thread: anyone tackled croup without steroids?

  1. #1
    BellyBelly Life Subscriber

    Feb 2006
    melbourne
    11,462

    anyone tackled croup without steroids?

    DD2 has croup, started last night whilst she was at her granparents for the night, ive been to the dr and have predmix in the fridge but she advised to hold off giving the steroids and riding it out with the use of cold outside air.
    im on my own as DH is interstate, do i deal with the croup or the hyper side effects of the steroids?
    anyone tackled it without steroids???

  2. #2
    Registered User
    Add helle on Facebook

    Sep 2008
    Bunbury, Western Australia
    3,963

    anyone tackled croup without steroids?

    My brother used to get croup all the time and mum would lock him in a steamy bathroom to help unblock all the mucous (he would often get it bad enough he could hardly breath) and after that put a vapouriser in his room once he settled down a little. I have NFI why anyone would say to put a baby with croup in cold air.

  3. #3
    BellyBelly Life Subscriber

    Feb 2006
    melbourne
    11,462

    thats actually the recommended treatment over steam these days, something about the cold air settles down the laryx etc..which is where the issue is.

  4. #4
    Registered User

    Jan 2007
    7,197

    I have heard the cold air thing as well, a previous BB member had to call an ambulance for her son who was really bad one night and they took him straight outside in the cold and it helped right away - not exactly sure how it works.

    Jols how long does the predmix take to kick in? If it's relatively quick you could try everything else and if nothing is working or she's getting worse you have it there as a worse case scenario ITMS?

  5. #5
    BellyBelly Life Subscriber

    Feb 2006
    melbourne
    11,462

    tan according to janie it takes aroung 4 hours to kick in

  6. #6
    BellyBelly Life Subscriber

    Jun 2005
    Blue Mountains
    5,086

    Predmix works really quickly, but not quick enough if things got reaaally bad. We've used it for asthma. It is better to avoid steroids, but you know when you need it. And well, breathing is kinda important IMO

    I've heard cold air too. I've heard not to do steam or vaporizer for croup?? It's common for the croup to settle on the way to hospital because of the night air.

  7. #7
    Registered User
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    Jul 2008
    a slice of paridise, victoria
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    djs had croup a few times.
    first/second time we road it out - the cold air can work. helped us.

    third time+ it was 'roids for him and not just the liqward ones. for me my thresh hold is if i can take dj for a drive and he falls asleep but wakes up coughing while i drive he needs the steroids.

  8. #8
    BellyBelly Life Subscriber & MPM

    Feb 2007
    Melbourne
    5,462

    The poor thing, croup is nasty . My Mum always told me cold air works best too. My brother used to get it frequently when he was little and mum said he always improved when she took him outside to the car (to go to hospital). She must have been ahead of her time with her advice!

    Fingers crossed it doesn't flare up too badly tonight and you won't need it .

  9. #9
    BellyBelly Life Subscriber

    Feb 2006
    melbourne
    11,462

    I ended up giving her the predmix

  10. #10
    Registered User

    Aug 2009
    Back in the bush Capital
    660

    Hope she's okay xx DS has had croup a number of times and we always have to go with the steroids. Cold air does seem to help temporarily but now well enough. I will say though that I've not ever noticed DS has gone hyper after taking the steroids, hopefully that's the case with your DD

  11. #11

    Mar 2004
    Sparta
    12,662

    The cold air helps especially in the middle of winter but if it's a bad attack it's still pretty awful even after a drive in the cold.
    I never noticed any hyperactivity after the steroids but I guess that usually they seem to get sick at night so they're kind of sleepy. They gave DS1 some kind of adrenaline through the vapouriser thingy at the hospital once - that made him pretty weird.

  12. #12
    Registered User

    Nov 2006
    Atop the lookout...
    2,777

    I have taken dd outside into cooler air when she wouldn't stop screaming, just to see if it would "distract" her enough to stop, but it didnt work ad she had reflux (unknown at the time).

    And in my opinion, ds would always get croup from cold air.... So I always give him predmix, i couldnt imagine keeping him outside to grt rid of croup!

    Eta: I've not noticed any ill effects from giving predmix, such as hyper. Often i would give it to ds just before bed (my preffered time to dose for croup).

  13. #13
    Registered User
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    Sep 2007
    travelling
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    I think the steam/night air thing depends on the child & where you live.

    Steam is what works for us. Night air is what sets it off... I think if the air is humid it works, but if its cold it doesn't. If my kids are croupy, they can't be outside past 4pm coz it gets worse.

    DD3 recently had a bout & when she woke through the night I steamed up the bathroom til she crashed out & she slept the rest of the night. I think it must be differen't for different kids, coz my kids ONLY get croup at night. I assume there's a reason for that?

  14. #14
    Registered User

    Oct 2008
    Victoria
    4,601

    Poor girl, hope she feels better very soon.

  15. #15
    BellyBelly Member

    Jan 2010
    2,793

    I know this is a bit late - but I have. DD had croup a couple of months ago. When I took her to the doc (during the day) they said that since it doesn't seem too bad they wouldn't prescribe any. They obviously didn't consider how bad it got at night though! We had the vapouriser going at night.....I think it helped.....we would just go in a pick her up and give her cuddles when she started coughing, the upright position seemed to help...