Child Nighttime Cough

[juanvaldez]

My daughter does alright during the day, just acts like she has a regular cold. But at night after only a couple of minutes laying down she starts to cough. It's constant, not illicited by anything that I know of. Most of the time she'll cough so hard or so much that she'll vomit. None of the cough medicines I've given her work at all. What can I do? What's going on? She can't sleep and neither can I.

[juanvaldez]

Since my daughter went to the pediatrician, she has been taking the two meds prescribed. She vomited once since she's been taking them, but still coughs during the night. She woke up this morning and now has a crackling sound when she breaths and has a wet/crackling cough. Any ideas as to what this may be? She will have a followup appt. this coming Friday, but until then, i just wish she'd get better. :(

[juanvaldez]

Hey all,
I have talked with my parents who currently have 4 cats, and they are willing to take ours if it comes down to it. I'm hoping it's just a seasonal thing, but if it's not at least I know my cat will be well taken care of and I can inquire about her and see her whenever I want. :-)

[DrNoopurMD]

Hi,

It is probably allergic rhinitis and the doctor suspects she is allergic to cats.
You can continue with the medications and hopefully she will get better. I can understand your feelings for a pet especially when she has been with you for so long but if this sort of thing occurs again you may have to think about abandoning the cat.

[juanvaldez]

Well, the doctor seems to think it is Rhinitis as the glands in her nose look purple and swollen. He recommended OTC Zyrtec and prescribed her Nasonex/Flonase. He wants to see her back in 2-3 weeks for a follow-up appt. All I can say is I gave the medicine to her yesterday and last night she did cough a little, but not vomiting occured. He recommended also that we get rid of our cat. That is not likely seeing as I've had her since she was a kitten, she is now 8yrs old. Any suggestions as far as that goes? Thanks everyone.

[juanvaldez]

Poobear, Thank you. I had thought of this but she goes many nights without a pillow and the cough has still occured.
Dr. Noopur, I had thought of asthma also, I'm hoping that's not what this is, but if it is at least we'll know and be able to control it. I hadn't thought about the dinner thing, but we will make sure she eats at least 2 hours prior to bedtime just in case. We do live in Florida so it may also be the humidity. But, she has a doctors appt scheduled for this afternoon, so hopefully he can tell us what is going on. I will write back when we find out to let everyone know what's going on.
Thanks again for the comments.

[DrNoopurMD]

Hi,

These are the causes of night cough:

Gastro esophageal reflux: The acid reflux causes occurs while lying down and causes cough. In order to avoid this please make sure she eats her dinner atleast two hrs before bedtime.
Croup: It occurs predominantly in the night due to humidity of night air.

Other causes include asthma and pertusis.
I would suggest you to schedule an appointment with a pediatrician as soon as possible so that an exact diagnosis can be made.

[poobear0221]

This sounds very similar to what happened to me in my teens. It turned out  was allergic to our pillows. The dander was in the air giving me a slight cold during the day and awful cough at night.