Croup- help appreciated

[Asiago]

My 19 month old son came down with a croup cough last night. He is responding to the cool night air, it is enabling him to be more comfortable but I would certainly appreciate any help you wise parents can offer me. I have phoned his doctor already. My son is nursing well, and doesn't seem very congested (if that info helps).

Any thoughts? Thanks so much in advance.

Edited by Asiago - 6/4/11 at 3:24am

[hildare]

do you have a humidifier? 

[CrazyCatLady]

When the coughing fits start, taking them outside into the cold air can help.  Since you said the cold works for your ds, can you leave a window open in his room?

If the cold air doesn't work, being in the bathroom with the door closed and the shower going on hot (to make steam) can help sometimes too.

Croup is the one thing that I couldn't manage to treat naturally at home, so I don't have a ton of advice there.  My dd was a lot younger when she had it though.  The other thing is to make sure that he doesn't get dehydrated.  My dd got severely dehydrated somehow (no vomiting or anything) and pedilyte mixed with apple juice was the only thing that fixed it (not even breast milk worked). The infants vicks vapor rub had natural ingredients and worked ok too.

And for any sick kid, I do lots of probiotics, Vit C, and usually a trip to the chiro.  Hope he feels better soon.

Edited by CrazyCatLady - 6/4/11 at 6:16am

[Asiago]

Thanks Hildare . No, but we can certainly get one today.

He has been very actively playing the last couple of hours, I actually was concerned that he overexerting himself. He is now napping and seems comfortable. I haven't heard the 'seal bark' in a while.

We will get the vaporizer today to prepare for tonight.

[Summersquash]

I hope he feels better, poor little guy.  

The cool air really helps.  Not so easy in the summer, but when DD would wake up coughing in the night I would wrap her in her fleece blanket and stand outside on our front porch in the cool air, rocking her.  We put a humidifier in her room.  

It can be difficult because they get so nervous when they are having a hard time breathing...but try to keep him as calm as you can.  When DD got really upset and freaked out by the fact that she couldn't breathe, it made it much, much worse.  If we were calm and just brought her outside into the cool air, it would keep her calm and she would easily catch her breath once outdoors.

[Asiago]

Thanks Summer squash. Yes, we were out in the evening air, it helped almost immediately.  Fortunately we had a cool night and today also seems cool. He been fairly easy to calm thankfully as I can only imagine how frightening it must be.

[heatherdeg]

My son was the croupe king so help me.  At 7yo he STILL gets it (they're supposed to "grow out of it").  He would get it so bad that he would have "stridor at rest" (labored breathing even though he's sleeping) before we even got the barky cough.  And the "standard of care" at the emergency room never killed it.  We were relegated to Orapred (steroids) until I found Spongia Tosta--a homeopathic remedy by Boiron.  I STILL keep two vials of it in the house; and have converted a non-crunchy family whole-heartedly because it worked so well.

If they're not able to suck the tiny pellets, you can dissolve them in a tiny bit of water and use a syringe to administer.  

Croupe peaks on day 3.  Beware... and good luck!

[Asiago]

Oh interesting about the Spongia Tosta, thanks Heatherdeg.

 I'm sorry to hear your son still suffers from Croup.

My son's illness seemed to come on suddenly three nights ago. The first night was frightening (that's when we phoned our ped) but the second and third have been much better thankfully. The only issue now is he has phlegm, is this why the third day seems to worse usually? He seems much better each progressive day otherwise (?)

[SBellavia]

My daughter has had chronic croup since she was an infant.  She has had it once a month for the last 4 years.  We are currently in line to get her airway opened up but I am extremely nervous about the procedure :(  Anyway,  in the whole 4 years of this awful croup we have only been to the ER about 8 times.  I consider that to be a very good number considering.  I can tell right away when my daughter is coming down with it and immediately start the routine care.  The thing that helps the absolute most to calm the sever coughing and allow them to catch their breath is the shower.  We sit in the bathroom with shower on full blast with the hottest heat.  This will steam up the bathroom right away.  I encourage deep breathing which allows the moisture to do its work.  After about 10 minutes in the steam I will open up the window (in the winter) or the freezer (in the summer) and have her take deep breaths of the cold air.  The cold air calms the throat and the allows the airway to be less inflamed.  This alone will allow my daughter to get a few hours of sleep.  Sometimes this will give her a good 5 hours of no coughing of wheezing.  For excessive wheezing we do use prednisone and albuterol.  I find the albuterol to be extremely helpful.  We have also used Xopenex which almost the same but does not have the same side effects as the albuterol.  the Xopenex doesn't make the child wired and hyper as the other does.  I also used the Xopenex on my 6 week old twins when they had RSV and it works great.  So our next step in our croup dilema is to have her airway opened with a balloon.  They will put her under general anest.  and use a balloon to stretch her airway.  She has a rather small airway and the only way to get rid of this chronic croup is to do this.  I've had many opinions and each doctors assures me they would have it done if this was their child.  I've had the referral in for a last few months now I just haven't made the appointment.  But I will come to my senses and have the strength to take her soon as it's not fair for her to suffer from croup so often. 

I know most pedi's do not encourage the use of medicine for croup besides steriods and breathing treatments.  BUT I have always found that the triminic thin strips for "long lasting cough" help tremendously to calm her cough during the day.  This seems to be help without the need of steriods sometimes.   

[MummaGaia]

We have had a lot of success with a homeopathic remedy called Hepar Sulph. Calc.  It got so that I just kept it in my pillowcase my DS got croup so often.  It really helps keep the coughing fits at bay.

[Asiago]

Thank you for your reply Sbellavia. My thoughts are with you and your daughter, that must be a very difficult decision. 

Thanks for the remedy reccomendation MummaGaia!

Once we got past the first night he seemed better, now the issue is trying to cough up phlegm after a full nights sleep. I suppose this was a mild case of croup, I am thankful that it wasn't worse. 

[sosurreal09]

My DD is 20 m/o and has had croup 2x it's not as bad as you think it will be! (usually) I was HORRIFIED hearing her cough. I know how scary it can seem. If he has a real bad fit turn on the hot shower and let the steam get into him. Other than that just nurse on demand and use a good humifdifier (I like the steam ones). Remember it is just a virus and the Dr can't actually do anything. (except in rarer cases like PP)