Lea, if it warms the room up at night it's not recomended. Sleeping with a heater on, A/C, radiators and so on all make the air hotter. From a croup POV it's better to keep your little one warm with blankets in a cold room.
Well, the doctor isn't sure if it's croup or not! He certainly has some signs, but he's not coughing which the makes the doctor thinks it's more likely a virus. He said either way do the same thing - keep him quiet today and tomorrow, give him steam and take him back Wednesday if he's not better.
Amazingly, keeping him quiet might not be hard - he sat on my lap the whole time we were waiting for the doctor. That's probably the longest he has ever, ever, stayed still!! Now I know he's sick!
I find the best ones ones at knowing whether it is croup or not are the old ED nurses, they seem to know more about it than the Dr's. I had one argued that it was on the wrong breath, but thankfully still gave a dose of redipred which helped a lot.
Kids with croup can seem fine during the day, but have the croup "bark" cough for a couple of nights. Often it is worse the second night (although that has never been our experience).
Yep, cold air is the best. But remember, you don't want a cold child, just a cold airway! So a few minutes at a time is fine. I have heard that it's the change in atmosphere that helps, so going from the cold, to the steamy bathroom, and back into the cold is the best way to help. If after a couple of goes at the night air you are still concerned then it might be time to head to the hossy. And if your child is very lethargic or unresponsive, but still suffering with stridor (which is the wheezy sort of sound they make when breathing in), then it's definitely time to head to hossy.
Croup does come along with a virus, so that's the part that contagious, not the croup so to speak. It sounds as though he may have had mild croup Mel, hopefully it's all over now!
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