How to Break up Phlegm in 4 Year-old

My pediatrician prescribed Bromphen, I don't know they whole official name, but if you google Bromphen it will come up. I give my 3.5 year olds, based on their size, 2.5 ml three times a day and it works wonders. It really is a miracle drug in my family. My neighbor also swears by it with her 4 year old and 2 year old twins. My sister asked her pediatrician about it and he wouldn't prescribe it because he never heard of it, but it maybe worth asking about. I don't know what I would do without it. My pediatrician also suggested a modified dose of Musinex since the label says not to give to under 6, and my boys are only 3.5. The Musinex worked, but the Bromphen worked faster and better.

Pick up some Elderberry cough syrup or extract. I swear this is the best stuff ever and it is safe to use for children or adults.

Any health food store will carry them. I prefer the extract, a few drops in some water (or your child's favorite drink) and it breaks up the mucus and opens nasal passages.

Also, cut back on dairy products since that creates more mucus.

Go to the doctor and get a breathing treatment...and some steroids so he can breathe again.

Then get a prescription for a nebulizer and Albuterol vials. They are med mixed with sterile water and he puts on a mask or a device in his mouth and breathes in the mist. It will open him up and the sterile water will moisten the goo where he can cough it up better.

If the doc wants to do an inhaler ask him if you can try the nebulizer too. The inhaler didn't help my kids when they were sick and the goo needed to come up and out. The nebulizer was way more productive.

If he's having that much trouble to to the ER and ask them if they can do a breathing treatment.

Albuterol has some visual side effects but they aren't harmful. The med is sort of like a small shot of adrenaline, they might shake a bit. Albuterol is on the $4 list at Walmart...cheap and super effective.

If he can't do the Albuterol he can do Xopenex. It's about $110 a box, same size or smaller than the Albuterol, but it is more refined...filtered more? I think that's what the pharmacist told me. It breaks my throat out and turns it tomato red. The kids have Sooner Care and they do really well with the Xopenex so when that insurance will cover the Xopenex we get that for them. No way we can afford it with our limited income.

Our pediatrician recommended Benadryl at the onset of a cold so less mucus in the nose to travel to lungs and cause congested cough. Maybe it helped...

iPhone autocorrected mucus to mud.

Sounds familiar....my not so little guy (now 14) also has asthma and viruses are one of his triggers (along with extreme temperatures) Flovent every day and he stopped using the Singulair when he was almost 9 (it started giving him hives) ..uses the albuterol as needed...and once every blue moon needs the prednisone --like hasn't had any in like almost 3 years.

Along with all the great stuff you're doing, I'd prop him up in bed with a lot of pillows. And, you didn't mention this this but you may want to check with his doc if you should up the Flovent when he gets sick
This seems to have helped my son throught the years.

Good luck

I just wanted to say that I used to have asthma as well. I noticed that even after I quit having attacks, colds would go straight to my lungs for several years after. I would get coughs lasting weeks, well after I felt totally normal.

Similarly, I had one summer where I got hit by the worst stomach bug I've ever heard of, I had serious issues for several days. I had never had a stomach bug before - but I noticed that for a long time afterward, it seemed every time I got sick, it affected my stomach where nothing ever had before.

My personal experience makes me think that once you damage a part of your body like that, even though it may be "healed" it can still be sensitive and prone to disease and discomfort more easily than normal.

This is all just my opinion, I would talk to his doctor, but I bet as more time passes and he gets stronger, it will get easier. Good luck.

The brand names for Bromphen are Zyrtec and Clatirin and many others.
Are you sure your child does not have allergies?
Allergies often morph into a sinus infection.

We had a cough similar to that each time mine had colds. My kids were diagnosed as asthmatic from colds. They don't have full on asthma. And they only had the cough. No wheezing. We were given inhalers. I didn't find they were that helpful.

Then our doctor told us to try our son's allergy meds at night - just one (or even half a dose) - to see if that would dry up the post nasal drip. What was happening was after the cold passed, the post nasal drip was still there for a while, and would trickle down his throat at night (from lying down). It would make them cough during the day, but way worse at night.

It would tickle/collect, and he'd cough. So we tried it and it worked. He slept through.

Now he was already on allergy meds (seasonal) so we knew he was safe on them. They dry up the excess fluid from allergies - so I guess they dried up the post nasal drip. Not 100% sure how it works, but our pharmacist backed up what the doctor said.

I would definitely check with a doctor and pharmacist before even trying this of course. But it meant mine could sleep again. I tried all the other things you listed too! Even dust mite covers.

Good luck :)