little cough - when is it dr time?

[belfie]

My DS has had a little cough for the last few days. He doesn't have a temp and no other real signs of being sick... except today he's been quite unsettled for him, grizzly, awake, not settling well, not feeding as well as usual and his poos are a bit runnier than usual too. I guess I'm wondering when is the time to take him to the doc? I figure if it was anything bad he'd have more symptoms... but when they're this little I dunno... plus the cough is just getting a bit more frequent each day...

So what would you do? At what point is it "doc" time? Or will the doc just say yeah there's a virus going around, ride it out? Or do they not do that for babies?

We've not had to go to the doc for being sick so far (can ya tell? lol) but he is also (and always has been) a very snuffly snorty little baby anyway... so I wonder if he has a tendency to get snotty/coughy (my DH is an asthma/bronchitis type IYKWIM). I guess I'm just not sure whether to go with "better safe than sorry" or am I just wasting my time given I "feel" he's basically ok still.

ah I'm waffling now lol. I'll stop .

[catherinemoses]

If it is bulk billed (which I think a lot of place do for kids) it doesn't hurt to go. If you have to pay I probably wouldn't bother . Chances are that he has a bit of a virus (DS is on the mend from one). Or he may have been affected by the smoke (if that applies to you, it did for us).
It would be nice if they came with an instruction manual !!!

[Nelle]

For me, if the snot turns green (=infection) then we go, if their chest sounds rattly (you know that sound when you breathe and you have bronchitis?) or if the cough has been chesty for a certain number of days (the younger bub is, the shorter I leave it) without sounding better then we go. I just monitor the situation really closely, and if I feel it's getting worse (especially if it gets worse over a short period of time), then I act.

As an example, both my boys have had chesty coughs the last week (week and a half for the eldest). I kept them warm (not hard on the hot days!), their mucous was clear, kept them away from other kids, and blew their nose lots, was happy with the amount of coughing they were doing (and where that coughed up mucous was going, by checking the nappies...ew), and they didn't get rapidly worse, and then the cough started to clear up for them after a few days. Most importantly, I didn't feel concerned.

If you're concerned at all, don't ignore that, take bub to the doc, who can listen to their chest (take them when the cough is worse, like late arvo or early morning). The worst that can happen is that you'll feel you could have spent the time better when the doc says 'it's a virus, nothing you can do, keep them warm, head elevated, humidifier if trouble breathing, blowing nose, come back if it gets worse'.
By the sound of the nappies, at least some mucous is leaving his body . But go to a doc if things don't seem right to you.