How can I reduce my 10 month old daughters coughing throughout the night as she has a bad cold?

Answer 1

Try propping her up slightly. My daughter coughs terribly when she has a cold due to all the yukky stuff running down the back of her throat and my Health Visitor advised this method.

Either place a strong block of wood under the 2 legs furthest from her head or place a pillow or two UNDER her mattress to create a wedge, not too high or she'll obviously just roll the end of the cot (we had to practice with a couple of different pillows/cushions).

This together with a dish of water (to humidify (with or without Karvol drops) in her room worked wonders.

Good luck, I know how hard and tiring it is with a coughing child!

Answer 2

Try a few different things. First give her a hot back before you put her to bed, you can buy those bath breath easy tablets and stick it in the bath with her. Mint can help with coughing. Maybe some mint herbal tea if you can get her to drink it in a bottle. Mix it with some juice if you need, apple juice and heat it up. Hot stuff seems to calm the muscles in the throat down. Use some vics vapor rub on her chest before you put her to bed, and make sure her room doesn't get too cold cuz cold air can increase coughing. You can also use a humidifier to keep the heat near her throat the entire night. If she rolls onto her stomach let her. My kids slept on their stomachs all the time and they are still alive. You just need to know your child, some kids are at risk for sids and some really aren't. If your child can hold their head up then they are fine to sleep on their stomach but this can reduce the amount of presure on their lungs and help them breth easier. Hope this helps at all. When it comes to cold medicine use somethign that has the word tussin in it. That will help break up in mucus that may be stuck in their chest as well.

Answer 3

Roll up a towel and put it under the head of her mattress so her head is slightly raised. This helps keep mucus down. A Karvol degongestant capsule dropped on to a hankie and hung up near the cot has always helped with my kids. A nice warm bath before bed and vicks on the chest.

Milk and dairy products can actually be an irritant for the sinuses (I speak from personal experience here) so now she is at an age that I assume solids will be a big part of her diet, then cutting back a bit on dairy products and replacing with other things might help ease the mucus as well.

Hope she gets better soon.x

Answer 4

Raise her cot.A couple of books under the feet of the head end.A spoon of calpol before bed will help to reduce swelling in the throat and therefore it wont be so irritating for her. Also put a couple of drops of Olbas oil on a tissue near the cot at head height but out of arms reach.My 1yr boy was plagued with colds in his 1st year and I spent pounds on different drops and rubs the only one that helped was olbas oil original (not the kids one that's too weak a bit like carval drops.Pointless!) Also give her a mashed kiwi everyday -full of vitc- which will help fight the cold off.When you're ill,adults as well as kids, you need extra vitc to replace whats being used,as the body cannot store this vitamin like it can others. Hope she's better soon. Elizzy.

Answer 5

prop up her mattress at the top with a pillow underneath

add two bowls of water out of her reach and put wet clothes on the radiators in her room - this adds moisture to the air.

put vicks on half an hour or so before she goes to bed - then it will start to work as she goes to sleep.

if you get her cough medicine (i liked boots glycerine and blackcurrant) than make sure its appropriate for her age. give it to her aftre she has a bottle so the milk doesn't wash it away

give her cuddles whenever she wants during the night - you can get them back into a routine when she is better.

finally - ask someone to take her if you need to for a hour so you can get some rest - or sleep during the day when she is alseep.

hope she feels better soon

Answer 6

Unfortunately, you cannot do much as medicines donot do much for a cough (and the ones that do are not good for a small baby).

Try to keep her head elevated - use a few pillows (place it under her mattress to avoid suffocation). Once the head is elevated, the cough (caused by irritation in the throat) reduces.

Or you can let her sleep in a car seat for most part of the night (my pediatrician had suggested that it was safe) - that way she will sleep safe and better.

Also give her plenty of fluids. Keep a humidifier in her room.

Answer 7

Prop her up with pillows under her matress. Also use carvol drops and vics rub on her chest. this will decrease the amount of mucus made in the nose, which then in turn runs down her throat making her cough. Also burn eucaliptus oil in a burner through out the day this works a dream!!! Watch out for high temperatures through out the night my son ended up with pneumonia and i just put it down to a chesty cough and the cold.

Answer 8

A baby cough medicine, e.g. a linctus might help. Also, as others have suggested, Vicks vapour rub can help clear her airways. Otherwise, you'll just have to cope with sleepless nights until it clears up. If it doesn't get any better after a week, go to your doctor.

Answer 9

Before bedtime, I bathe my son with Johnson&Johnson's soothing vapor bath. I use a Vicks vaporizer in his room at night...it seems to really help. I also use vicks vaporub on his chest for breathing, and tylenol cold infant drops if he is really bad. Check with your pediatrician about the amount of cold medicine your children should have before giving it to them. I tilt the head of the mattress, so he can sleep on an incline. That's also helps if they are having trouble breathing with their colds.

Answer 10

Purchase a humidifier to ease breathing and put a pillow under the mattress of her cot to elevate her so her throat nose is less congested. Along with this use baby vicks and lots of hugs and kisses