Coughing fits on a night?? 2.5 yr old.?

Question

My daughter has had a cold and cough for the past few months. The cold has now subsided but she keeps having horrendous coughing fits but only at night.

I took her to the doctors a couple of weeks ago just to have her checked out as she also had a bad cold at the time. He listened to her chest and said it was clear and it was just a cold. I am wondering if it could be the onset of asthma?? The coughing also starts if she has been running around.

Obviously i will be seeking advice from my GP but i just wondered if anyone had had any similar experiences with their children and what the outcome was.

I had really bad asthma as a child but have outgrew this in my teams.

Also my house is certainly not damp or dusty.

On the whole i would not say she is 'unwell'. She does not have a fever and is her normal happy self

Answer 1

my daughter suffers like this after a cold.
coughs always take longer to go than a runny nose.

I took her to the doctors the first time and he said that it would pass but gave us an inhaler to see if it would help, although he didn't think she had asthma he said it may still ease it for now. we only used it a couple of times as it didn't seem to help much.

There are a couple of things we do now though like giving her an extra pillow so the phlem isn't lying on her chest,(i know how much little people wriggle but we just reposition her as and when we need to), leaving a drink next to her bed and a spoonful of cough mixture before bed and another in the night if she needs it.

also the older she gets the more it starts to ease and the better they cope with it, like sipping the drink instead of gulping and its easier to explain that the nasty medicine is going to help!

your right to take her back to your GP though just to make sure.

hope this helps x

Answer 2

The typical protocol for a prolonged cough is a chest x-ray. I'm surprised the doctor hasn't prescribed that just as safe measure, considering the legth of time she's had the cough... the poor dear.

If she is wheezing along with the cough and is short of breath after strenuous (or even moderate) activity, then the possibilities of athsma are more likely. Otherwise, get the x-ray, just to make sure it's not pneumonia--and a humidifier in the room would be beneficial with or without the symptoms.

Good luck--sure hopes she feels better.

Answer 3

My daughter has a similar problem. I took her to the GP and he also stated the same as your GP, however I have a slight case of asthma and so my daughter was prescribed an asthma pump which you attach to a tube. It definitely sounds as if your daughter could be suffering from this. I suggest that you persist with your GP and ask for one of these pumps. My daughter is only 1.5 yrs old. She very rarely has to use the pump but it does help during the coughing nights. In addition you may want to check your walls to see if there is an damp. Check the corners of the room. This may have something that could be exacerbating her condition.

Answer 4

My son had the same problem. As whooping cough was going round at the time I thought it was that. When I took him to the doctors it turned out he had asthma.
I think now the colds gone you should go back to doctor and tell him about the cough. It shouldn't last that long unless there is an underlying problem.

Answer 5

I'm asthmatic my self and I to had a cold that would not go away and my chest was bad. Anyway I was diagnosed with It age 6 years and my sister had a similar problem when my nephew was a baby she brought him to the doctors and she told my sister It was a cold and later that evening we had to rush him to hospital with breathing difficulties and the hospital diagnosed asthma. So if you think your daughter has it ask them to test her for it. If she is very raspy, wheezy and if her chest feels tight it could be asthma. It can run in the family because my older brother, myself, my mum, dad and my self all have asthma except my other older brother and sister. Hope this helps.

Answer 6

I have a 6 year old that was in Pediatric intensive care several times from ages 2 thru 5. Asthma turned out to be the culprit, and we've had her on everything from Albuterol to Advair, singulair to pulmicort, and finally we found a management program that works for her. You should be persistent with your doctors and seek 2nd opinions if you're not satisfied with their findings.

Before you go down the asthma road, see if there's a vent that blows warm air on them at night. It could be that your child's airways are drying out due to the constant blowing of warm air all night. In this case, use a humidifier to keep the humidity at preferable levels.

Sometimes they can get what doctors call RSV http://children.webmd.com/tc/Respiratory-Syncytial-Virus-RSV-Infection-Topic-Overview

But by all means, monitor your child carefully, and watch how they breath while sleeping. Labored breathing, or when they use their stomach muscles to help them breath is a sign that you need to keep seeking medical professional help

Good luck

Answer 7

Things may have progressed somewhat since your daughter went to the doctor. Is she running any fever or even a low grade fever? Coughing at night could be a sign of pneumonia or bronchitis, etc. My daughter's cold turned into viral pneumonia, she only coughed at night but she also ran a slight fever.
It's good you are having her re-checked just to be safe....

Answer 8

i would take her back to the doctors does sound like it could be asthma but on the other hand after a cold a cough can take ages to go away but better to be safe then sorry

Answer 9

My son is 11months and is the same, they ruled out chest infection, but said it will be astma they gave him some syrup, but has made no difference. He can be sleeping soo peacefully one minute then up coughing the next and then he is wide awake.
So every sympathy to you and your daughter. xx

Answer 10

DEAR
JUST KEEP A EYE ON HER IF IT HAPPENS TO GET WORST AT NIGHT BUNDLE HER UP AND TAKE HER TO THE ER BECAUSE AS YOU KNOW THE FLU IS GOING AROUND TOO AND THE DOCTOR SHOULD HAVE KNOW THIS AND TALKED TO YOU ABOUT THIS MATTER AND HER HEALTH HISTORY ON BOTH SIDE OF THE FAMILY'S YOURS AND YOUR HUSBANDS TO SEE IF THERE IS ANY ILLNESS TO LOOK FOR IN HER CASE DEAR ALWAYS TALK ABOUT YOUR FAMILY HISTORY WITH ALL DOCTOR AND IF YOU CAN NOT REMEMBER ASK YOUR FAMILY'S WRITE IT DOWN AND PRETTY PLEASE TYPE IT UP MAKE A LOT OF COPY'S AND CARRY ONE TO EACH DOCTOR OK TAKE CARE