[CrunchyDoula]

My son has had croup twice now and I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to help prevent him from getting sick again. The doctor said it is more likely for him to get respiratory infections since he has already had two. Any advice would be welcome!

 

[farmerjess]

Are you feeding him any dairy? That might contribute because it is very mucous forming.

 

[AquariusHome]

Dito the dairy suggestion, although since croup is more of an inflammatory response than a congestion it could also be another food.

My son, who is now 6, had croup several times a year between the ages of 1 and 3. Nearly every time he had a cold it turned into croup severe enough that he was stridor breathing in his sleep and ended up in the ER several times.

In hind site and with more information than I had then, I can now see that he was probably dairy or some other common food intolerant. He had terrible reflux as an infant and my theory is that the reflux continued silently longer than I realized and resulted in chronic inflammation in his esophogus. When he developed a cold the inflammation worsened and resulted in croup.

Do you have any other symptoms that might suggest a food intolerance?

 

[mysticmomma]

"croup" is actually a series of viruses that cause that characteristic barky cough. I think what your doctor said is a bunch of whooey.

 

[AquariusHome]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mysticmomma "croup" is actually a series of viruses that cause that characteristic barky cough. I think what your doctor said is a bunch of whooey.

The symptoms of croup (barky cough, stridor breathing) are generally caused by a particular strain of viruses but in some children (like my son and it sounds like the OP's son) it can have other causes too. Children with recurrent spasmodic croup do have an increased risk of developing it again.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/lung/croup.html

 

[tanyalynn]

My son's had croup twice (and my daughter never, despite her being older, and in daycare longer), he seems more prone for some reason, maybe a subtle structural difference? I'm grateful that for us, it's stayed mild and easy to treat at home. For him, treating colds promptly seemed to be the biggie, for us lots of vitamin C, to bowel tolerance for him, makes the course of colds/coughs/similar illnesses faster and milder. Now that he's not an infant, we make Aviva Romm's garlic lemonade (garlic, lemon juice, honey water), it is really tasty and drinking it warm feels really nice.

 

[A&A]

Using a vaporizer/humidifier in my son's room when he has a cold/virus helps it from turning into croup. (And trying to get him to sleep elevated with multiple pillows.) "Croup" is a symptom, not a diagnosis. (Even though docs try to act like it is a diagnosis.) And yep, we've ended up in the ER with it, too!