Where are you Sleep?
Have I ever told you guys how much I hate feeling sleep deprived? I have been lacking adequate sleep for the past week. My 2 year old daughter, Piper, has been coughing throughout the night for the past seven days. We took her to the doctor last Friday and were informed that she probably just has allergies, so she prescribed us children’s Zyrtec. Well, since last Friday her coughing at night has progressively gotten worse… which makes me think this isn’t just allergies!
She wheezes and sounds very congested and almost croup like when coughing. She seems to do alright during the day, but once we lay her down for bed the coughing starts right back up. We’ve given her hot baths, showers, are using a humidifier, elevating her head when sleeping and the list goes on. Nothing really seems to help. She’s also been sleeping with us, so as you can imagine every time she coughs we all wake up… that’s when the wonderful sleep deprivation starts. I don’t know about you all, but when I lack sleep– I do NOT function properly! And poor little Piper… she’s only 2 and I’m sure is feeling so exhausted.
Anyway, I am taking her to the doctor again today. Hopefully, she’ll be able to get prescribed something to help her sleep or should I say help us sleep!
I know this is totally off topic, but I just wanted to let you all know why I’ve been quite sporadic with posting and not really “here”. Oh and if you have any suggestions with what’s wrong with my little Pipes, then please feel free to let me know!
I hope little Piper feels better soon! I know the feeling about missing sleep. My 11 month old is really teething right now and I’ve been getting up w/her at night to console her. Hang in there.
my boys have asthma, so when they start coughing at night besides their medicine they take we put vicks on their feet and put socks on and sleep with that on all night seems to help
Similar thing happened when my daughter was about 4…she was fine all day and before bed…but then coughed thru the night and sometimes she would start coughing early in the am (4-5am..which is a sign of asthma)after sleeping thru out the night just fine. she took the allergy medication, did chest x-ray, visited the ear/throat/nose specialist…finally went to pulmonary specialist…she was diagnosed with “coughing” asthma. most doctors only diagnose asthma if there is wheezing but coughing is a definite sign of asthma. She was put on an inhaler and the cough vanished in 24 hours. crazy. she is now 10 years old and she has outgrown her asthma. I might go see an asthma doctor because the regular doctor rarely diagnosis a cough as asthma.
Sounds like she has a bacterial infection in her lungs, probably brought on by moisture there to begin with from allergies. This happens to me EVERY spring! It has also happened with two of my daughters at ages 18 months and 2.
If that is what it is, you can keep trying to fight the symptoms (i.e. trying to loosen the mucus with humidifiers, etc) but you really need to eliminate it with antibiotics. You’ll be in my prayers!
Poor Piper!
We are going through what sounds like the same thing, only about 5 of us in our house have it (including mommy). It is just a strain of cold, and we will all be better soon. The reason that we only ‘hack’ at night is because of mucus drainage. PLEASE rely on your mommy instinct, and if you aren’t worried that she is REALLY sick (colds aren’t really), then just let her body work through it! Don’t fill her with all the chemicals in meds!
Oh, and once she is better, don’t forget to change her toothbrush 🙂 many times we re-infect our children by letting them keep their same old germy toothbrushes 😉
If is was croup, she would be wheezing, and croup almost always only lasts for 2 nights with the 2nd night being the worst.
If it were asthma, generally it would affect her more when active, or slowing down after activity, and not so much at night.
If you think that it may be allergies, try buying her a new hypo.allergenic pillow and vacuuming her mattress with a good vacuum. Then wash her bedding in a eco-friendly, dye/fragrance free detergent rinsing twice (NO softener). I would guess that it is not allergies since it happens in her bed and in yours. Probably only this if you recently changed laundry detergents.
Please, just feed her OJ and chicken noodle soup (really, the fat in it helps your body to mend!!!) and second-guess the meds!!!
YOU know best as her Mother!!!
Blessings,
Mommy to 11 🙂
I have a question. On the top right of my screen after I get into your site, there is a box and it says “enter your email address” and then a button that reads “subsribe”. What is this subscription for?
I have found that Zyrtec helps if you use it often before the symptoms or right as the symptoms start but once you have the congestion you need to add Muscinex to clear out the chest. (that is if it’s just regular allergies).
My 3 year old daughter has night coughing that comes on with allergies. A dose of Benadryl before bed helps with the cough so that she can sleep. We tried all the natural remedies first, but nothing else worked for us. Benadryl is the only thing that has helped. Hope you can wade through all the advice and find something that works!!
Have you ever heard of putting Vicks Vapo Rub on their feet? Its supposed to help with the coughing. I don’t know if its approved for little ones though…..but google it and see.
Coughing at night is the #1 symptom of asthma in children. You might want to look into it. Hope she’s okay! I love your site, thanks for all the work you put into it!
I second looking into asthma. However, go to an asthma/allergist doctor. For a year my son’s regular doctor said he just had a cough. The asthma doctor recognized his asthma right away. Funny thing is I took him in for possible allergies. His asthma is cold induced so albuteral in a neubulizer is the best to get control of the coughing (which is asthma too). Hope she is well soon.
I would have them check for asthma. I have 2 kids that get asthma when sick – one from allergies the other from croup. They do the same thing – just cough and cough. My Dr. said it is really common in kids for the symptoms to present this way. My little boy started coughing last friday night and sure enough went we went to the Dr. it had gone to asthma and he’s back on his inhaler. It’s done wonders though, no more coughing all night long. Good luck!
Your post sounds very familiar to me… My 5 year old has battled asthma since he was 2. All the symptoms you listed match what we go through at my house
SO SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR LITTLE ANGEL. I HAVE 2 SUGGESTIONS. 1.RUB VICKS ON THE BOTTOM OF HER FEET. I KNOW IT SOUNDS CRAZY BUT IT DOES WORK TO STOP THE COUGHING. IF SHE IS CRUPIE? A DOCTOR MANY YEARS AGO SAID “MIX EQUAL PARTS OF WHISKY, LEMON JUICE AND HONEY. FOR EACH HALF TEASPOON YOU GIVE YOUR DAUGHTER YOU TAKE A TABLESPOON,YOU BOTH SHOULD BE OUT AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME. EXCUSE THE MISSPELLING. I HOPE YOU ARE BOTH UP AND RUNNING VERY SOON.MARY
My daughter coughed for 7 months until it dawned on me — the coughing started when she was put on an oral antibiotic called Macrodantin to prevent urinary tract infections. Thankfully she has no permanent lung damage, but the moral of the story is…
keep searching for the cause even if your doctor drops the case. I must have taken my daughter to her pediatrician a dozen times in those 7 months for her coughing, and I finally found the cure my self…
Gee, reading this makes me wonder if “asthma” is the new dump all. So many moms take their kids in and WANT the dr. to give them medicine – drs expect it. Ya all need to check into the drugs that you are feeding your kids, and wonder why so many are on them, and also, you might ? why the drug lobbyist spend the most on capitol hill…
Collin,
Did this get resolved at the doctor? I am a nurse and I am curious what the Dr. had to say. I am not trying to be nosy or anything. Hope she gets to feeling better soon! I have a little baby and I cannot imagine having this illness for so long for her. I love your blog but I also want you guys to feel good so don’t worry about us for now. Take care of yourselves! I also have a very stupid question but how do you get a picture to show up when you comment?
Michelle
Hi, I am so sorry to hear about your little ones illness. Please do not assume that your child has allergies. Colds can and do occur so frequently in children that many jump on the allergy bandwagon. The doctor needs to see if if is a viral infection or not by doing some blood tests. I think your child needs an antibiotic, not allergy medication. The blood tests will target the problem and determine whether she needs them or not. Good luck!
This is to someone a few posts above…(anon) I know that there are alot of children taking medications for Asthma but I would like to know if you have a suggestion for the kids when they are having trouble breathing and coughing so much..So I give my daughter a preventive in a nebulizer everyday and support the drug industry, rather then every other month have her in the hospital getting steroid shots to get her airways to breathe.
I dont agree with medications on a regular basis but when it comes down to facts about the meds it seems to the right decision…
For a two year old to take a preventive everyday, it will take 8 years to equal the one dose that she was given in the hospital to open her airways.
So so you have sucessful suggestions to help these children when they are having troubles and coughing all the time?? Cause the cool air didnt help for us.
samething happen with my dd around that age, only thing that helped was the albuterol nebulizer, she finally quit coughing.
turned out she had asthma, you should call your doctor and tell him her allergy pill isnt working
and probably wont.
I hope she feels better soon!
Tami Mongaraz
Coughing at night – or when she is lying down – is a very common symptom of wheezing – otherwise known as asthma. Wheezing can be caused by a number of things (including allergies) but the wheeze itself needs to be treated regardless. I’m sure they checked her lungs today and you know at this point – But I thought I’d give you encouraging info – Children often outgrow it when caught early. (due to current knowledge and treatments – prevent scarring) My son would wheeze about 4 times a year like clockwork – starting at 3 yrs – but hasn’t had a single problem since he was 6 (he is now 10)
I hope she is doing better and you all get some sleep!
You have been doing a great help to all of us. So first take care of your family and you.