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Avatar universal

4 year old fake coughing?

I have a very precocious 4 year old daughter.  She started coughing about a month ago.  We have a pet rabbit that all 4 of us are allergic to but haven't had the heart to get rid of.  Because of the allergies, we keep the rabbit outside most of the year, but once it got cold, we brought her inside.  We all immediately started having trouble with our allergies, including my daughter who developed a mild, shallow sounding cough.  After having the rabbit inside for about 4 days, we moved her out to an inclosed sunroom with an electric heater.  The rest of us cleared up immediately, but my daughters cough has persisted.  My husband thinks she may be faking at this point, or that maybe what began as a genuine cough has turned into a nervous habit.  The cough has not improved or worsened, and she doesn't cough when she is sleeping.  It does seem to be involuntary most of the time.  (Sometimes it seems that she is doing it on purpose,  but mostly she does it when she is doing something else like watching tv or reading books, or otherwise concentrating on something else.)  There are absolutely no other symptoms.  It is a very shallow cough, it seems to be from her throat, not her lungs, but her throat looks fine.  I am thinking about taking her to the doctor, but I thought I'd see if anyone else had any similar experiences.  In the beginning I gave her Mucinex a couple of times, but it seemed to have no effect whatsoever, so I stopped giving it.  Any ideas?
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Avatar universal
Well my daughter visited the doctor and the doctor agreed it had probably turned into kind of a nervous tic.  Everything was clear and there were no signs of a virus or anything else.  She said that since my daughter had gotten some attention over the cough, it probably encouraged her to continue.  We have been ignoring the cough and it has almost completely subsided.  Thanks for your input!  :)
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Avatar universal
My son is 4  too and he's been coughing for 5 days now and his nose is congested so i figured ohh its just another silly cold.so i tried to treat him with over the counter children's Robitussin and with vicks humidifier it didnt help he's cough was so bad that he would throw up...so i took him to his doc and she told me that it's a virus that was almost going to be a pneumonia so poor guy was on oxygen and got bunch of meds to take for few days....so please please don't give it time as i did go visit your daughter's doctors....especially if their cough is severe and with mucus..good luck.    
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Avatar universal
My daughter is also 4 years old, and she has the same cough, no other symptoms. I have taken her to the doctor 3 times for the same cough for the past couple of months. The doctor said that as long as she does not have a fever along with the cough, there was nothing else to give her but the MUCINEX I've been giving her. The cough will have to heal on it's own! Didn't make sense to me, because she still has the same cough. The doc will probably tell you the same. Anyone have any more suggestions?
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