Help!Three year old has been coughing @night for overa month!

[see mama run]

My 3 year old dd has had a persistent, mostly night-time only, cough for over a month. About five weeks ago I went to yoga and the woman next to me was sick, blowing her nose alot, soon after dd came up w/this cough. It sounds wet and can be really harsh, almost to the point of her throwing up. We've seen our naturopath 3x. We've done raw honey syrups, echinecea/goldenseal, and amoxicillan. The amoxicillan seemed to work but caused her bowels to be so loose she was pooping in her pants. She stopped using diapers at 19 months on her own and felt terrible about this. We stopped the amoxicillan right away. The cough is back with a venegence. She coughs most of the night. Now our md thinks it may be allergies to mold or her pillow? That wouldn't explain why the antibiotic worked though. Any advice welcome, we've got to lick this, we are fearful that it's going to damage her lungs. Otherwise she feels great, super healthy and doesn't cough during the day unless she runs or jumps. Thanks!

[pianojazzgirl]

If the antibiotic worked then it sounds to me like it was/is a bacterial infection. When you stopped the amoxicillan did you switch to a different antibiotic or just stop all together? How close were you to the end of the course of the antibiotic? My best guess is that it was bacterial, you stopped the antibiotic too soon (before it was all killed off) and now the infection has flared up again.

[sbgrace]

Sometimes a virus can set off an asthma flair. If she didn't finish the antibiotic though and she was responding and then it came back I'd be more likely to think you killed off only some of the bacteria with the partial antibiotic treatment.

Generally, you don't stop antibiotics part way through. If you're having an allergic reaction you might though you'd more likely switch. Probiotics three hours after each dose will usually keep antibiotic associated diarrhea away. You have to start at the beginning and use a good probiotic. I use culutrelle for antibiotics and, if you can get some florastor is fantastic for this because antibiotics can't kill it. Repopulate after you're done too.

[neveryoumindthere]

Have you looked into chinese medicine. We've found it works really well in kids.

hope your dc feels better soon!

[amnesiac]

Has the doc ruled out sinus infection?

[CageFreeFamily]

My three year old had a persistant, deep cough for about a month as well. I finally began treating her with tincture of Lomatium and Balsam (1 drop per 4lb body weight) with a raw honey chaser and the cough was nearly gone in three days time and totally gone in 5 days.

I have also heard that others had a great deal of success with Osha Root.

HTH

[Kindermama]

Try some homeopathy!! Antimonium Tartaricum (Ant Tart) 12C....a few doses in a day, stop once symptoms are relieved. Stop if symptoms don't improve within 24 hours.

[mom0810]

Viruses are much more likely to set off this coughing that lasts and lasts, in fact coughing from bronchitis can last for months. Same with mycoplasma, which is not a big deal... it's walking pneumonia but that doesn't mean it's serious in fact kids usually get it and do just fine with no treatment.

The only reason I know anything about all of this is that at the end of April, my ds1 came down with "something"--sore throat, fever, coughing-- and is still coughing now. His pediatrician has listened to his lungs over and over again, and nothing. He said what has happened is that he got this virus, and now the lungs are irritated and fixing themselves. When you cough, the cilia in your lungs break off or are damaged. After the virus is gone, you cough and cough some more because the cilia are growing back and it itches.

Now, the wetness of the cough makes me think she has allergies and maybe some postnasal drip, which can also cause coughing and will sound wet. The fact that she's doing it at night makes me think she either has allergies causing the pnd, OR she has asthma that's been set off by this virus she had, or both.

My kids are now on zyrtec every day for the allergies and we started singulair for the cough. They were both only coughing at night and during the day were fine. The ped. found "cobblestoning" in the back of ds1's throat, which means he had been having pnd for a LOOONG time. Like, prior to this illness. So he already had allergies and perhaps a propensity for asthma (I have asthma) and this cold/virus/whatever set it off.

This is also one of the worst years in history for allergies. Mold, tree and grass pollen are already all high and it's only June. So this may be the only year she has this.

I would take her to an allergist and get her tested, or the cheaper route would be to just try zyrtec and perhaps singulair and see what happens. My kids do better with the meds, worse without. So I know that although this all started with a virus, we are now dealing with allergies and possibly asthma.

Hope this helps!