6 month old with nasty cough

karianded1010

Let me start by saying we live in WI and just had a pretty brutal winter but now that the weather is getting nicer the cough is still the same.

My baby girl is 6 months old, drinks breast milk, and within last couple weeks introduced oatmeal, green beans, and sweet potatoes.

This all started probably a couple months ago now.  My (at the time) 4 month old developed a cold and had the congestion, runny nose, low fever, and cough.  This only lasted a few days and all symptons cleared up except for the cough.  She isn't the only one, everyday walking into her room at daycare you hear many other babies hacking away so didn't think much of it.  Then about a month ago she got sick again, this time appeared to be symptoms of stomach flu (diarrhea, lots of spit up, threw up a couple times) we took her to the Dr. and she ended up having an ear infection.  Gave her the antibiotics for the 10 days.  Again this whole time she still has a cough.  She wasn't coughing constantly but when she did it sounded really bad, sometimes it sounded productive and other times dry and harsh.  And it happens frequently throughout the night, which wakes her up and then cries until we find the pacifier to help get her back to sleep.  Then earlier this month I noticed when she was sleeping she was breathing really shallow and rapid.  I was thinking maybe she had pneumonia so I took her into the walk in clinic the next day and said everything sounded normal but sent me home with a nebulizer for my peace of mind.  Gave her the first treatment and she slept okay and the shortness of breath went away but still woke up several times coughing.  She also has a humidifier running every night.  We have also tried vicks on her feet, chest, baths, sat in bathroom with steam, sleeps with crib on angle.  Her cough is just getting worse and we aren't sleeping well at all (daycare or at home).  Last night she starting to have a coughing fit for like 5 minutes until I picked her up and starting trying to nurse her.  During the day she doesn't cry from the cough, so I don't think it hurts her, she just cries when she gets woken up from the cough.  Have done several nebulizer treatments since we brought it home a couple weeks ago and the shortness of breath went away that night but hasn't helped with the cough.  We have her 6 month check up next week.  Anyone have any experience with this?  Did anything help outside of what I tried already. 

aelangille

I have a 5 and a half month old and 4 weeks ago he came down with a cold similar to what you describe: runny nose, cough - sometimes productive, but no fever. Our first trip to the Dr was day 2 of the cold. Dr. said to keep an eye on it but it did not look to be serious at the time. 5 days later when the cold should have been winding down he was still coughing, still very congested in the nose and chest and having trouble breathing. We were told to watch his sides when he was breathing and also to lay him back so his head was tilted back to watch the trachea area for pulling in (in both locations - indication of laboured breathing) listen for wheezing, rapid breathing, lethargy and grey or bluish lips. He exhibited all but the lethargy and lip colour. We were able to get in to see our dr. and he was not comfortable sending us home and told us to go to the ER to be safe. They diagnosed him with bronchiolitis (different than bronchitis); a common virus in babies, but as his blood oxygen was 98% still and no lethargy or discoloured lips we were sent home with instructions to closely monitor. We were also told that typically babies with this make multiple trips to the ER over the duration of their virus. As we live in Canada we were strongly encouraged to come back as often as we needed. He was also eating less than normal as his little belly was full from the post nasal drip and mucus he was swallowing - we were told to feed him small amounts more frequently as one of the worst issues is dehydration. Things that helped: humidifier at nap time and all night, warm baths, and the most helpful was suctioning out his nose before eating and before laying him down to sleep. It relieved the congestion and any post nasal drip (can often trigger the coughing especially when they are laying down), and elevating the head of his crib so he was slightly inclined. I am fairly sure that Vicks is not recommended for children that young (I think due to the menthol) but there are alternatives. We had some success with the rub from the Honest Company (has eucalyptus instead of the menthol). I would also recommend looking at the Mayo Clinic website -they are very reputable, and recording anything you think is important and discuss with your Dr. Of course my intention is not to give you medical advice, but to let you know what we were told to look for and then discuss with your Dr.

Chichigo

Does she cough more lying down than when upright? You cab ask the pedi about a safe way to prop her mattress to help her get more restful sleep.