Toddler coughing at night - suggestions?

[Cricket]

DD2 is coming down with a cold (again!) and has started coughing in her sleep. She is not congested in her chest, and is not coughing anything up, and she is able to breathe without diffculty, but the coughing is pretty constant. She has a bout of it every 5 minutes or so, and sometimes to the point where I think she will throw up. I have given her ibuprofen in case it is giving her a sore throat or sore head, or whatever.
DD1 did this on occasion when she was younger too, and it was exhausting for both of us! I would sleep in her bed with her to comfort her when the coughing woke her up, and to get a bowl if it looked like she really was going to throw up, etc, and seriously we were up every 5-10 minutes! I took her to the hospital for it once, and they said there was nothing they could do. Cough medicines are useless - we tried a number of different types with no effect, and the doctor told me, too, that they are pretty much useless.
So now I am at a loss. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to settle this cough down? We really could use our sleep here - we've had a long winter of coughs, colds, teething, ear infections, etc. Help!

Oh, and she is two years old, by the way.

[morgan78]

Hi Cricket
you must be feeling pretty frustrated. I give my 2yr old a spoon or two of honey when he has a cough as it helps soothe the throat. i also will give warm lemon/orange drink before bed.
Does ypur DD have some water next to her bed - i know i sometimes get a scratchy cough & water is the thing that helps calm it - its sorta like having a bit of dust stuck there.
HTH and hope your DD gets over her cough soon

[Cricket]

Thanks Morgan! I tried giving her something to drink, but when she's not feeling well, she is absolutely not co-operative! I think I will try the honey. I actually did that a few nights ago for her big sister when she was coughing, but for some reason, I didn't think of that tonight!
I also tried a warm bath, hoping that the warm, moist air from it would help her chest/throat, but she only stayed in for maybe 5 minutes, and then wanted to go back to bed. Can't blame her - it's just about 10pm our time.

[pollyanna]

Hi Love,
I hope i can be of some help here. Is it possible that it is an asthma type cough. it is quite coomon for kids to get a bit of a wheezy tickly cough going on after a bout of illness. Sometimes it is also due to the room conditions or dust mite. It is very important that your dd isnt spending too much-if any time on the floor at the moment. ( i know she is little-so this proves difficult). But rather than laying on the floor to watch telly for example get her comfy in a chair. Avoiding drafts is also very important. And regular vaccuuming(sp)especially of the room she is coughing in. I would cover all the bases and put her pillow and doona in the sunlight for a few hours. Hope any of these ideas help. I'm off to take my own advice and mop,vaccuum and stick the linen on the line.

[pollyanna]

I must add;honey is a great idea,if you brush their teeth afterwards and then that sort of defeats the purpose. I just worry about decay. but they are only baby teeth and maybe given that the honey thing isnt a long term situation then the damage is minimal.
Also and this is so important. IBUPROFEN;must be given with food in the stomach otherwise it can cause stomach ulcers and other digestive complaints. Even a glass of milk. But something must line the stomach first.

[Cricket]

Thanks Pollyanna! Dust is a possibility, but the thing is, she has just moved into a new bed a few weeks ago - new bed, new mattress, new pillow, etc. She was in the crib before. And her room (and the whole house) has hardwood flooring. But heavens only knows - there's dust under her bed! Maybe I'd better give it all a good cleaning tomorrow!

[Cricket]

About the ibuprofen - she had eaten dinner about 45 minutes before I gave it to her. Think that's close enough, or would her stomach likely have emptied already?

[aussienic]

When my son (older) developed a cough. We tried everything nothing worked.

I bought a cough mixture from woolies.. it is semi natural I think ?? Can't remember now.. anyways it was ease a cough? and no joke one dose cleared it up

It for over 2 year olds though