Why is my child coughing so long!

Some of you who know me pretty well know that our family has been put the the ringer the last few months with sickness.  It all started with my daughter Hannah who had a wet cough or phlegmy cough that started way back in July.  I took her to the pediatrician multiple times who said it was allergies or a virus.  She continued to cough everyday all day.  I knew it wasn’t allergies.  My husband, mother and son all have allergies, and they have never coughed everyday for months because of allergies.  I finally decided if the pediatrician wasn’t going to do anything that I would take her to an allergist to prove that it wasn’t allergies.   The allergist tested her for allergies, turns out she is mildly allergic to trees but that wasn’t what was causing the coughing.  The allergist determined Hannah had a sinus infection, that went undiagnosed for 5 months.  After a round or antibiotic and steroids the cough finally ended.

Next was my baby Noah(8 months old) who started coughing, I was ready to cry after the ordeal I went thru with Hannah.   I took him to the pediatrician who said “it’s a virus”, then a week later back to the pediatrician, “it’s a virus”, then another week went by, “it’s a virus”, then back again to the pediatrician it’s getting worse lets give him Omnicef, still not better lets’ give him breathing treatments and another round of Omnicef because I was  insisting it’s not a virus.  Still no improvement, Noah continued to get sicker and sicker and I was crying every night because I knew something was seriously wrong!  And my pediatrician kept telling me it was viral!  So in desperation I made another appointment with an allergist/immunologist praying he would have some insight.  After listening to my story the allergist/immunologist said he suspected it to be  Mycoplasma, after doing the physical exam he said Noah had pneumonia.  He didn’t have a fever which was throwing off my pediatrician .  After 10 days of Bactium, the antibiotic to treat walking pneumonia, (Mycoplasma Pneumonia), I am happy to say Noah has stopped coughing.  I am so thankful to God for leading me to the right doctor.  

I know this is going around so I hope that my story will help other moms who can’t figure out why their children are coughing!

The 3 most common causes of a cough that lasts 6 weeks or longer are postnasal drip (most commonly from allergies), asthma and gastroesophageal reflux (stomach acid coming up to the vocal cords and making him cough)–in that order. Often the history or exam guides you. For instance if there is wheezing, asthma is the likely candidate. If the lungs are clear but there is alot of snot, postnasal drip. 

The typical approach is a trial of treatment for the most likely culprit. Albuterol sometimes is helpful if you give it and you notice that for the next couple hours he coughs or wheezes less. It doesn’t do anything to make him get better faster but it does make him breath easier and wheeze and cough less until his body heals. If he is not getting better within a week or two, you can try oral steroids for 5 days or a steroid inhaler which gives the same medicine right to the longs but takes longer to work (maybe a month). Somewhere along the way a chest xray is good to get to make sure there is not a pneumonia or something unusual that might show up on xray.

For both asthma and postnasal drip from allergies, avoiding common allergens can be helpful. The most common ones are cats/hamsters, dust mites (cover mattress and wash sheets in hot water weekly) and pollen or mold.


My friend who is a doctor sent me this information.  I thought it might be helpful to someone.