5 month-old with croup and ear infection

[tavamom]

What would you do for a 5 month old with croup and an ear infection?  We have a humidifier running and can take him into the cool air for a coughing attack.  We ended up in the ER last night because his breathing was so labored.  They gave us antibiotics and steroids, but I'm wary of using them.  The ear infection was so mild it had no other symptoms and surprised the doctor, so I feel like I wouldn't have even known about it if it hadn't been for the bad coughing attack.  I really dislike the idea of antibiotics and I'm not entirely sure the steroids are really all that necessary either.  What have you done?  Have you used these things, experienced croup with a baby?  What did you do?  What would you do differently?  

Thanks

[HannahMR]

When my son would get croup I would sit him up, some nights he would sleep on my chest. Cool air works wonders! Get him in a sling and go for a walk (or crack the bedroom window open)! Also, we would go into the bathroom and run the shower with some lavender oil or eucalyptus and get a good steam going when it got really bad...some nights all you do is try to sleep sitting up and running down to get him to the bathroom for some steam when the cough gets bad :(

[mbravebird]

Steroids are not an automatic response to croup. If his sats were high enough that they sent you home without forcing meds, then you definitely have a choice. My son has had severe croup, for which he was hospitalized, and he got steroids, but they didn't give it until his sats were clearly low and not improving.

I've said this on every post I write recently, but that's because it was a miracle worker for us last year when my son kept getting sick repeatedly: olive leaf extract, the liquid kind. (found here: http://amzn.to/odTlZx) It kicked out his ear infections, thrush, and kept his other croup experiences more mild. (The real problem, it turned out, was mold, but the Olive leaf extract saved us until we found that out!)

You can also try garlic oil in the ear, although the OLE orally did the trick for us.

Spongia tosta is an often-used homeopathic remedy for croup. And cold air, alternated with moist air from the shower, really helps.