want her to cough during the day. It is the body's way of clearing up the congestion. I would only give cough meds if she is not sleeping well due to the cough.
I would get your child checked out. My son has had two rounds of pneumonia since September with minimal symptoms. First one was following a course of antibiotics for a throat infection. Only symptom was a persistent cough that would not be suppressed with quite a few different meds. The second round he had, he had a runny nose for about a week. He had a fever that came and went within a day, an occasional cough, like once or twice a day. You could tell he felt not up to par, being obstinant when he usually isn't. Was speaking to the nurse at the doctors office about some test results for my daughter and mentioned his symptoms. She said bring him in just to be on the safe side. Sure enough he had onset pneumonia. I wouldn't have taken him in otherwise.
Pneumonia can be very dangerous and lead to sepsis. I would be safer than sorry.
Here is something that works and has no adverse effects...vaporrub on the bottom of the feet and then put on socks. Her cough will be gone within minutes! I do it and use it on all 4 of my kids!
