mucus-y at birth and still coughing?

[perditafoster]

Ivy was really icky in the lungs when she was born, all raspy and rattly...I don't think that rattly and mucus-y are real words, but I am way too tired to come up with any!!!! Anyway, she is still coughing and sneezing, but no fever, she's still eating, doesn't seem to mind the coughing, etc. Anybody else's baby doing this? I'm not freaking out because she eats fine and sleeps fine, just wondering if I should worry or if it's normal...

[spiralmg]

This kind of thing happened with DS after he was born, and continued in various forms for quite a while - especially after he would catch a cold. We still (at 2.5 years) have an ongoing problem. It's not constant, but when it appears it can be worrisome. He was small when born which may be part of his problem.

I would recommend seeking out a good alternative health practioner that you can work with to strengthen her total system and even out the weakness in her lungs. When we have gone to the "regular" doctor(s) about this, they almost always prescribe something like albuterol inhalents/syrup or once, even steroids. Those work topically but dio nothing for the underlying problem. We have also tried homeopathics. However the only thing that ever really worked for him was a chinese medicine cough syrup prescribed by a chinese medicine dr in another town while we were traveling....I'm planning to take him to a nearby chinese dr again soon.

Good luck!

[starparticle]

Yes, Leif is really "coughy" and rattly at birth as well. We've had some issues with apnea as well. At first I was convinced he had cystic fibrosis or something terrible, but now I'm more relaxed about it. I guess if he hasn't worked out his cough in a couple of months I'll be more worried...

[beachcomber]

Anyway, she is still coughing and sneezing, but no fever, she's still eating, doesn't seem to mind the coughing, etc. Anybody else's baby doing this?Yep. Carys has been like this since birth, too. She'll be 4 weeks this Thursday. Same as your situation: no fever, eating and sleeping well but still making a lot of throat clearing and rattly noises in among regular breathing noises. She sneezes a lot, too. I'm going to ask my midwife about it when I see her tomorrow.

[beachcomber]

When we have gone to the "regular" doctor(s) about this, they almost always prescribe something like albuterol inhalents/syrup or once, even steroids. Those work topically but do nothing for the underlying problem.Um. As a person with chronic asthma, I wanted to clarify how steroids and inhalants work. They don't treat a "topical" issue. They both treat inflammation in the lining of the bronchial tubes. Inflammation typically results in congestion as the lungs can't clear mucous through narrower occluded passages. Steroids prevent inflammation from occurring in the first place. Inhaled steroids are available and work using very low concentrations that, because they're inhaled directly into the lungs, are site specific. Inhalants like albuterol treat the symptoms of a flare up of inflammation which are typically wheezing, coughing and a lot of mucousy throat clearing. The biggest drawback to albuterol is that it often produces an increased heart rate, nervous energy and anxiety as side effects, which is why steroids are usually the preferred method of preventative treatment.

If the underlying problem is indeed asthma, these are the only medications offered by allopathic practitioners (western medicine) that will effectively prevent and treat inflammation over the longterm. Homeopathic remedies often contain combinations of camphor and menthol to encourage coughing and ephedra to reduce inflammation. But studies on homeopathic remedies haven't been done and there is little in the way of concrete information on safety of longterm use with children.

[spiralmg]

Thank you Victoria - that is helpful information. I've been frustrated with the albuterol exactly because of the increased heartrate etc. DS gets kind of hyper after the treatment, so when I do use it, I only use it during the day. But his coughing/wheezing is at its worst at night....so we have a bit of a dilemma about whether/when to use it.

Do you know if steroids have any side effects? I'm so reluctant to give steroids to my little guy...we did it once when he was much younger - after a trip to the emergency room.

The homeopathic remedies we have tried were single dose 200c constitutionals prescribed by our homeopath/MD. I think we used Calcium Carbonica most recently. But honestly neither of them has worked.

Inspired by this thread in part, (and by horrendous coughing last night) I made an appointment with a Chinese Medicine Doctor for Friday. I will post an update if we find anything out.