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!
Hello. 🙂 I am so sorry to hear about yoru little one. 🙁 As a fair-skinned redhead, allergies are nothing new to me. The thing about them is that when allergies flare, the mucus that is produced in the sinuses to combat the allergen is what can lead to other things, like bronchitis, and even pneumonia. The trick is to keep the inflammation and mucus production at bay. Once she is on a daily allergy drug of some sort, I am sure she will be feeling a lot better (and you too)! Good luck, and thank you for all that you do on this blog!
just a thought but have them check for asthma. most of the symptoms you have described sounds like it. my son was diagnosed when he was about 2. Hope you get some sleep soon!
Oh, I forgot to mention, make sure your doctor rules out strep. All of those symptoms happened once to my husband’s youngest daughter, when everyone thought she just had the flu! Take care!
Sounds just like my sons alegries. Wash all her bedding in hot water and anything in her or your room that can be washed wash in hot. Hot kills the alergens better. And invest in a good air purifier. One with a washable filter, they cost more upfront, but in the long run are much cheaper. We have made several small changes and have been able to keep our son off the medications. The little we pay in electricity way out ways the cost of the medication. The best tip is to wash bedding in hot water, not even a hot dryer does as much good. Also check the pillow, some are filled with stuff that is no good for you. Invest in better alleren free pillows or at least buy pillow covers and a bed covering as well.
Sounds like the Zyrtec is not working. I would ask for something else, or ask your pharmacist. Also ask if she could take Guaifenesin, appropriate to her age and condition. This is Mucinex by trade name, or by old script name Humabid. It is an expectorant to loosen phelm (mucus) and secretions.
Also, if she is actually spasming from her coughing, take her to the bathroom and turn on a warm shower and sit in there with her. The warm mist does wonders. I mean you’re awake anyway, sorry to say! This worked well when our grandson would go into bronchial spasms in th middle of the night and we live in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t even get in the shower, just sat in the room close to it. Hope these help and you get some good advice from your Dr.
I have 3 boys and the 2 younger ones (ages 3 & 2)have been sick for the past week with the same symptoms Piper has. When I took them to the doctor today she told me that they have a lot of nasal drainage mixed with some allergies. Once again I walked away with no antibiotics, but my doctor did tell me that you can give them a teaspoon of light corn syrup every couple of hous and it helps with the cough so that it’s not so intense (especially at night). I hope this helps and i hope you get some much need sleep soon!
Sorry to hear. I’ve been there. Not sure where you live…but when we moved to a new area, my little girl (2 at the time) was doing the same as yours. I was told asthma and they wanted to put her on steroids. I wouldn’t do it.
after many a doc visits…it is seasonal allergies…she does it every change of season..like her little body has trouble adjusting to the “new” air.
I give her Albuterol (via the doc) through a chamber to help her breath due to all the coughing at night. Lasts about 3 weeks then her lungs have adjusted.
She is 8 now and the last 2 years…it seems to only be spring and fall instead of all 4 seasons.
Good luck. Your in my prayers….it’s so hard and I’m not sure if I fully trust what docs say anymore!!!
I was going to say maybe pneumonia. My son (16 mos.) was coughing (just at night) for a straight week. I took him in and the pediatrician listened to his lungs and heard some faint crackling… pneumonia. He got on antibiodics and was good as new in 2-3 days. I should say that he was “clinically” diagnosed (just by listening to his lungs), instead of having to strap him down to get a chest x-ray… a lot less stressful for the child!
Good Luck!
My son had the same problem for the 1st year of his life. He was finally diagnosed with asthma and allergies. He started doing breathing treatments and was put on Zyrtec (then later Singulair). Helped a bunch….and we also discovered his right bronchial tube wasn’t fully developed. Best of luck with your precious baby!
oh, no i’m so sorry, my 2 year old twins have had a dramatic month of their own with trips to the ER and urgentcare. We deal with allergies quite a bit, the problem with most allergy medicines is that they are only effective in a persentage of the population and because of developmental conserns doctors are not happy about giving most of them to kids. best of luck with figuring all of it out.
Have you looked into a Neti Pot? It’s a device that you use to pour saline solution through yours or your chid’s nose to rinse out allergens. I know it sounds crazy and I was really skeptical when my doctor suggested it, but it has absolutely worked miracles for my family; way more effective than medication and less expensive (you can make the solution yourself really easily too).
So Sorry for all of you’s! It reminds me of asthma. Ask first but honey is good for a nagging cough.
My dd has had croup several times and our doctor told us to use Robitusin CF to keep the cough from getting worse. She takes Zyrtec at night on a regular basis.
I so feel for you. I have spent many nights holding her in the recliner so she could sleep sitting up instead of lying down.
Take care and keep us posted.
Tasha
I know how you must feel. I have gone through this for a year and a half with my little girl who will be 5 soon. In and out of the doctors. And MANY sleepless nights. It comes and goes, but when it comes it lasts for weeks. We finally have been told it is asthma. It only gets inflammed when she gets a cold or cough. We have done breathing treatments for the past year and just recently switched to an inhaler. We still have those nights, but not as bad. We treat it before it gets worse. I would ask your doctor about it. Good luck!
Hi,
My two children just went through the same things too. It went on for a few days before i brought him in and i was told allergies and was told to give him Honey at night for the cough. Although i knew it was more than that.
Then about 5 days later and not getting any better(saw a different doctor), and he was diagnosed with A-Typical Pneumonia. He was given an antibiotic and it still took a good 5 to 7 days to feel completely better.
And in the mean time my 7 year old started with the same symptoms. they put her on the same meds and she was better in a few days.
I hope you get some relief cause it can be miserable when they dont sleep,and you don’t sleep. To make matters worse I am 13 weeks pregnant and feeling extremely tired and fatigued, so all that added up is a recipe for grouchiness, and grumpiness on everyones part.
Hope she’s better soon
Hiptosave,
Sent you an email…I pretty much said what many of these mom’s said…it really does sound a lot like allergic asthma.
Oh, Collin, that is miserable. I can relate…in fact, we may be headed there again. A couple of months ago, my 2 kids and I were sick-same symptoms. We kept getting same diagnosis, allergies. Zyrtec did nothing. After a month I finally took them back, my daughter had to have a chest x-ray and she was border line pneumonia. They were both given antibiotics and got better. I finally called my doctor back when I started wheezing and coughing up everything under the sun. Diagnosis this time–bronchitis. Got a z-pac and 2 days later was fine! Yesterday I started getting the same symptoms, went to doctor today and still saying allergies, except they attack my lungs for some reason. I am on Prednisone and Singulair and I hope this helps! My 2yo is having her bday party Saturday and I have family coming in town! My doctor said that allergies, if not taken care of, can turn into bronchitis or pneumonia, so that may be the route she is on. Make sure you are comfortable with the doctor’s decision and be strong if he won’t do anything else! Good luck and I will be thinking about you!
i LOVE this website and am sorry to hear about your litle girl!!! my son (3and a 1/2) and my daughter (just turned 1) have both had this. so bad the point i gave them OTC cough medicince – even though you are not supposed to, just to get them (and me)some sleep. Anyway, took them to the doctor, lungs were fine, treated with and antibiotice for a sinus infection! seems the coughign is worse at night due to the drainage when they lay down!! GOOD LUCK!!!
sounds kinda like the croup
my kids went through something similar a couple weeks ago where they were almost fine during the day, but at night they would cough and run a low fever. I dressed them warmly but it took about a week and a half for them to shake the cough. They are fine now. It was probably viral. Just give it time.
Two of my little ones ended up with pneumonia this spring after coming down with the flu, but they were also running fevers that would spike really high. So if there isn’t any fever and they can’t hear the crackling pneumonia sounds at the dr.s then maybe it is allergies that just need to be gotten under control. But it sounds a lot like pneumonia to me. There are different kids like atypical and normal, she would need a chest xray to be sure which is uncomfortable but pretty quick proceedure at your local urgent care. Hope that helps!
Rub Vicks vapor rub on the bottom of her feet. My grandmother taught me this trick and it really worked on my daughter. She had the same problem, coughing every night, all night long. I don’t like to give them medicine unless absolutely necessary because they are so little. Hopefully it will give you some relief! I know how rough it is to run with no sleep!
I am sorry to hear about your daughter. My daughter has what is called cold induced asthma. She only gets the cough, wheezing, stuffy nose and sneezing when she gets the onset of a cold. When she starts to get a cold we have to use an inhaler(Albuterol) and then if the cough continues with wheezing and such she has to have nebulizer treatments. This acts like an inhaler but they are able to get more doses of it and you can add more than one medication. We use Albuterol and Pulmocourt. These have worked for us but i have to tell you her cough may last for up to two weeks. This is sort of a trial and error issue because you need to find what works for you. She does not have to take anything unless she starts to get a cold or the allergens in the air are strong. Again, i will be praying for your family and i hope you figure out what is going on. Hopefully you can get some sleep. It is hard to hear your little one coughing and wheezing at night but once you find out what it is you can rest much easier.
Oh, I am sorry you are not sleeping! I had a dairy allergy when I was growing up, that caused me to be congested all the time, but it was worse at night, because of the drainage. It might be worth watching her dairy intake and seeing how she reacts. I hope you find out soon what is going on.
I don’t have suggestions but I wanted to chime in and say I hope Piper gets better very soon. It is so hard when they can’t really tell you what they are feeling and doctor’s can’t “fix” them. I hope your doctor’s visit went well today and they give the correct medicine to make her feel better.
That was what my son was doing…and it would only be at night. We finally had him checked for asthma and that is exactly what it was! He was the same age. I hope you get some luck! Nothing will help the cough unless you get the proper drugs for it. Good luck!
Collin –
Your poor baby! I have no advise for you, just wanted to let you know I feel for you!
Lana
So sorry to hear about your little girl! It’s miserable when little ones can’t sleep. I know this sounds too simple to be believed, but my daughter (age 4) had a cough a few months back that wouldn’t go away and our pediatrician suggested a spoonful of honey. Supposedly there are studies that say that honey works as well as most cough medicines. And — if can get local honey, that’s best. Our neighbor has allergies and the doctor suggested taking a spoonful of the local honey every day to work up an immunity to the local allegens — and it has helped greatly. Hope she gets better soon!
My little boys get the night time coughing alot. Our doctor recommended us give them children’s ibuprofren, because it helps the throat muscles or something to relax. Anyway, it is worth a try. It works for us and our boys sleep much better at night.
sounds like my allergies and asthma – the asthma manifests itself as a cough and it only gets worse. I have to do breathing treatments to get it under control once it flares. A 15 min breathing treatment (Albuteral) and I sleep like a baby. Otherwise, miserable and no one sleeps for all my coughing.
N.
I had the same problem with my son. He has had allergies since he was 2, he’s now 18. I had to figure it out on my own becuase my doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him. He was allergic to corn. You daughter can be allergic to anything, you have to do a process of elimination. Until then try giving her some mollasses. And put a humidifier in her room. If you have a nebulizer give it to her. If you don’t ask your doctor to write a prescription for one. It will be like night and day…trust me!
Our daughter at 4 had a cough like this and we thought it was allergies. Took her to the allergist, had her on medicine . . nothing seemed to work. They did the skin test for allergies (quite a screaming fit from my daughter) and all the tests came back negative for allergies. She still had the cough. It wasn’t until I took her to the chiropractor for an unrelated condition (she had never seen the chiropractor before) and I happened to mentioned the cough and he said he thought he could something about that. He performed a few manipulations and I kid you not, the cough was gone. He mentioned something about nerves along the spine being able to irritate the lungs . . I feel a little guilty now for having her on allergy medicine for about six months and making her go through the allergy skin test . . so my recommendation is give a chiropractor a try.
humidifier and check for croup and maybe some steroid so the inflamation goes down on her throat plus zyrtec will be great!
I had a similar problem myself, and it turned out to be a chest infection. The doc put me on antibiotics and I was better in about 2 days. This was after MONTHS of coughing, and nothing working. Hope this helps!
One more Mom suspicious of asthma here. My oldest followed a similiar pattern. I’m an RN and when he was 2 I called the MD and said, sure looks like “Asthma” to me. Sure enough it was. Coughing, got worse at night. It was called reversible airway disease at the time. Symptoms improved with bronchial dialators. (Albuterol) Good luck and thank you! You are a darling and so is your daughter!
you should look into pertussis. your doc will tell you it isn’t possible since she’s probably been vaccinated for it, but have her tested. sounds just like it to me. do a little research momma and i hope she’s feeling better soon!!!!
THE SAME thing is happening to my 1 year old daughter, they said it was allergies and it got worse and we kept going back to the doctor 1 time a week for 2 MONTHS! He said allergies, then asthma, then FINALLY perscribed her an antibiotic and she just finished that up yesterday, and she looks like she is feeling 100% again (FINALLY!) He says she still has allergies and asthma,and urges me to contune with (claritin for allergies, and breathing treatments for asthma) but i don’t think she does, so we are working on that…but hopefully your little girl gets better!! It DOES affect the sleeping, that’s for sure! Good luck!-Brianne
That is exactly what my 5 year old had & same thing the doctor told us. This went on for almost 1 month, with NOTHING working. He thought it turned into a sinus infection & put him on antibiotics & nasal steroid spray. Within 24 hours, he was better. Relief at last! Hope that helps!
My son has basiucally what your daughter has. He was diagnosed with allergies, and cough reactive airway. It’s kind of like mild asthma, though we have never had any true respiratory distress. We have Zyrtec for the allergies part, Flovent for when the cough and croupy-ness come along, and a rescue inhaler “just in case” (or, when the croup gets so so bad…) It’s a pain but I keep reminding myself that these are relatively minor compated to what some parents and kids have to endure… hang in there!
What a little cutie…I hope she’s better soon, and you all can get some much needed rest. I don’t know if Piper is too young or not, but I go along with the neti pot. I got one at Walgreens. My husband has been doing the neti pot pretty much every day for maybe a year and he is so much better. He used to be sick a lot, but not anymore…it is like a little miracle worker.
It sounds alot like my Ashley! She has had asthma diagnosed since she was about 18mo.She is on zyrtec, singulair and flovent daily…it seems to help! I hope Piper is feeling better soon!
So sorry to hear about your little one not feeling good 🙁
My daughter had same symptoms you described, and has been diagnosed w/Asthma. Her asthma usually starts w/a coughing episode, and then it turns into wheezing, and difficulty breathing. This used to go hand in hand when she’d get a cold (so I just thought it was the sickness), but now it happens occaisionaly w/o a cold present. It took us three hospital visits for the Dr.s to finally figure this out. She’s been prescribed a steroid, that she breathes in through a nebulizer. I only have to give it to her when I see an episode coming on. This helps her tremendously. It’s so scary to watch them have trouble breathing. You just feel so helpless.
By the way, when these do occur, her episodes almost always happen at night.
Obviously, I can’t say this is what is happening w/your Piper, but it sounded so familar that I thought this could be the same thing.
Hope she gets better soon 🙂
One more thing I forgot to mention –
I tried the warm showers at first too, and they never worked for my daughter.
Once emergency room doc told me to take her outside into the cool air when she’s wheezing/having trouble breathing. For some reason it sort of shocks the airways into opening. He also said try standing in front of an open freezer for just a little bit, and this will work too.
I can say for sure this did work very well, and is an alternative to using any meds. In severe cases though, this will not work for the long term.
I hope you had some luck at the doctor today to figure out what is wrong with your girl…
I also have a daughter that had the same symptoms and it was asthma and allergies too…It took us a year to figure out she was not just getting colds and what they would call croup every time she got a cold.
I Pray that you will get some sleep soon and the doctors can help.
Doesnt it seem weird how many of us have children with asthma??
My daughter had the exact same thing recently. My doctor did tell me that the Zyrtec can take a while (like 30 days) to work. It seems like it wasn’t allergies after all. Her cough just kind of lingered on for about a month, and now she’s fine. We used the Vicks Vaposteam in the steamer, and that helped alot at night. Give it a try!
Have you tried putting Vicks baby rub on her feet? I do this with all my kids whenever they cough at night and it quiets them right down – plus it feels good. Rub her feet with vicks and then put socks on her. It’s worth a try!
Hi. My son has been dealing with a terrible cough for the last several weeks. He mostly coughed at night when he would lay down in his bed. His cough was so bad that he would throw up from coughing so hard. I took him to the doctor’s and she said maybe he has allergies. Then she listened to his lungs and said he had bronchitis. She prescribed an antibiotic, Zithromax and some prescription cough medicine. It has been a couple days since then and he finally seems to be feeling better. I hope your daughter starts feeling better soon.
Hello, my little girl goes through the same things several times a year. We have found that it is directly related to asthma, she is on a nebulizer with Xopenex and Pulmicort to alleviate the symptoms when they flare up. Thank goodness we do not have to do this all the time only during flare ups but it really helps. She is also on the Zyrtec but it took awhile before the combination of the three really kicked in and started working. Good luck to you.
My daughter is going thru also the same thing. She was just diagnosed with URI (upper respritory infection) The snot is stuck up in her U-station tubes and at night when she slows down things start to move around an the coughing starts. Maybe the doctor can rule that out for you should you have to go in again.