My 4 year old has a chronic cough

[earthflower]

Ds2 has been coughing like almost every night for awhile now, I took him to the doctor, his lungs and everything sound fine. Its not asthma and he is not sick other than the coughing. I think he mus have allergies? He is lactose intolerant, so no dairy. I am not sure how I should treat his cough when he wakes up every night or how to find out if he has allergies?

[Kiliki]

I'm right there with you.

My DS did this last yr. He's all congested and he coughs at night a LOT. I took him to the doc and doc said "allergies". So I give him some children's Calritan before bed if I remember and if I don't, I wake up when I hear his coughing and I give him Delsym.

He gets one dose of either one a night, usually. Just to help ease the coughing. I don't give anything during the day for it b/c it's not as bad AND b/c I hate medicating for non-essential things.

Night time I do medicate b/c we have a small little house and his coughing wake everyone up, and makes him miserable. Poor kid.

[mama_to_DJM]

Following this thread! My almost 4 year old also has a cough that won't go away. She's been seen by the doc twice, did a round of antibiotics just in case, and it's still here.

[keonli]

I have seasonal allergies and this is one of the ways it presents itself. DS also has it, but his results in nose bleeds. He is 5 and takes Children's claritin nightly.

[mama_to_DJM]

Originally Posted by keonli I have seasonal allergies and this is one of the ways it presents itself. DS also has it, but his results in nose bleeds. He is 5 and takes Children's claritin nightly.

Weird! My DD gets unexplained nose bleeds often, too!

[badmisterkitty]

If your into chiropractic care, try that. About a year ago our DD had a chronic cough that went on for a couple of months. She has always responded well to chiropractic care, so I figured it was worth a shot. After ONE adjustment the cough was completely gone. That very afternoon her coughing ceased and didn't come back.

She had an ongoing cough again a couple of weeks ago, so we hauled her back to the chiro. The results weren't as dramatic. After one adjustment the coughing decreased and after 2 adjustments it was gone. I think, for her, she get sinus drainage and the adjustment opens it up and lets it all drain out and be gone.

[argecash]

He might be allergic to dust mites. You could get an allergy cover for his mattress and pillows and make sure to wash the sheets a lot. Do you have a HEPA air filter in his room?

[Kiliki]

Originally Posted by argecash He might be allergic to dust mites. You could get an allergy cover for his mattress and pillows and make sure to wash the sheets a lot. Do you have a HEPA air filter in his room?

This reminds me. I read that the only way to effectively kill the junk in your sheets is to hang them to dry in the sun. Even washing on hot, or with bleach, or drying on high heat, doesn't kill them all. So if this is what you think it is, maybe try line drying the sheets?

We have a cover for DS's mattress. He still coughs. He's coughed since before we got it (last wk) and he's still coughing now. LOL So for us this wasn't the issue. But we don't have allergies in our families. If we did, I would pursue that further. KWIM?

[jbug_4]

Originally Posted by Kiliki This reminds me. I read that the only way to effectively kill the junk in your sheets is to hang them to dry in the sun. Even washing on hot, or with bleach, or drying on high heat, doesn't kill them all. So if this is what you think it is, maybe try line drying the sheets?

The problem with this is most people aren't just allergic to dust mites, they are often allergic to at least one pollen as well- which means line drying is a big no-no. Washing and/or drying at 130 F will remove dust mites and all bedding should be washed weekly at that temp. Things that can't washed can be frozen for 24-48 hours.

Since it is happening overnight it probably is dust mites. If there is carpet in the room it needs to be vacuumed often- recommendation is like twice a week, but we do ours everyday because we have dogs that also bring in and contribute to dust mites and pollen. Also suppose to remove any soft stuff that is not needed- ie stuffed animals.

[earthflower]

I'm going to try the chiro suggestion before I do allergy meds! Thank you all. this is helping me so much. He still sleeps w/ me at night so I will have to think about dust mites.