My 4 Year Old Son Has a Chronic Cough

A few months back I had a cough that lasted for 2 months. It started the same way, with a cold, but the cough would not go away. I went to the doctor and had some tests run. I had bronchitis which was caused by an allergy to dust mites. If he's waking up coughin at night, it might be an allergy.

Is he having trouble breathing? My son had a persistent dry cough that was worse at night and has been diagnosed with asthma.

My son was like this. Perfectly fine during the day, no other symptoms just that cough every night. finally I had enough and took him to see his Dr.

He had Pneumonia.

I do not like doctors. That having been said, you better take him to the doctor. If it is Asthma or Pneumonia, he is not effectively oxygenating his blood when he's breathing and that's bad.
My 3 1/2 y.o. has been diagnosed with Pneumonia twice recently then the final decision was Asthma. They didn't detect the Pneumonia by listening to his lungs but on the advise of my cousin, who saw him and insisted that I take him to the doctor, I insisted on a chest Xray and VOILA! Pneumonia.

It sounds like this has gone on a little too long to ignore. To be on the safe side, have him checked by the doctor, soon.

My son was born coughing (literally---the first hour of his life). We've gone through so many tests and medications. At last, I finally listened to the doctor and gave him an expectorant along with a cough suppressant and---it actually worked. He used to cough for 1-2 months after getting sick. He just finished his latest sick spell in less than a week since i gave him the expectorant/suppressant combo. Most kids cough meds don't have expectorants in them anymore. Of course, check with your doc, but we found that the expectorant helped him have productive coughs so he could get it all out and get better faster. (I'm not a fan of medicine at all, but this really saved us). I hope your soon gets better soon!

this winter has sucked..and i had that cough and my son is now having it again..i can hear him in his room moaning..gonna go in again in a minute..i use Chestal cough syrup..homeopathic ..tastes like honey..also Umka liquid homeopathic med ..i put it in his juice..he's got a loose cough and a runny nose..his cheeks looked red tonight..threw up at his dad's 2 days ago..fun times. Try the Boiron products (Chestal) and cold remedy they work and they're easier on the system.

Well, my daughter had this last year - and again this year.
We ended up taking her to a specialsit who determined that she most likely coughed because she had a lot af post nasal drips coming in at night when she lies down.
He prescibed Nasonex combined with a saline spray. So, what we did for 3 weeks last year was first spray saline spray in the nose, made her blow her nose clean, and THEN use the Nasonex.(before bedtime)
Now after those weeks, we stopped the Nasonex and just used the saline spray on a need to basis. (Stuffy nose etc)
The point here is that she stopped coughing on the second night. (YES!)
So this year when a cold came on, we started the same remedy, and it works.
But this is my child , your child could be different- and you really should take hime to the doctor after 3 weeks of coughing.
Good Luck!

Hi J.. My oldest had these symptoms many years ago. She's 12 now but when she was 2 she had these same kind of things going on. She would cough and have a runny or stuffy nose all the time. But she wasn't sick! It was frustrating but finally we took her to a Dr. that diagnosed her with allergies. He said allergies isn't always with sneezing. He said the coughing was the symptom instad of her sneezing. So he prescribed Flonase, way back then LOL, but it worked. She was great after that and she even stoped needing it prbably when she turned 5. Good luck!

I hope he doesn't have what I had. It lasted 2 solid months. I could calm down but if I started coughing, I couldn't stop.I even had the dr give me steroid to dry it up and it didn't touch it. I had heard others say there was something going around that made the cough hold on for 2 solid months.
Good luck. I hope it doesn't last that long for you. It wasn't fun and it was aggrevating

Three weeks is a pretty long time. I'd take him in to be checked out. Its typical that the cough is worst at night, since the child is laying down and everything is draining.

My son went through this. We had a dr. appt coming up, so we just waited until then to take him. Turns out his coughs were actually asthmatic coughs, and the dr. was not happy that we waited to bring him in.

M.

We have had the experience where my son's cough lasted for quite a few weeks after getting a cold. It's extremely frustrating. The best thing to prevent coughing at night is to keep his room cool and run a cool air humidifier when he's sleeping. Also have him sleep with his head slightly elevated. If his nose is dry use saline spray to keep it moist. One time though the cough did turn into asthma and we had to use a nebulizer for a few days - so definitely check back with the doctor to make sure everything sounds ok in his chest or if you find that he is wheezing.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

As you can see from the list of responses, the cough could be attributed to many things. But I think everyone will agree that you should take him to see the pediatrician to make a diagnosis and suggest a remedy. Our son had a cough for about 3-4 weeks before we took him to see the doctor, who then said that we should use a nebulizer (which we already had, though not for asthma) with Xopenex (a bronchio-dilator) to relieve the cough. Although Xopenex alleviated the symptoms, it didn't cure the underlying reason for the cough. So, the coughing continued for another many weeks. We went back to the doctor and she then determined that he had a sinus infection (bacterial) and started him on anitibiotics (amoxicillin). The cough went away within a few days.

Honey is a great natural cough suppressant. You might want to try it out. I used to have a lot of problems with chronic coughs when I was younger and my mom would give me honey. It helped and it wasn't full of weird chemicals.

Take him to the doctor. This may be allergies, and it is being set off by something, but then again it could be asthma, and to let it lie without the proper medication can be very dangerous. It could also be bronchitis, which is pretty much a chronic wet cough after a cold. Please take him to the doc to find out which you are dealing with.

Probably should take him to the doctor. I had a cough for a month last year; just couldn't get rid of it. It ws the worst at night, keeping me up. Finally went in to the doctor and he gave me an Advair (?)inhaler (steroid, pretty strong!) for 7 days and that finally kicked it. Apparently, my vocal chords were pretty inflamed. I would take him to the doctor. Also, a home remedy that works fantastic is to buy Vick's Vapor rup, smear it on the soles of his feet at night, then put socks on. Really helps the cough at night. But still take him to the doctor.

a lot of colds come with a nasty long lasting cough. i would go ahead and take him to the pediatrician just to be safe. for the cough, put a nice coat of vicks vapor rub on the bottom of his feet and cover with a pair of socks (i used to warm the socks in the dryer first) right at bedtime when he wont be getting back up. it doesnt hurt to put some on his chest also. I typically pin a warmed small towel over the chest behind the neck under his pj's. i know the vicks on the feet sounds kinda off the wall, but it works wonders! good luck.

YES. My daughter had a cough for 6 months, sometimes waking her throughout the night and causing vomitting. We took her to specialist, had chest x-rays, allergy tests, blah, blah, blah. In the end we were told her lungs were still young and immature and she just needed to grow into them. We have put humidifiers and air purifiers in the bedrooms and that seems to help. We also use essentials oils of R.C. and Raven to keep their sinus open and uncongested.