Cough medicine for almost-4-year-olds

First of all let me say that I know cold/cough meds are not recommended for young children. We have very obediently never used them (other than an occasional dose of allergy medicine for Sarah which the ped recommended). But Sarah has been coughing like crazy at night, and it breaks my heart to listen to her. We're already using a humidifier, giving her albuterol at bedtime (also per ped's recommendation), and trying to get her to drink more liquids. Nothing seems to help.

Dr. Sears's website actually recommends Delsym (with the caveat not to use meds in children under 4). Has anyone used it? Does it actually work at this age? I think I tried some kind of cough suppressant on Sarah when she was much younger (in defiance of the recommendations) and it did nothing, but I'd be willing to try it again now.

 

We used Delsym a couple weeks ago with our cough. My kids are almost 5 in Dec, but if I'd known about it I would have used it earlier. Our bottle says 2.5 ml for 4-6 year olds. It helps. It won't get rid of the cough, but it's meant to open up the airway a bit so the coughing isn't so violent. Hope it helps. You might want to add some robitussen to it, too. That's an expectorant and will help loosen it up to get that junk out so she can get well quicker. We did that, too.
(PS, I don't think you need to explain yourself, we all do what we feel is right for our kids, even if it's not what everyone would do. :good

 

I used Delsym last winter for my girls (age 2) at the advice of our pedi. It didn't take away the cough, but it did decrease the severity of it. I would use it again. :good:

 

Do you know what's causing her cough? Meaning, is it a dry cough, or is it because she's full of phlegm and has post-nasal drip?

Kevan coughs at night because of the latter. I do a few things -- first, I use a nasal rinse with him about 30 minutes before bed. The neti pot is too complicated -- I just use a squeeze bottle and push the stuff up one nostril until it pours out the other, and repeat with the other nostril. I make the rinse with 8 oz. of warm water, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of non-iodized salt, and a pinch of baking soda.

He fights this like holy hell as you can imagine, but it really clears out his sinuses, making him cough less. Then, if he does get up coughing, I give him a few sips to drink, followed by a couple spoonfuls of regular honey. Then I hold him over some cold mist for a couple minutes (from one of those facial vaporizer things), and I rub more Vicks on his chest and feet. This usually does the trick for a few hours, at least.

You can also try really elevating her head -- put something under the mattress, or give her two or three pillows, so that she's almost sleeping sitting up. (She has to agree to it, of course.)

I've used Delsym with Nadia in the past with some success. I think it's supposed to work on the portion of the brain that controls the *urge* to cough -- so, give that a try.

ETA -- good ol' Benadryl may dry her up a little, and help her sleep better, too.

 

I like Delsym. I used it last year on my 2 YO and 4YO. Worked well.

 

I gave Delsym to the kids at that age and it worked very well.

 

Our ped recommends plain Robitussin (no letters after it) to loosen up the phlegm. Doesn't really help with suppressing the cough, but it does seem to help break up the stuffy noses and the gunk. If she's having trouble sleeping, I would try benadryl.

 

Delsym is what we use around here. Like the pp, it doesn't take it away completely, but it does help reduce it. My kids also take Zyrtec, but there are times when they complain of a dry itchy throat and that's what is causing the coughing so on those nights I skip the Zyrtec and give them Benedryl. It's really seems to help with the itchy throat better than the Zyrtec. Other than that, the humidifer and some vicks are what we use. Oh, we also do sinus rinses if they have some nasal congestion too. Getting all the stuff out of their nose and not letting it run down their throat at night seems to help.

 

We have always used Delsym. It seems to work pretty well for us. I am also a big believer of honey if it is post nasal drip that is causing the cough.

 

We have always use Delsym as well. I typically only use it at night to help them sleep and only if the cough is interrupting their sleep.

 

Benadryl (diphenhydramine) is good for coughs in all people esp kids.

Try it!

 

Same as Trish, we mainly use it at night. :good:

 

We also do the nasal rinse and it helps ALOT! I buy the saline for kids in the little bottle with a squirt tip. One of my kids actually likes it, the others fight it. I also give a spoonful of honey and it seems to help.
Good luck!

 

Thanks everyone! It is a mucousy cough, and she doesn't cough much during the day, but she insists on sleeping flat on her back. So she doesn't have coughing fits, but she'll gag/cough a couple of times every few minutes when it drips down her throat. I tried getting her to sleep propped up, but she wasn't having it.

I've tried offering her honey, and she won't eat it! I can't even imagine trying to do a sinus rinse, but she does actually like Little Noses (not a rinse, you just squirt them up the nose) and I forgot to do that last night, but I should do it tonight. I tried Benadryl last night and the cough was worse than ever -- I don't think the Benadryl made it worse, but it didn't seem to help.

The saving grace is that she more or less sleeps through it. I heard a lot of squirming, but whenever I checked on her, her eyes were shut.

Anyway, thanks for the ideas!

 

I've had good luck with Motrin helping to quiet their coughs. They get Veryamyst nasal spray at night and lately I have been giving them Triaminic Cold and Cough because they have been so congested. But when they start coughing I give them some Motrin, and it seems to help quite a bit.

 

Dark chocolate has been found to be a better cough suppressant than even cough syrup w/ codeine in it. It has something called Theobromine it in. The darker the better. I don't personally like it super dark, so go with kind of a middle of the road dark chocolate. Certainly a lot easier to get a child to take than most meds!

 

I like Hyland's cough syrup with natural honey. It usually helps a bunch when the boys have congestion but this time it was not and I took them in to the doc's today and turns out they had walking pneumonia.

 

Since it's mucusy I'd use childrens mucinex

 

Oh! Another reason to pick up more dark chocolate skulls on my way home from work. Bianca has had a cough and she didn't cough last night after eating one.

 

I never heard that one before! But I'll certainly give it a try (I wish I'd seen this before I went to Target this morning!). Never hurts to have another opportunity to eat chocolate. How much are you supposed to eat? Would a few bites make a difference, or does it have to be a whole bar?

 

Gonna have to try that one!

 

For what it's worth, we tried the Delsym tonight (combined with Benadryl) and it seems to have made a huge difference. I hear an occasional burst of coughing, maybe once an hour, rather than every minute for the first two hours like last night. She seemed about the same during the day as yesterday, so I really think it is the medicine. :good:

 

our ped recommends Delsym also however it makes Abigail a raving b!tch!!! Ian can take it without issue but it makes her crazy...so I only use it when she's coughing so much she's keeping herself awake...

 

If there is congestion contributing to the cough I use Benadryl in addition to the Delsym. What I like so much about Delsym is that it lasts 12 hours. Robitussen only lasts 4 hours. The Deslym doesn't take the cough completely away, but it makes a huge difference in how often and how hard they are coughing.

 

I did not read the other replies, so I apologize in advance if someone already suggested this, but try honey. A spoonful will work well. I hope she feels better soon.