As feared Caitlin had her 1st mildish experience of croup last night at 4am. (I actually wrote a post on here at about 5am but my damn laptop decided to shut down and reboot so it got lost ).

Anyhoo it wasnt too bad, a bit raspy, did the steam thing with electric shower. Rang mum at 4.20am as was a bit panicked & she reassured me Caitlin sounded ok but did tell me to turn the bloody electric shower off before I burnt the motor out - whoops! Will fill bath next time!

She still raspy today and sounds like she smokes 40 a day bless her. Dosed on calpol and trying to get her to drink warm juice. She's happy enough most of time just drained looking and wet eyed if you know what I mean.

Main question- is it true croup is worse on the 2nd and 3rd nights, or does it get better? I think im a bit fretful as cpl months ago her cousin had viral infection and ended up being hospitalised twice, once due to febral convulsion and then the 2nd time due to low oxygen levels after bad croup. Im prob overreacting as I know I had croup as a toddler and never had to go to hospital.

This is so silly as iv replied to posts before giving general advice about croup, its different but when its your own. Paranoia seems to set in and all rational thoughts go out the window!!!

Has she got that kinda of barking seal cough then?

Ive never had experience, although what you are doing sounds like everything you can do.

Have you raised the end of her mattress as that can help with stuff noses if she has one

Yeah it was awful, almost like she was gasping for breath and cant get any in but clearly she was. baby seal is a perfect way to describe it! She fine now (eg doesnt sound like a seal, just a smoker!), only lasted for about hlf hr last night. After 10 min in steam she was practsing jumping inbetween occassional wheezes/coughs, id have worried more if she didnt seem to be improving or it had gone on for cpl hrs.

Today she just has a normalish hard sounding cough, like her throat or chest are a bit irritated from last night. Will try the pillow under matress tonight had forgot about that trick, thanx, may try karvol too. Im up for trying anything tonight!

Robert has had croup a couple of times and he was awful the 2nd, 3rd and 4th night, dont want to worry you but its best to be prepared, We did go to a&e with him one night as he was really coughing and got himself in a state and couldnt catch his breath but by the time we got there he had calmed down. We did find going for a walk in the evening helped too as the moist air is ment to be good for them, just wrap caitlin up warm. Also i founf doing a beaker of honey and lemon helped to loosen (sp?) his chest a lot. If you want any more advice send me a message or talk to me on facebook.
Also we put a pillow under Roberts mattress at night so he wasn't laying flat

Thanx Laura. I had heard somewhere that it can get worse before it gets better . I just knew yday she wasnt right, almost like a mummys instinct it was going to happen so in a way i was prepared for it last night. Still blinking scary but!

I think if it got really bad id just phone an ambulance. I know you probably not supposed to but im on my own at nights and would panick getting her into car and driving to the hospital on my own with her. Whats the worst they can do, tell me off?

She seems happy enough now, dancing with her dollies - not really eating her lunch though. Was Robert the same, did he perk up in the day? She's napped alot less the past few days too even though im sure she's missing out on sleep.

evan has had croup twice and it is alot worse at nights than thru the day and id def say the second night is the worst evan had it last month and on the second night his breathin was really struggled because of it

if her cough is like a barking seal u shud take her to docs hun
evan got steriods for his croup its only 2 steriods that you dissolve in water and give to lo at same time and it clears it so quick, it doesnt actually help the cough but gets rid of the inflammation which causes the croup

if she not better by 2moro id def get her seen or even phone ur doc today for advice but they will want to see her before issuing steriods jst make sure u tell them that it sounds like a barking seal cos there is no mistaking that thats croup

i hope she is better soon x

Thanx Michelle, had her a drs yday and he diagnosed viral infection, didnt have croup symptoms yday am but. If she bad again tonight il ring dr tomorrow. Thankfully our out of hrs service is quite good and know I can bring her down at night/weekend if needs be. The cough was only seal like for about hlf in the night, atm its more like a normal hard cough.

Im dreading tonight now. She burnt out atm lying on sofa beside me with bedtime bear, snuffling away watching dora (after watching bob the builder big fish little fish song no joke 8 times on repeat ). Not like her at all to be so still and quiet.

Lewis had croup a couple of weeks ago. He ended up sleeping with us for 4 nights as him getting upset in the night made him worse. I gave him ibuprofen which is supposed to help as it reduces inflammation in the airway. Also cold air is good so wrap her up and take her outside, that's why a lot of babies improve on getting to A&E as they have been out in the cold xx

Also the doc told me if I was worried in the night or he was getting worse to phone NHS direct and they can get a doc to come out and give steroids to help xx

Amandaplus2 wrote:

Also the doc told me if I was worried in the night or he was getting worse to phone NHS direct and they can get a doc to come out and give steroids to help xx

Thanx didnt get to take her out tonight before bed but will do tomorrow night. NHS direct isnt valid in NI as far as I know. We do have a good local out of hrs service though were a dr can ring you back in the night and either call out in emergency or you go down and see them.

She just settling to sleep now and im going to follow soon to try and get a few hrs kip before it starts. Hopefully it was a one off...doubtful though from what you ladies are saying.

How did you get on last night chick xx

OMG she slept through I was asleep about 10 which is not like me at all (though was knackered!!!), think I heard her cough a couple of times but nothing major... and then she was talking and looked at clock & it was 740am! (slightly early for her).

Im scared I was so tired I slept through her crys but doubt I could have. I did the pillow under mattress, karvol, calpol before bed and she didnt nap long yday. She still coughing this morning and a bit wet eyed but she sitting beside me now taking her btl and rubbing teddy on her face. Hopefully it was only mild croup the other night and was a one off! She's still pale & tired looking but a bad cold I can cope with - croup im not so confident! Thanx!

aww im glad she seems a bit better and hopefully her cold will clear up quickly

Glad she seems better hun, it is worrying isnt it.
Robert always seems fine during the day then goes down hil in the evening, sounds like you're doing a good job!