Conference moira::parenting_v3

    My son (then 10 months old) had had a cold for a few days.  I put
    him to bed one night, and at about midnight I heard a barking noise
    coming from his room.  I went and got him and put him in bed with me.
    Then I just listened for a while.  He'd bark (cough), bark, bark,
    mutter under his breath, and fall back asleep.  10 minutes later he'd
    start the whole thing over again.  Then I called the doctor.
    
    His first question was whether the baby seemed to have difficulty 
    breathing.  If that happens, they want to see them right away.  But
    he wasn't.  Other than that, I was supposed to keep his room on the
    cool side and run a humidifier (or a shower with him in the bathroom).
    My doctor also said that a walk outside will help stop the attack.
    This was early April, and my doctor said, "It's a beautiful night to
    get rid of croup!"
    
    Anyway, Jeff barked from 12:00 till 12:30, again from 2:00 till 2:30,
    and at 4:00 I was walking outside with him.  Actually, he was kinda
    cute.  I had him all bundled up and wrapped him in a large blanket,
    so he ended up being the size of a stuffed garbage bag, with just
    his little face peeking out.  We stayed outside for a half hour or
    so, and when I brought him in, he had no other attacks.
    
    It was scary, though not as scary as the scene you described.  Hope
    your son's case is as short-lived as my son's was.
    

Cory had a mild case of croup when he was just over a year old.  He, too,
woke up during the night "barking".  It's an awful noise to wake up to !

Our doctor recommended all the same steps as .1.  Fortunately, that was 
his only attack.

- Terry

My 3.5 year old has had it either 2 or 3 times.  She's gotten an injection
of a steroid for it (not the kind that will bulk her up :-).  ).  They
really do sound awful.

Liz

Oh, Jeff, I'm so sorry you have had to go through this!

Croup was also discussed in PARENTING_V2.  You may want to look there, too.

     Carol

    Matts' better today... although he woke up 'barking' this morning too.
    But it wasn't as bad.  I think if we had known what was going on it
    sure would have helped.  We did the prudent thing not knowing if he was
    in serious trouble or not.  Every once in a while somebody dies because
    their condition was under estimated. I didn't want to make that
    mistake.  Another time I would recognize croup.
    
    Jeff

    My daughter came down with Croup when she was about 2 1/2 years old.
    I agree with everyone.. it is SCARY.  She woke up after sleeping for
    several hours, an I heard this noise.. I thought it was the dog
    at first.  When I went in her room she was standing in her crib
    wheezing and barking.  I also thought she was choking.  I picked her
    up an ran for the phone, I was so panic stricken that when I got the
    answering service for the doctor I forgot my phone number.  Good thing
    my husband was standing right there.   They told me the same as
    everyone else, steam from the shower or cold night air.  She was better
    in about a half an hour, but I was a wreck for the rest of the night
    worrying about her.   For the rest of the week I put the humidifier in
    her room an turned it up high, an she didn't have another attack.
    
    The doctor did state when I talked to him, that Croup is one of the
    scariest things you'll experience as a parent (if you don't know what
    your dealing with) but the least harmful.
    
    -Julie

    We are on our SECOND bout of croup in 8 weeks!  David (14 months) just
    came down with it for the second time on Wednesday.  Our Pedi
    recommended leaving a window cracked open in his room, and put a
    cool-mist humidifier on "HIGH" mist all night.  She said the mist in
    conjunction with the cool air will help soothe his throat and reduce
    the inflamation so he can breathe better.  Poor little guy went to bed
    in long-johns, socks, pajamas, and a hat!  But it does help.  He only
    woke up twice during the night coughing.  When he came down with it the
    first time, back in January, I heard what I describe as a "honk" over
    the monitor.  I have two dogs, one of whom has developed epiglottal
    infections several times and sounds exactly like a goose honking, so my
    first thought was "How did Bandit get into the baby's room?".  I
    couldn't believe that horrible sound was coming from my little
    munchkin!  Another thing that helped was to run the shower very hot and
    fill up the bathroom with steam, then give him his bath.  Kind of
    contradicts the "cool steam" method, but it helped.  A walk in the cool
    night air, if all else fails, will help.  The doctor did say to listen
    to his breathing for "striations", indicating his throat was swollen
    and he couldn't breathe, but so far we haven't had any problems.
    Sarah
    

    We've been through croup a few years ago.  Learned from my doctor, that
    many times parents will rush their children to the emergency room and
    the croup will have dissipated by the time they get there.  (The night
    air theory really works).  We used the hot shower method until Carrie
    was breathing right, and then took the time out to panic and call the
    dr.  Turned out she also had an ear infection as well as the cold that
    started the croup.
    
    Meg

    Cory's got croup again !  He was really fussy & whinny yesterday and 
    woke us up about 2:00 a.m. with that awful cough.  
    
    At least we didn't panic this time.  And he seems fine this morning,
    just signs of a cold.
    
    
    - Terry

    That was a good point about the ear infections being present.  We ended
    up taking Jeff to the doctor the day after his croup attack, and were
    told he had *two* ear infections.
    
    I was talking with a woman who says that her son (now 6) gets croup
    *every* winter.  Yuk!

    My elder daughter had the croup a little over a year ago when she was
    about 2.5.  Wasn't *nearly* as bad as the cases described here.  She
    had a cold, became cranky, and then started sounding like a seal when
    she cried.  Doctor said it was a mild case of croup; was cleared up
    with an antibiotic.  
    
    When I heard croup is was relieved it wasn't bronchitis.  I'm not sure
    which is worse...
    
    I'm glad Elizabeth's was a very mild case.
    
    Regards,
    LZP
    

    The EMT in me is prompting this response.   I couldn't count the number
    of times we've been called for "a child having difficulty breathing",
    and by the time we get there we meet a panic stricken parent in the
    driveway holding a child who by this time hardly needs an emergency
    transport.  The cool night air is the best thing ever.  What we'll
    usually do en route to a hospital is to use a cool humidfied oxygen via
    a mask, relief will usually come quickly.  My son's Godmother is an RN
    and related several nights of sitting on the back step holding a croupy
    child.  It really is scarey and if it scares you that much, by all
    means call 911 for help!  Without a special instrument to look down the
    child's throat you have no way to know if something more serious is
    going on.
    
    Epiglotitis has been mentioned, and that would probably be the most
    valid reason for at least having the child checked.  When the
    epiglottis swells you're dealing with a *true* medical emergency, and
    many, if not most cases require a trachostomy or intubation to be
    performed. (A tube inserted directly into the airway, either
    through the mouth or a surgical incision in the neck)
    
    From a personal point of view, we went through a problem at the
    hospital with AJ, he woke up *screaming and stiff* when he was under a
    year, I called the ambulance (before I was part of their staff) and
    moved him quickly, only to be told it was from "red ears" and was sent
    home, after spending the night up with no improvement we brought him
    back and found that his oxygen level was down near 80%, a seriously
    dangerous level.  He was having a very bad brochial spasms, which we
    now know as asthma and spent several days on monitors, IV drugs, the
    "croup" tent, and very seriously ill.  The first doctor in the ER was 
    disciplined for her misdiagnosis, and fortunately no long term damage 
    was done.  We knew as we left the ER that is wasn't his ears and that
    something more serious was going on.  Bottom line if you think
    somethings wrong, don't let some ER resident try to tell you different.
    
    Someone mentioned steroids, I too was concerned about this considering
    all the bad press they had received from athletes.  Steroids
    (prednisone in most cases) actually
    reduce inflamation, take cortisone cream as an example. It's a different
    type of steroid, and the bottom line is that it takes about 24 hours
    after the first dose for it to start working.  It doesn't matter
    whether it was given in an IV or by mouth.  I too though "oh boy
    steroids, a miracle cure" until the pedi pulmonary specialist told me
    that it takes time to reduce the inflamation of bronchitis or asthma.
    Lyn

    I didn't pay much attention to this note until today ..my son
    woke up at 1:30 this morning with the same symptoms ..difficulty
    breathing and that awful noise!  It scared me half to death ..but
    he was diagnosed over the phone by his pedi and some time in the
    cold night air really did help. 
    
    I kept him home today because I was told that he could be contagious.
    I was wondering ..how long does this last?  Should I expect a repeat
    of last night??  He seems fine today except that his breathing sounds like
    he's 'out of breath' a lot of the times ..and when he does cough, 
    he's still barking.  I was also told that it's most likely a virus
    so that anitbiotics wouldn't help ...
    
    I just wish I paid more attention to the symptoms in this note
    earlier  - it might not have made last night such a nightmare.