Dry Nighttime Coughing in 18 Mos Old

consider allergies. they call it iritants at this age. but go in and super clean the bed room. clean rugs or remove for a bit. Wash everything and clean blinds. Try to get rid of a lot of 'soft things in the room for a bit. Close the door and windows at night and use AC if necessary (might have to clean out vents.) If still not working,go to the doctor..oh, and saline nose spray

Hi Wade and S.,

My daughter had the same issues when she 2 years. The doctor said take claritan but it didn't work so we switched to Zyrtec and it worked wonders!
Good luck, I hope this helps. L.

We took our daughter to National Jewish last year at the age of 14 months because she was coughing almost every night to the point of vomiting. She was so little already (~1st percentile), that I didn't want her losing her dinner every other night not to mention all the other messiness.

We saw Dr. Marzena Krawiec (http://www.nationaljewish.org/about/phys-fac/detail.aspx?...) - she is awesome! She said that my daughter didn't have asthma, her problem was enlarged adenoids. The adenoids were causing lung irration due to nasal drainage. After having my dd's (and ds's) adenoids removed they were completely different, and happier, babies. I am not saying that your dd has adenoid issues, but I am saying the Dr. Krawiec is fantastic! No wonder National Jewish is the #1 respiratory hospital in the nation 10 years running. We are so lucky to have this resource in our back yard.

You can check out National Jewish at www.nationaljewish.org, then click on "Become a Patient" to get started.

Good luck!

--J.
Mommy to an almost 5 year old boy and to 2 year old triplets

You could try taking her to a pedatric ear nose and throat doctor.

Has she started any new foods lately that maybe making her throat itchy? I coughed like that when I was in kindegarten and it was because of bananas, something I had never had a problem with before, and I'm fine with them now.
K.

If it doesn't get better with in a day or two of giving cough meds, I woudl go back to the doc. My son has had Crupe (spelling?) 3 times. It requires a steroid to help clear it up, but works great. Good luck. I know how scary it is when our little ones get sick.

My now 5 year old son had the same nightime cough when he was about that age. His doctor diagnosed him with allergies and started him on Zyrtec, which worked perfectly for him. about a year ago the insurance company desided they wouldn't cover zyrtec anymore and I tried claritin for him but it didn't work at all. Thankfully zyrtec is now over the counter. I would give that a try after her cold has cleared up. Zyrtec does come in a liquid and is approved for children that young you just may need to check with her doc for the proper dose.

It does sound like allergies. Claritan didn't work for our son, and he didn't like the feeling of Zyrtec. Last year they switched him to Allegra and it helped. The cough didn't go away completely until he started Nasonex as well. Our baby is on both, so they are safe. The allergist said sneezing is okay with allergies, but a cough is not. You want to get the cough stopped. I didn't ask why. Sorry. Hope you get more sleep soon. An interesting side note, a week after the cough went away, our son woke up really excited that he'd been able to sleep without his cough waking him up. He'd never complained about it before.

Dear Wade and S.,
You should have your daughter checked by an Allergist who also specializes in treating asthma. I went through the same thing with my son. He just coughed at night for years and didn't have the usual asthma wheezing. His pediatritian didn't see anything serious. But mom's know when something isn't right. My son was tested for allergies and asthma and was diagnosed with moderate to severe asthma.(he was only breathing at 35% of normal) He's allergic to dust, mold and most pollen . We were able to control both the asthma and allergies with meds. an he's now doing great!
Good luck, J. B
p.s. Claritan didn't work for him either.

Hi~ I don't know if your daughter has asthma or not but both my 4 1/2 yr old daughter and 2 1/2 yr old son have asthma (for over a year)and their doctor at National Jewish said that with asthma they cough to help them breath since they aren't getting enough air on their own. They said that the child should never get cough syrup to surpress the asthma cough because it is their body's reaction to low pulseox(sp?) (oxygen saturation in the blood). I learned the hard way on that one. However, I am not saying your daughter has asthma but maybe you can make an appt with an allergist. It made a huge difference in both my kids lives knowing what they are allergic to and how to treat their asthma. Good luck to you guys! :-)

Get a humidifier - Amazon.com has those cute little Penguins and other animals for the cheapest I've found and free shipping! Drink plenty of water in the day.
Ask the folks at Whole foods to recomend something for the cough. We have used the kids Cherry Bark elixir.
Go to Dr.Karen Bates (downtown Colorado Springs) for allergy elimination - believe me, she will figure out what is going on!

Is her cough recent or has it been consistant for a period of time? My father is a Naturopathic Pediatrician and says that if illness has been ruled out, that you should try and find the root cause of the allergy. It could be bedding, stuffed animals etc. Air ducts are another big cause. He said to check your air filters and don't let up w/ the humidifier. Rather than the OTF cough med, he said to go to a Natural market such as Whole Foods, Wild Oats etc and look or ask for a natural expectorant that is safe for infants/toddlers. It will help w/ sinuses draining down her throat and ease the cough till you find out what is causing it. His next step would be to have an allergy panel done on her to see what her triggers are. Good luck.

My daughter ended up with a dry cough in the evenings last spring. Since I have asthma, I made sure to ask the doctor about it because this is a symptom I experience with my own attacks. When we took her to the doctor he could hear wheezing in her lungs and gave her an albuterol inhaler to treat her for asthma symptoms. She only seems to get the cough in the spring and late summer (so the doctor says it is most likely allergy related, but the allergy meds didn't work for her), so that is the only time she gets the inhaler, and even then only if she needs it because it is a pain to administer at her age (2 1/2). But it did make the cough go away. So it would be something to ask the doctor about the next time you take her in since the allergy medicine doesn't seem to be working. Good luck!

I would take her in if it doesn't clear up, my daughter always starts with a cough and we have ended up in a stay at the hospital with pneumonia, almost another stay there she was borderline pneumonia about 2 weeks ago. She also ended up with croop. If its been a little cool at night you could wrap her up in a blanket and let her inhale some of the cool air, that can help open her passage ways. I hope this helps and gl.

My 3 year old daughter was coughing all the time at night too. Drugs didn't help and although it could have been Asthma it wasn't severe enough to be diganosed as that. They said it could actually be some reflex and to try a heart burn medicene which I never thought off because when you lay down it gets worse and causes you to cough more. But, when we finally came to that conculusion it stoped so I think it was probally seasonal allergies. But, things that did help was tilting the bed and a humidifier I do a hot humidifier but a lot of people recommend cold. And if that doesn't work maybe try Mylanta or something like that which all are a lot safer then a cough medicene. She still coughs here and there but not all the time like before.

Last my daughter was ill, it slowly tapered off with a nighttime cough. My pediatrician does NOT recommend otc cold/cough meds. Instead a teaspoon of HONEY to coat the throat the last thing before sleep was the Doc's solution. Worked like a charm.

A persistant nighttime cough is one of the main symptoms in childhood asthma.

What color are the boogers? She might have a sinus infection. It might be draining down her throat at night --- instead of out of her nose during the day --- so she coughs. Use saline solution nose spray. Use Vicks baby rub on her chest. Continue with the humidifier. Tilt the mattress so she sleeps at an angle. Before bed time take her in the bathroom, shut the door, and run a steam shower. When she coughs, what do her ribs do? Can you see her ribs? Does it looks like she is laboring to breathe? She might have a respiratory infection. Why does her doctor think it's allergies? How long has she had the cough? If it's been more than 10 days --- take her back to the doctor. Or even see a different doctor.

My son has the same problem and we use an herbal remedy called Cherry Bark Blend that we bought at Vitamin Cottage, but I'm sure you could find it at Whole Foods also. Our pediatrician recommended it and it does work well. We also used Delsym before the age of 2 and our son is now almost 3 and he is fine. I think it's OK to use those remedies in the proper way so that you all get a good nights sleep.

My now 6 year old son had the same problem and the doctor told me the same thing.I took him in to the doctor's office for an on going cold and another doctor was on call and asked about his history and I told hi about the night time cough and he immedately put hin on two prescription inhalers and diagnosed him with asthma. He told me to follow up with the regular doctor after using the inhalers.They worked well and then his regular doctor saw him and read what the other dr. diagnosed and finally concurred with his diagnoses.So get a second opion it sounds like asthma.Good luck.

Night time only coughing says asthma to me. National Jewish has a great pediatric doctors. They completely changed my life. I've suffered my entire life of allergies and asthma, wish my parents would have done it when I was a child.

If your child isn't wheezing, I wouldn't think it would be allergies or asthma. My 17-month-old had a terrible cough for about three weeks where she would cough so hard, she'd almost throw up. We used delsym as well (which I loved by the way). Rather than a humidifier, which we tried a lot and never really seemed to make a difference, you might want to try buying those vicks plug ins. It's almost like a glade plug in, but it holds a single strip caked with vicks. After using one for two nights I couldn't believe the difference. I just bought mine at Smiths. I'm sure Walmart and Target have them as well. I hope your little one gets feeling better soon.