Joe got a cold on December 16th (I remember the date because we were leaving for vacation that afternoon) and the worst of it was a cough at nighttime. The cough lasted for 4 weeks, and I was just starting to debate with myself about whether I should take him to the doctor for a month-long cough when he caught
another cold and the cough was so bad on Saturday night that he and I slept for only about 4 hours total, despite being mostly in bed from 10 to 10. We also did something I've never done with him before (he's always been a fantastic sleeper) - we sat up on the couch at 3 in the morning and watched cartoons for an hour waiting for his cough to subside. I tried over the counter cough suppressant and Vicks Nyquil for kids - neither did anything.
The next day we debated taking him to the Urgent Care Clinic but instead we called his Doctor's answering service. She prescribed us liquid albuterol and phenergan syrup. They really did the trick - that very night was much better and last night he barely coughed at all. As a sidenote, I mentioned the month-long cough and she said that's nothing, we'd worry when he coughed for 6 months. Oh, great. LOL.
What is it about kids that makes their cough so incredibly bad? I caught this same cold and other than a few very dry coughs last night because of a tickle in my throat, I haven't coughed at all. Is it because their airways are so small? Do they just process colds differently?
The good news is, his ears seem fine. He's had a tendency to develop ear infections in the past, but it seems if we give him decongestant religiously for the first few days of a cold he doesn't get an ear infection. I also massage his ears in a circular motion - no idea if that helps or not, but intuitively you would think it would - if you move the tubes around maybe they would have more of an opportunity to drain. (also, I can be reasonably sure he hasn't developed an ear infection yet if he shows no aversion to this ear manipulation)
The sudafed type I only give before nap and bed because otherwise he would just sit around and cry (it must make him feel pretty horrible) but the Phenylephrine type he has no problem with so I give at any time.
Edit: Well, he got an ear infection. I noticed on Saturday he was getting sniffly again even though everything else seemed to have cleared up. Preschool called yesterday (monday the 23rd) and said he had a fever. When I picked him up I did the ear rubbing trick and he grimaced with pain about the right one. He has a Doctor's appointment at 10:45. sigh.
