4.5 mth old has cough with phlegm - what to do?

[cmeilim]

My DS usually can sleep thru 6h a nite these days. But for the past two nites, he has been having troubled sleep - kept waking up and getting irritated, scratching his head (a sign of frustration and tiredness), crying until screaming. From the sarong, I tried to move him to our bed, nurse him to make him go back to sleep next to me, but sometimes to no avail. He would then cry till he was completely knocked out. And then a while later, the whole cycle would start again.

This morning, he woke up and began coughing. Not once or twice, but many times. Not becos he got choked on this saliva. His cough this morning sounded raspy, with a bit of phlegm. This is the first time this has happened since he was born. He's so young that my hubby and I are not sure if we should take him to the GP. Eventually we didn't take him to GP or PD but will monitor for one more nite. I also try to nurse him more. I think he might have caught the cough from one of our relatives' kids whom we were visiting last Sat.

Any advice from mummies who might have experienced this in their young babies before? Do you let the cough ride out naturally? Do you take them to see GP or PD? What kind of medication were you prescribed and did it work? What are the alternatives to medication?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[diymummy]

Hi cmeilim,

My boy also got a cough a while back. We waited for a week and it didn't subside so we brought him to see the PD. I wouldn't recommend a GP unless you know that the GP is competent in treating babies.

The PD prescribed me Zyrtec and Rhinathiol. The first was for his running/blocked nose and the other for his cough. It subsided for a week and then it came back again on and off.

After a month, he was still coughing so we brought him back to the PD. This time he gave antibiotics coz he was already having quite a bad sorethroat from all the coughing. He also prescribed two other meds for him and that cured him completely.

For our son, the cause of cough was from infant care.

If you're sure that your baby has caught a virus, it's best to see a doc. My PD also advised us to hydrate him and keep him warm. He even asked us to stop feeding solids for a while and go on full milk. I think it's so that his body can pass out the bad stuff from his urine which is also the logic why adults need to drink water when ill.

 

[apollo]

ds is also 4.5 mths but he is alrdy a regular in his pd's clinic. cos he has been suffering from cough on and off since 2mths old..

Pls bring ur baby to a PD asap.. initially we tot he will recover but drag until he kanna bronchitis.. and aft that whenever he coughs, he will get bronchitis aka qi guan fa yan.. always need nebuliser to recover...

i think better bring to a pd than a gp since ur baby is only 4.5 mths old...

 

[jasobias]

My baby is still recovering fr her 2nd round of cough n cold..its pretty mild this 2nd time round.i give her warm water to drink mixed with delrosa(a vit c drink) n it helped! Her phlegm has greatly reduced.Water must be warm though.When a baby gets cough n cold its impt to keep it hydrated.Some mums wld actually dilute milk feed..tht is add more water to their regular milk feed so baby gets some water n milk is not so thick.I know its an issue with many paeds whether mums shld give babies water.My baby;s paedtrician thinks its ok as long the water is not replacing a milk feed.

 

[Shirix]

My 5mth boy also suffer from flu and cough just 2 weeks ago.. Initially my pediatician dont want to give my boi medicine.. coz he said still very young. better dont eat med until last resort so he use a machine to suck the phlem from his nose... when the doc is insert the tube into his nose, my boi was screaming and crying ... though the doc assure me that its not painful.. just uncomfortable for him and he cried only because he is scare.. anyway,i almost cried with my boi... the phlem from his nose is yellowish loh... so doc ask me to use nebuliser with a little bit of medicine so that it will remove the phlem from his nose... but ask me to go back 2 days later... 2 days later, doc use the machine to suck and it seems like not recovering because the colour of the phlem is still yellowish so he give antibotics for my boi... after that every 2days i will go back to let the doc monitor and evertime he would use that machine.. :'( until my boi so scare of lying down.... few days later he say my boi is not having normal flu.. its infection in his throat and lung... i even send his phlem to lab for testing of bateria... but glad that there is no bateria found.... luckily i go see docs earlier.. if not his condition might worsen... but its very ex.... bills add up to nearly 1k... but as long as he recover and smile happily at me... everything is worth it...

oh ya.. I also increase my boi's water intakes by reducing the milk powder... and stop sleeping in aircon... coz when babies are cold, the nostril become smaller too..

 

[snowbear]

My dd also had cough and bad phelgm just a month or so ago. It was so bad that the GP had to put her on nebuliser for almost a week coz the phelgm didn't clear up after 3 days. I'd advise you to bring your bb to the pd or a GP who's very experienced with treating babies (as mine is).

 

[cmeilim]

Thank you to all the mummies who gave advice.

My boy woke up with slight fever this morning too. Saw beads of perspiration on his forehead. And I lost count the number of times he coughed and sneezed in half an hour. We gave him a dosage of the paracetemol for babies which we got for his last vaccination. He slept like a baby on the way to my office and to my mum's where he is at during the day on weekdays. Really pray that his condition doesn't deteriorate. But we are ready to take him to see a PD if it doesn't improve by this evening.

Anyone has a good PD in the Serangoon, AMK, Bishan area to recommend? Someone who doesn't dish out unnecessarily strong medicine for very young infants and who's preferably open on weekday evenings?

 

[apollo]

Thank you to all the mummies who gave advice.

My boy woke up with slight fever this morning too. Saw beads of perspiration on his forehead. And I lost count the number of times he coughed and sneezed in half an hour. We gave him a dosage of the paracetemol for babies which we got for his last vaccination. He slept like a baby on the way to my office and to my mum's where he is at during the day on weekdays. Really pray that his condition doesn't deteriorate. But we are ready to take him to see a pediatrician if it doesn't improve by this evening.

Anyone has a good pediatrician in the Serangoon, AMK, Bishan area to recommend? Someone who doesn't dish out unnecessarily strong medicine for very young infants and who's preferably open on weekday evenings?

AMK has a branch of Singapore Baby and Child clinic but they only open half day on wed & sat =(

 

[LoVeS]

Hi cmeilim,

My boy also got a cough a while back. We waited for a week and it didn't subside so we brought him to see the pediatrician. I wouldn't recommend a GP unless you know that the GP is competent in treating babies.

The pediatrician prescribed me Zyrtec and Rhinathiol. The first was for his running/blocked nose and the other for his cough. It subsided for a week and then it came back again on and off.

After a month, he was still coughing so we brought him back to the pediatrician. This time he gave antibiotics coz he was already having quite a bad sorethroat from all the coughing. He also prescribed two other meds for him and that cured him completely.

For our son, the cause of cough was from infant care.

If you're sure that your baby has caught a virus, it's best to see a doc. My pediatrician also advised us to hydrate him and keep him warm. He even asked us to stop feeding solids for a while and go on full milk. I think it's so that his body can pass out the bad stuff from his urine which is also the logic why adults need to drink water when ill.

Yes i totally agreed tat see a GP unless u knw the GP haf the capability to treat infants if nt will haf to risk overdose of meds.

For me normally i monitor for a wk too n if it get worse or fever then i will bring my kid see PD. I am kiasu mummy so i rather pay more to see pd than to risk :shyxxx:

 

[Mummy73]

Dear snowbear
yah this is an old thread... Hope u r still visiting this site. Which GP u go to treat ur kid? Would like to have a family doc we all can go to. Thanks in advance;-)