Why croup worse night

Skip to Content. Urgent Care. In This Section. Conditions We Treat Croup. What You will Hear and See At first, your child may have a stuffy or runny nose and may have a low fever. What to do There is no medicine that will get rid of the virus, but you can do some things to help your child breathe easier until the infection goes away. Stay calm and try to keep your child calm. Crying and tension can trigger coughing. Regularly washing hands thoroughly can help prevent the spread of viruses.

In the past, some doctors recommended exposure to mist or steam therapy, including the use of vaporisers. Research evidence now shows this to be of no benefit and it is no longer recommended. We acknowledge the input of RCH consumers and carers.

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The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. Signs and symptoms of croup Croup usually begins like a normal cold, e. Your child's cough will change to become harsh and barking, and might sound like a seal. But if they don't and they get more anxious, they'll have more stridor. If they actually start having their airway close off enough, they will start to turn blue.

They may pass out or stop breathing and definitely call at that time. If your child continues to have stridor, but it's not completely blocking their airway, take them to the closest children's emergency room. Your child may receive a dose of a steroid called dexamethasone, which helps shrink the swelling in your child's airways. In severe cases, they may receive a breathing treatment of a medicine called racemic epinephrine that will actually help really quickly shrink the airway swelling down.

Your child would then be admitted to the hospital for close observation overnight to make sure that the swelling doesn't come back. So at home if your child is not too severe and you need to have them just managed at home, things you can do include:. Coughing spasms are often due to sticky mucus caught in the vocal cords, so the warm fluids may actually help relax the vocal cords and loosen up that mucus. Cough medicines are much less helpful than the mist or the warm fluids for croup, and children over 6 years old can be given cough drops for the cough, but children under the age of 4 should not be given any cough medications.

It's not really safe. Children over 12 months old can be given some honey on a spoon to help, but never give honey to babies. If your child still has the croup, you can take them to your local pediatrician , and they can also be prescribed the steroid treatments that I mentioned when I talked about the emergency rooms. If your child is stable enough to be treated at home, the dexamethasone can be prescribed, and that medicine takes care of the barkiness of the croup cough, but the virus still needs to run its course, and the cough itself, not the barky part, but the cough that goes with the virus can last for up to three weeks.

The viruses that cause croup are actually quite contagious until the fever is gone or during the first three days of illness. Larger text size Large text size Regular text size. What Is Croup? Most kids with croup get better in a week or so.

What Are the Symptoms of Croup? Symptoms of croup are often worse at night and when a child is upset or crying. What Causes Croup? How Is Croup Diagnosed? How Is Croup Treated? Breathing in moist air can help kids feel better. To help your child breathe in moist air: Use a cool-mist humidifier or run a hot shower to create a steam-filled bathroom where you can sit with your child for 10 minutes. Breathing in the mist will sometimes stop the severe coughing.