[Addie's Mom]

Hello everyone. I am seeking advice (not desperately yet, but just give me a couplde more sleepless nights) regarding night waking due to sinus drainage. My DD has been waking up the last couple nights at approximately the same time with a coughing fit that sounds like her throat is full of drainage. She coughs and sputters and last night even spit up the milk she just consumed (still night nursing a couple times a night.) I end up holding her in a semi upright position and rocking /dancing with her until the cough dissipates, but this can be 1+ hours. Has anyone else run into this? Anything that I can do to help the situation?<br><br>
ANY advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!<br><br>
Gretchen

 

[steph]

not to worry you, but if she's not vax'd (not that she should be - our dd isn't), you might pay attention to be sure she isn't comming down with whooping cough.... it very well may not be, but just something to pay attention to. a friends daughter had w.c. over the summer, and if i'm remembering correctly, she said it starts out mild then begins to escallate - but often the coughing is the worst at night. i hope i'm not scaring you here, because i don't want to do that - just something to think about... hope all's well. best wishes!

 

[Penelope]

We just started watching dd very carefully for asthma symptoms after a bad cold that caused her to cough a lot at night. Her doctor told us that given our family history of asthma, the night coughing concerned her. When she measured dd's oxygen levels, they were down enough for it to be a problem.<br><br>
We treated her with a nebulizer at the doctor's and then with albuterol at home until the cough was gone. She's fine now, but we're going to be very very attentive to this.<br><br>
The doctor told us that with proper treatment childhood asthma sometimes goes away completely, which (if it develops into more of a problem for dd) means we will be treating it very aggressively. I have mild and my father has severe asthma, and it's no picnic.<br><br>
Just one thing to think about - if her breathing, aside from the coughing, sounds suspicious to you, you might call your pediatrician. An hour of coughing sounds pretty uncomfortable to me!

 

[Addie's Mom]

Thanks for the replies thus far. I should probable give a little more detail here. DD is recovering from a cold and doesn't cough at all during the day. Her nose gets a little runny, but nothing too scary. She starts coughing around the the same time the last several nights. The coughing isn't a continous coughing, but periodically for about an hour. I can hear that it isn't a dry cough, but that the drainage is lingering in her throat and she is trying to clear it. I hold her with her head in a semi-upright position so that the drainage in her throat can slide down. I am concerned because it affects her sleep (and mine.) I have had some really nasty sinus problems in the past, too and fear that she maybe headed down that road, too. I'm hoping that someone has a few tricks up their sleeve to make a stuufy sinus drain faster/easier and with less disruption .<br><br>
Thanks again everyone.<br><br>
Gretchen

 

[Jennifer Z]

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<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;"><i>Originally posted by steph</i><br><b>- but often the coughing is the worst at night.</b></td>
</tr></table></div>
In general, aren't coughs always worst at night? I know mine are, especially when due to sinus drainage.<br><br>
For non-medical things that might help, sitting in the bathroom with the shower blasting on hot to create steam will help loosen things up. I know blowing my nose helps me a lot with sinus drainage coughing, so using that blue bulb sucker thingy should help dc get the junk out of the sinus.

 

[tausborn]

What you describe, Gretchen, sounds exactly like both of my daughter's asthma. I know it sounds terrible and you would rather it just be a sinus/allergy thing. But what you are talking about is precisely what the coughing kind of asthma causes. It does not manifest the same as the sudden wheezing attacks that are the more classic kind of asthma.<br><br>
When my first daughter starting coughing and I though it was due to drainage, my first clue that something wasn't right was that the medicines that are supposed to clear the drainage up didn't have any effect at all.<br><br>
If it's bad enough to make you worried enough to post to this board, then it's probably bad enough to warrant a doctor's visit... it is not normal to have a coughing fit that lasts even 15 minutes, let alone more than an hour. And, btw, if it were whooping cough, you'd know it by now. That is an extremely horrifying cough that practically chokes the person.

 

[Jennifer Z]

I wanted to ammend what I said earlier. We, as a family, are at the tail end of a nasty cough and cold, so I was going from that perspective. It was pretty logical to dx ds as having the same cough as we are, since both dh and I are coughing from sinus drainage (and both of us have more problems at night when we lay down). It didn't really occur to me that it might be asthma since that isn't what we are dealing with, but it does sound logical when presented by these other ladies. I would also encourage you to take dc to a dr and get a dx.

 

[moonshine]

We are having the same thing going on. DD got a nasty cold last week (and so did I) that is getting better, however the coughing at night has lingered. It has improved, but it still can wake her up. We have a humidifier going in the room when she is sleeping. When she was very bad, I put eucalypus and lavender in with it. She is now sleeping in her own bed next to ours (well, that is the idea), but she did sleep better when in bed with us.<br><br>
I am still coming off my cold and feel the pain of her symtoms. I am giving her tea -- chamomile, nettles, etc and trying to pump her up with vit c. Her coughing fits don't last an hour, so it doesn't seem "that" bad for me. I do try to prop her up when she is having a fit. Best way I do it is on my arm. She loves spooning anyway. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/love.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="love"><br><br>
I understand what the others have said about asthma, but I would wait until you think that the cold has passed and see what symtoms do or don't come back before getting too worried. At lesat that is what I am thinking from my perspective (and my sickie DD).

 

[moonshine]

Just thought of this as I clicked post reply on my last note...I don't know what your normal diet is, but you want to avoid all dairy while she is sick. (actually -- she should avoid the dairy <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/orngtongue.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Stick Out Tongue"> ) It will just help the body produce more mucus. And of course, avoid sugar -- not good for illnesses! Breastfeeding, as we know, should help her pull through better than without.<br><br>
Good luck and hang in there!

 

[MilkbarMom]

since you said she is at the tail end of a cold, and is only coughing at night...could it possibly be that an allergen that she can normally tollerate..is bothering her now, since her immune system is already taxed? Something in the bedding, down quilt, dustmites, etc? Like I said, just an idea to think about.

 

[dentente]

I swear I could have posted this very same topic. It is truly awful sounding and very post-nasally. I removed the mattress cover and started her on Zyrtec and see some improvement. I will buy a mite and dust proof cover for the mattress and all new pillows. The doc says there is no infection present. I believe with all my heart that it's an allergy. I also stopped all dairy and there is far less mucus now.<br><br>
I just hope something I do works. She sounds like she's smoking 3 packs a day but only AT NIGHT. She just finished a cold too.<br><br>
Bizarre!!!<br><br>
Denny

 

[elismom]

We just finished dealing with this, and our outcome won't be popular here, but ds (2.3 yrs old) was put on antibiotic after having the cold/cough for over 2 weeks (they say after 2 weeks with young uns who can't communicate too well, they assume sinus infection), plus he also had an ear infection (yes, I know the lit about abx and ear infections). He was up every 3 hours or so with half hour/hour coughing fits like you described, gunky phlegmy coughs, so much that many a night it made him throw up. We'd get him back to sleep, prop him up on pillows, then a couple hours later it started over (same times every night). Cough medicines weren't helping. Within two days of the antibiotic he was SOOOO much better and slept through the night without a peep! So I think he really did have some sort of infection and really needed the abx. This may not be necessary w/your child, but it might be the case that your dd really does have a secondary infection after a long lingering cold (which is how ds started--cold for a few days, started to get better, then the cough just got worse and worse).<br><br>
Also, it's interesting what a few of you say about the asthma. We have a strong family history of asthma (DH has it very bad), and are always on guard, but the docs didn't think this sounded like asthma at all, even though we are all describing very similar symptoms.

 

[Addie's Mom]

Well, it has been 2 nights of freedom from coughing. Thank you to everyone for the suggestions. We ended up giving her sudafed about 1 1/2 hours before bed on the first night and just winged it the second night. Hopefully we're through with the cough...until next bad cold (insert foreboding music here.) We are now onto bigger and better things.....like teething. Ah, here we go again!<br><br>
Thanks again everyone!<br><br>
Gretchen<br><br>
PS The warm air from the shower did seems to loosen things up and she is still avoiding dairy.