I remember a few weeks ago there was discussion about a child's cough, and quite a few people had experiences to share, so I am hoping someone might relate to this! I am at my wits end with my 5 year old who coughs every morning, has been doing so for some months getting progressively worse, it is a wet sounding cough, like there is a lot of mucus which is not being brought up, and this is also giving him a sore tummy. The cough largely goes during the day and tends to come back a bit at night but mainly on waking. Last night he vomited badly whilst coughing in his sleep. The GP has given us a peak flow for 2 weeks with an inhaler to try in case it is asthma - but it doesn't seem like asthma to me. Does this sound at all familiar to anyone?? 

? asthma ? severe house dust mite allergy.  Could be many things so GP is the best bet.

Hi Honeybee,
Don't know if this is of any help but I was told a while ago when my son had a similar cough at sleep time and sometimes when he woke up, well someone asked me if he had dairy products before bedtime, like a warm glass of milk, or any milky drinks, well we did used to give him a warm glass of milk before bedtime.
Anyhow I was told that dairy products increase the mucus cycle and produce more of it, which can cause coughing and such like.
We have since stopped milky drink before bedtime and things have improved.
Just a thought if this helps xx :)

Thankyou Gemini05. He doesn't have any milky things at bedtime apart from cheese sometimes. Worth thinking about though as his sister is intolerant of dairy products, thanks. It's strange because it has been developing over the last few months and gradually getting worse, of course I'll be taking him back to the GP soon as I don't think it is asthma.

> my 5 year old

Thomas isn't 5 - away with you.............now I feel very old.

Yes Christine, he starts school in August! I feel positively ancient but that may be to do with sleeping on the floor in his bedroom jumping up each time I hear a cough!

Hi Honeybee, it was my dd with the night cough.  she started with getting coughs that seemed to go on & on & on.  then it seemed just at night.

Dairy products as someone's already stated, also it's allergy season, various pollens etc.  As a teenager I would get a hacking cough all summer, this finally resulted at 16 in having hayfever.  Good luck with the airflow thing & inhaler, it may shock you to know that my daughter's breathing has improved 21% in the two weeks we did a trial.  She's now labelled an asthmatic but doesn't have wheezing or attacks that I'd associate with asthma.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Yes unfortunately I have heard of this night time coughing being labelled as asthma and it can improve with an inhaler. Best to  give the peak flow a go and see what the gp says. Hopefully there is another answer as people suggest maybe allergy ?
My two are now both down as asthmatic and I resisited this diagnosis for ages. My son had a strange and occasional cough even as a toddler and eventually at 17 was diagnosed with asthma after a chest infection. My daughterwas fine until her swimming teacher noticed her getting rather too out of breath. Again I really didn't want to accept the diagnosis but they both use inhalers now and it helps them. ASthma seems to take many forms from the wheezing attacks that I expected just as maddog said

might it be a nasal thing? i get an irritating slightly damp cough because i have a reverse runny nose

Are they drinking enough fluid - water etc?

I had a really annoying cough, which went on for months.
I had to go back on my asthma inhalers, had antibiotics, chest x-rays, steroids etc etc.
Even had to go to a speech therapist as it had affected my voice.

Turns out I wasn't drinking enough fluid and as soon as I had upped my fluid intake cough disappeared. :)

I do suffer with dust mite allergy though.
Have they suggested childs anti histamine to see if it's allergy based?
Is the room that the child sleeps in very dry atmosphere may be it needs some moisture back in the air or perhaps too much moisture?

Have you done the usual asthma bedroom things like laminate flooring , blind instead of curtains , anti-allergy mattress and pillow cover , anti-allergy duvet , teddy in the freezer ?
My son used to sniff and cough a lot at night so i got anti-allergy bedding , eventually he was referred to ENT and  it turned out to be a narrowed and deviated septum . He had a nasal spray which worked , but he has now grown out of it . We were advised to put a damp hand towel over the radiator when on to put moisture back into the air .
Hope you get it sorted soon .

Thanks for all these replies, it's very helpful. My first thought was that the cough may be triggered by the cat who had been sleeping in the bedroom, so I did thoroughly clean it and replace bedding (though cat was never on his bed), the room is carpeted though and has a curtain so sounds like there is more to do. Don't know about moisture in the air - I would have thought dry air may cause a dry cough not a phlegm  type cough? (but I'll try a damp cloth on radiator) Haven't heard of the reverse runny nose either, I wonder if that causes this type of cough?
Thomas definitely sounds like his chest is full of mucus when he wakes up but it mainly clears during the day. I am really hoping for a better night tonight and that he will not be sick.

do you prop him up in bed so that his head is higher than his tummy.might be an idea so that mucs can drain from his throat and not make him cough so much.all that coughing sounds as if it strained his tum and made him sick,poor lad.when he gets up the mucus naturally drains away from his throat so i think you could try to get that effect when he's in bed.hope he's soon betterx

Yes it does sound like asthma it does take many forms, but try an allergy test if you can that could rule out other things. Does he have a feather pillow? change it for an hollopile one, tumble dry toys he may take to bed, they get dust mites. Put a pillow case protector and bed protector on that should ellimianate dust mites.
Then look at the peak flow and if it is asthma be thankful its not cyistic fibrosies and he may grow out of it.

Hi Honeybee,

Please don't jump on the Asthma wagon just yet, not at least until you have a confirmed diagnosis and allergy tests done by the GP. There are so many kids out there on inhalers that needn't be.

You mentioned that his cough makes his tummy hurt? Could it be that the tummy is causing the cough?

A wet sounding cough is phlegm on the lungs, which in children is caused by digestive issues.

Can I ask what his 'normal' daily diet is?

Also I wouldn't put a damp towel on the radiator as he has a phlegm cough, not a dry cough. You would be putting 'damp' on 'damp', instead of moistening dryness.

i agree wholeheartedly,littlemissdrago,and i still think that supporting the child up on higher pillows so that mucus is kept away from the throat will help keep the cough at bay.we've all had that feeling where our tummy feels strained after a nasty bout of coughing and i really wouldn't be surprised if this has happened here.of course the tests must be carried out but it's so true that inhalers are vastly overprescribed and long term use has it's own problems.cheese before bed is not a good idea for anyone,and a child's digestive system isn't mature enough to deal with it.i agree too that he needs more water throughout the day to thin the mucus.i hope he's fine by the time you read this post,honeybee.x

> supporting the child up on higher pillows

Some children don't tolerate lots of pillows so it may be better to put a pillow or folded towel under the head-end of the mattress .

Hi littlemissdrago  - thankyou for your reply - well we were back at the GP today and she just said he must have asthma. The last couple of mornings we had used the inhaler and the coughing was much improved so apparently that is evidence that it must be asthma? She said that in children it often presents as a cough and if he needs the inhaler every day he should start a steroid inhaler. It's interesting you mention diet, as I said before his sister can't have dairy (gives her tummy trouble and a rash) and he eats a lot of cheese, and he does often complain of tummy ache.  Now I'm thinking maybe when we return we should ask for a referral to the dietitian in case there is a trigger for all this in his diet.  (a shame if it is dairy though as he mainly eats cheese!)
Yes the propping him up a bit has helped, although he's been coughing at night he hasn't been sick again thankfully.

i suffered with asthma all my life and mornings and night i cough and wheeze.the wet rattlely noise u hear on his chest is mucus,which astmatics produce more of than a healthy person.it coulld also be a sign of infection which needs to be checked out by a gp.ive also have a sinus problem which when they play up after a cold leak mucus in the throat making me vomitt.i know most parents panic when told their child has asthma,but using proper medication to control it you lead a normal life and most people grow out it by the age of 14.i also sleep proped up on 3 pillows,and in the winter when the heating is on we hang dehumidifires on all the radiators.warm drinks can help break up the mucus.hope your son feels better soon and i hope u find this advice helpfull and if you need to ask anything give me a shout.

Poppity and the rest, the best way to raise them in bed is actually by raising the head side of the actual bed, ie putting something under that end of the bed to raise it, it has a better effect than more pillows.

Hi Honeybee,

At the end of the the day you do need to go with what your GP has said I guess, but there are other things to consider if you want to.

Coughing is caused by many things and in Asthma it is created by the body's over reaction to an allergen (pollen, dust etc) and therefore causing a tightening of the alveoli in the lungs. When the the alveoli tighten it stops oxygen from passing from the air in the lungs to the rest of the body (including the lungs) causing the body to react = coughing, pins ands needles, blue tinge to the lips etc. These are signs of cyanosis (not enough oxygen in the body). So really it's a little like dominos in the body. One thing leads to another, resulting in your Son's coughing.

Now what the inhaler does is chemically force the alveoli open in the lungs allowing oxygen in and therefore reversing the efffects (putting all the dominos back up and again) to relieve the cough.

This is why I mention diet. Like I said, in kids 'Asthma' usually starts or comes from the digestive system/stomach and therefore can be an allergen, but this time an allergen to some kind of food stuff. And I'm sorry to tell you, but this is quite often dairy!!

So yes you could say that your Son has Asthma... but created by what? There is always an underlying root cause of every illness and I would just ask the GP to find out what that is. Ask for him to have full allergen testing done. Not only food stuff (can be pork, fish, dairy, wheat... all manner of things) but also the usual pollen dust mites etc.

Also one more thing to consider is Hayfever. Quite often kids gets Hayfever and therefore get Hayfever related Asthma. Agan it's the body's over reaction to the allergen creating too much histamine. Therefore anti-histamine calms the body down and therefore calms the whole thing down.

Rather than having his childhood on potentially unecessary inhalers (especially steroid inhalers) it may be worth finding the cause and then you may be able to remove it. Therefore no need for inhalers.

Well this is all just info and at the end of the day you have to do what you feel is right for your Son and his wellbeing.

I hope your Son is OK and good luck everything. Do be pushy with those GP types though as they do, on ocassion, fob you off with medicine!

i don't know why i didn't think of that way,perrdeagua.it's how i used to do it with my own children when they had chesty coughs.x

Thankyou diggersdad for your information.
And littlemissdrago that is really helpful. I know very little about Asthma despite having it myself (mine is mild and I know what brings it on so manageable)
I hope I can find out what the triggers are for my son - GP suggested our cat and dust mites will be the problem but I will try to get him checked for food sensitivity too. I guess the GP simply doesn't have the time to do this - with my daughter we were just prescribed antihistamines and laxatives for her symptoms, luckily we worked out what was making her unwell and now she needs no medication.  We'll give Thomas the inhalers for now but also try to find the cause for his problems. Thankyou all.

Hi Honeybee

Sorry haven't caught up on this for a while.  is there a reason your doctor has gone straight for a steroid inhaler?  I thought that with children these days they used non steroid.  Unless my dd is on a steroid inhaler (salbutomol (sp!) without my knowledge.

My dd loves cheese too & milk for that matter.

Forgot to say, that Diggersdad's post was most informative & spot on for my dd (hayfever & digestion), very interesting.  so thanks for that.

salbutamol is the most common reliever inhaler used,beclotide,becloforte,seretide,serevent to name just a few are steroid inhalers.a reliever inhaler is used to open up the airways when your feelng wheezy or short of breath and the affects  of the ihaler ware of after a few hours.the steroid inhaler plays a more important role of keeping the airways open.i know some people are scared of the word steroid and these are not anabolic steroids which are misused by some atheletes.gps will give the lowest dose possible and will monitor the patent .steroid ihalers are only used morning and night but reliever ihalers only when required.ask your gp does the surgery run a asthma clinic as these are usually run by specialist nurses who can answer any questions you have.

My daughter, now 23, had a similar cough when she was around that age. She actually had a huge adenoid and overgrowth of cartilage behind the nose which was obstructing the airway causing a cough and throat clearing. It was successfully operated on.

Hi Maddog - we haven't got the steroid inhaler yet, just salbutamol, but are likely to get the other one next week at the asthma clinic. As diggersdad says it sounds a bit worrying but apparently they are quite safe. Although I am still doubtful of the asthma diagnosis, this morning Thomas could hardly breathe and was kind of panicing, it was quite alarming but he had the blue inhaler and that worked so I suppose it must be asthma! Feel like my nerves are shredded this week!
Glad your daughter is a bit better now Maddog.

Many people seem to grow out of it so i hope your child is one of them .  Don't forget that if he has a diagnosis of asthma he should  be offered a flu jab every year .