OT: Anyone's child ever have croup?

[PollyannaMom]

Glad to hear he's feeling somewhat better!

The first time DS (then 2) had croup, the on-call at our pediatrician listened to him on the phone and sent us to the ER for x-rays, steriod treatment, the whole bit. He was in the hospital 2 nights.

The next time, we got a different on-call doc, who told us the alternating steam/cold trick, and had us give him him Benadryl. It worked like magic - the bark didn't even come back the next night!

I have also heard the explanation that a regular cold virus turns into croup in kids that are prone to it. And that it follows the seasons - kids get it in spring and fall here, when the weather changes quickly. (That and the Benadryl working leads me to believe it has some sort of allergic component.)

It's true that a lot of them grow out of it, as well. We've noticed fewer episodes as DS has gotten older, and the same for my neighbor, whose son also had it. But to this day (DS is 5 now) we do give him some preventative Benadryl at night if he has a bad cold during "croup season."

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

I don't have a lot of new information for you, just that alternating steam and cold air seems to help my son. I have three children and my oldest is the only one that gets croup. We've only been to the hospital once. I've been reminded by the doctor that the "bark" is worse than the "bite" with croup.

I've always used the same methods that others have already mentioned and they seem to take care of things relatively quickly. In my experience, the first night is always the worst for my son and a cough suppressant is enough to get him through the night after that.

 

[huey duey & luey]

We are in the middle of croup with 2 of our 3, they both required steroids and the nebulizer. It is very scary. Two of my kids imediately start coughing/wheezing/ croup when they get a simple cough. I agree with what everyone said, try to elevate the mattress, a cool mist humidifier (esp if you have dry heat), we even keep the window cracked open a bit. Also my dr said to make keep the throught moist so we always make sure they have a cup at night. Good Luck

eta sorry I was repetitive I didn't read all the responses and glad he is feeling better

 

[Karrie Davis]

Karrie, my DS6's young life sounds very much like your DS's, many trips to the hospital for croup and other respiratory-related issues. Because he had RSV as a baby, we used to keep Albuterol on hand and use it with the nebulizer, but it's been a couple years since we've used it. He's now able to get a cold, and it's just a cold, hallelujah!

To everyone else who has or will struggle with the croup, it sounds worse than it usually is, so just hang in there! It is worse at night, which is exhausting, but thankfully better during the day so hopefully you all can get some rest.

Jake also had RVS at 6 weeks old I am sorry you too went through this.... We have also not needed the neb in awhile. Jake does now have mild asthma and we are sure all his lung related issues stem from the RSV including his breathing allergies. He had also had pneumonia as well. What sucks is that our friend had there son all over Jake and then told us he is almost over RSV.... 4 days later we were in the ER with our 6 and a half week old baby!

sassymom - I am glad your little one is feeling better. There is nothing worse than seeing your child be so sick and not being able to fix it right then like we can with so many other little things Well, now you have this under your belt and it will make it a little bit easier next time... at least you will know what you are looking at.

We are leaving for DW on Sunday and just found out that my son Jake's class has had a outbreak of some flu like virus. The teacher did not even tell me and they know we are leaving for a vacation! Today will be his 3rd day from when he was exposed and he is doing totaly fine (with lots of airborn too) but I have decided not to bring him back to school in all week. Luckaly another parent told me! I try hard to not take chances with his health and really not before a trip we paid so much for

 

[castle_now_please]

My son was rushed to the emergency room last night, by ambulance. He was choking and gagging and had this horrible sounding cough. When we got there he had calmed down a bit, still had the "barking" cough though. Come to find out he has croup, which I never thought was that serious. They gave him steroids and us some instructions for his care and we were home the same night. Just wondering if anyone else's child has had this and if you have any tips on how to help. He is quite miserable today. His "bark" seems a lot better today, it is few and far between thankfully. It just seems nothing will soothe him, any help would be greatly appreciated.

The same thing happened to us and we too took a ride to the hospital in an ambulance. My son (then 2) has had the croup before, but just the trademark cough. But this time he was struggling for breath, having trouble breathing in and out. This made me think he was having a serious asthma attack. He was fine buy the time we got to the hospital. I was told, next time to turn on a hot shower and clothes the door and sit in the bathroom with him (on the floor and not IN the shower) and let the steam help. I have also heard to stand with their head in the freezer. But I do not regret calling 911. I think anytime you are not 100% sure it is croup, medical attention is needed.

 

[sskem96]

You did the right thing by calling the ambulance. We had a 9 yr old come in by ambulance this weekend with croup, his airway totally occluded at home and he was blue. The paramedics had gotten him concious by the time he arrived at the hospital, but it can be VERY serious. I couldn't stop thinking what would have happened if no one else in the house was awake at the time.

 

[crazymomof4]

I haven't read the other posts, so forgive any repeats.

All of my 4 kids got croup. My brother had the very severe (and according to my pediatrician very RARE) form of croup where his airway almost completely blocked and his lips and nail beds turned blue. He was taken to the hosp. in an ambulance New Years Eve of 1971 when he was just 3 yo. A very important difference between the severe form and the mild (more common) form is the degree of fever. My brother's pediatrician told my mom and my ped. has since told me that children with the high fevers (my brothers would go to 104 or higher) are the one's who's airways close up and it's life-threatening. So, if your child, like mine, gets the croup with an otherwise mild cold and isn't running a high fever, you can relax more.

Because of my memories of my brother, I was initially very frightened when my firstborn got the barky cough. Four kids and 17 yrs later, I've realized that the vast majority of kids don't get as bad as my brother did.

Here are some tips that my mom used and I have used also. When they have an attack (usually in the middle of the night) take them into your smallest bathroom and run the shower using only hot water. This will steam up the room and help relax the muscles of the airway and reduce inflammation thereby making more room in the airway for air to pass through.
One thing that cannot be understated is to try anything to calm the child. Stress causes the airway to spasm and constrict further. Calming them is tough, I know, bc. their air-hunger causes them to panic. With my daughter, I found that drawing pictures on the steamed up bathroom mirror would help. I'd draw a few simple pictures and then make up a story about the pictures. By the time the story was over she had been distracted enough to calm down and her breathing eased up. With one of my sons I would have him look into my eyes and tell him to breath slowly with me. I'd say "in through your nose, out through your mouth" and he would concentrate on slow, smooth breathing rather than gasping. Use whatever you thing will calm your child, but do this while in the steamy bathroom.
IF the steam doesn't work..... grab a blanket, wrap your kid and go out into the cold night air. I know this sounds crazy but my pediatrician told me this and my neighbor did this and she swears by it. Breathing the cold air reduces the spasms of the airway.
Short term steroid use is a wonderful treatment. I didn't get this prescribed until my youngest (DD) got the croup. I wished I had it for my boys. It works. Start giving it at the prescribed dose as soon as you hear that barky cough. Often they wake up the first morning with just the cough but no air hunger. If you give it during that first day, you may be able to head-off a bad attack that next night.
Also, a vaporizer in their bedroom is a MUST- keep the air moist!

Remember- this will not last. All kids outgrow croup. The reason only little kids have this is bc. their airways are so little that when the sides of the airway gets inflammed, it reduces the space that the air can get through. An older child or adult can get the same degree of inflammation but still have plenty of room for the air to go through. Most kids outgrow by 8 yrs old at the latest, unless they have inherited an unusually narrow airway. (like my brother did). My DD who just turned 6 doesn't get it anymore.

I hope this helps.

 

[SanDiegoDayTripper]

Glad to see I'm not alone in this! My DS6 has had really scary croup attacks since age 2. He was a 29-week preemie, and spent the first 19 days of life on a ventilator. I've done all the therapies described by everyone on this thread, and I agree that you shold talk to our doctor about what is right for you. Our last episode in June was bad enough to call the paramedics and travel to the hospital in an ambulance.

We recently went through an ENT doctor who specializes in children and had an endoscopy done. We were a Children's Hospital in San Diego, and they put DS under general anethesia and used a camera to look down his throat. He was only out for about 7 minutes, but it was pretty scary. Funny, but I handled it better than DH! We were able to determine that there is nothing structurally wrong with his throat, and then we went to further allergy tests, and he has no allergies.

I'm happy now that we went to the ENT doctor, and the allergist, because we are slowly ruling things out as what causes this. The latest diagnosis is reactive airway disease. Just as others have said, a regular cold virus that just gives other kids colds causes my son's airway to swell.

Now we have a few more tools to deal with this at home. The ENT doctor said he would love to hear from us that DS had an episode, and we treated it at home without having to go to the ER. We have the nebulizer, and can use inhaled steriods, inhaled epinephrine, an oral syrup steroid, and even an epi pen for emergencies. ( I got a letter form the dr. so we can carry this on the plane.)

That's our story. Thaks for listening.

 

[The Duchess]

Oh my God, this happened with our 8-year old just LAST week. We were in the hospital overnight. He had come into our room during the night so I went to sleep in his room and woke up to that awful barking cough so I ran in and my husband was trying to calm him down, which I didn't help by screaming GET HIM TO THE HOSPITAL!! which, fortunately is only five minutes away.
They rushed him right in and put him on the Ephedrine Inhaler. I knew we were in trouble when they didn't bother to ask for the insurance card first. SCARY!!
I didn't think older kids got croup!! I guess it's a cold virus that settles in their vocal cords. He did have a milder bout the next night and I took him outside in the cold air and he was fine. The doctor's recommended that or the steamy bathroom idea.
Needless to say, I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep since.

 

[lchadwick]

My little man has had it 3 or 4 times (and he's not even 2, yet!). I do the hot shower steam out to the cool air. And his ped is always telling me I should run a cool mist humidifier at night, but there is just no safe place to keep it all the time. I've done the ER with the breathing treatments and steroids and it's not a happy thing for our kids, is it?

 

[Bibbidi]

My dd3 has had croup 5 times, 4 times last fall/winter alone. The worst was when she was 18 months old, but the second time occurred last fall while we were at Disney! The ER department at Celebration Hospital was wonderful, but it was a bummer of a way to kick off our 7 day vacation. I'm just thankful that we had experienced it once before that episode because I at least felt confident in what I was doing to try and calm her down until we could get to the hospital. Disney was also great because I called the front desk to ask for directions for the hospital and they were ready to send a car or ambulance over, whatever we needed to get her help--thankfully we felt confident in driving there ourselves, but it was nice to feel like Disney was there to support us.

 

[mommytomy3]

2 of my boys are pretty bad croupers... Any cold would usually set off my first son into croup (he was the worst of all) my second one gets it often (twice since August already- he and my 3rd ds keep passing back and forth a cold and it keeps giving him croup) My Ped. gives me Prednisone (steroid) to keep at home for when he gets really bad. I have steamed my kids so much over the last 9 years, that when we redid our bathroom last year, we put a steam unit in the shower, and boy it is so great! My dd 9 outgrew it, hasnt had it in about 2 years, but I know that I had it alot when I was younger (I remember going to the ER) and about 6 years ago, I got what I would say was pretty bad croup (although they say adults dont get croup, but from my experience I would say that is what it was) I was put on steroids too for that. I still get that barkish dry cough, and feel like my airway is "clogged", so now as soon as I notice it, I start taking plain Robitussin and take steamshowers.

 

[mrsbug]

I'm glad your ds is feeling better now. Croup is very scary. A friend of ours actually lost her little girl to croup 2 years ago. I never knew how serious it could be till then.

Ds, 3, has always had lots of respiratory issues, in and out of the hospital, diagnosed with asthma, and has central sleep apnea, which causes his oxygen levels to drop really fast at night. We have to keep an oxygen monitor on him at night now, which sounds an alarm when he dips. He had his first bout with croup last week and it was scary! He went to bed fine and woke up a couple hours later with that horrible cough, gasping, and wheezing. We've got a nebulizer at home and immediately did a treatment, which really helped. Then did the whole steamy shower thing and some Vicks vapor rub. The next day I bought a vaporizer and that, with some of the Vicks vapor steam added to it, really helped him. No more major coughing fits.

Hope this is your last experience with croup!

 

[Mommaof3]

We had one with croup and asthma in the younger years and we have rushed to the ER and been hospitalized several times. It is indeed very scary. The shower, outside air, vaporizer, and sleeping on me(me sitting up) all seemed to help. One thing my ped. always said was "sound means air is passing". It always helped calm me in the middle of it all. It also helped me know when my son was really bad. He would make little or no sound and sucked he chest in really hard and deep. His lips were usually the first to turn blue. It was very scary, but just remember if you have any doubts, get medical help. He did get much better as he got older. He is 14 now and he has not needed the ER or hospital stay in about 5 years--------dr. yes and meds., but no flying trips in the middle of the night. I really feel for you. Those little ones can really scare you. Just wanted you to know that it does happen to many, it is usually not fatal, but it CAN be serious. A good relationship with your dr. is very helpful. Hope everyone's children are ok this winter. Melissa