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Last night DS2 was awake for a while with a temp and an awful sound with some of his breaths. I took him into the bathroom to breathe some steam, then he fell asleep. He is still asleep so I don't know how he is this morning but he doesn't seem to have a temp and his breathing is perfectly quiet. Could this be croup? With croup can the noisy breathing only last for a couple of hours?
I need to decide if he can go to day care or not!
Yes yes yes! It can only last a few hours at most and in the morning they may appear fine. Often its the early early hours of the morning. Its caused after having a virus and something in the lungs spasms causing the horrid sounds. You could take him to the GP for some redipred today which is a prednisolone (cortisone) which helps them at the time of the breathing issues.
Often people rush to emergency and by the time they get there, the breathing has settled.
Jovie had it last week & it took 4 hours for her breathing to settle, but we didn't rush to emergency just because we were positive that if we did, it would settle. We now have the redipred in our fridge if it happens again.
Thank you Christy. I guess that means no day care!
You know why it settles when you rush to the hospital? The cold air ;) When Zander got his first case & we did just that, the Dr said it's the cold air that usually helps when you take them out in the middle of the night to the hospital.
LOL Sarah that makes sense. I think the first thing I always think of is steam, but it never seems to help too much, but the cold air would help reduce the inflammation...
I found something on a website this morning which said to rug them up and take them out in the cold air.
Well, I'd say it's definitely croup - he woke up really grumpy, sounds a bit husky and says his mouth hurts (which could mean throat). We have a doctor's appointment for later on this morning.
Thank you for your help.
Poor thing :hug:
DS has had it before too - its the barking like a seal noise when coughing that usually gives it away as being croup. Its nasty :(
(please don't judge me as a bad mum!)
I thought they could still go to day care! The couple of times both my DS's have had croup the Doc has told me they could still go! Were they wrong in saying this?
Croup in itself is not contagious, but the virus that has caused it usually is, from what I understand. Usually croup comes on with a cold which is contagious as we all know, but the croup cough can't be "caught" as such.
I thought CC was OK the day after if the cold or whatever it is that caused it isn't severe.
The peeps at Yasin's hospital don't advise steam - because it's warm it isn't as effective as opening a window and letting some cold air in. Their fact sheet advises against central heating if your child is croup prone.
You should see your GP about a script for redipred.
:hug:
We have a GP appointment for later on this morning.
When I spoke to cc, they said that there is no exclusion period as such, but they prefer them to be kept at home while they are unwell. DS is very grizzly this morning so I think he's better off at home.
It's pretty amazing that with a 4yo and 2 1/2 yo this is the first time we've had it!
DS got it while we were camping ... we thought it was just a funny cough but it happened the following nights and he could hardly breathe .. we took him to the doc and it was croup .. its nasty and it really does sound like a seal ..
take him out into the clod air at night when its happening ..
its better than steam ...
brontide- is central heating like a heater in a split system on the wall ??
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.
I'd be suspect too Mel, only because generally croup goes away, of course he wouldn't still be coughing! That would be something other than croup.
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!
Thanks everyone. Well, he's been pretty miserable but he perked up a bit this afternoon so fingers crossed he's getting better.