7 TIPS for how to treat CROUP at home AND 10 WARNING SIGNS to watch out for - Doctor explains..

In this video Dr O'Donovan gives 7 top tips for helping manage a CHILD AT HOME WITH CROUP and 10 WARNING SIGNS to watch out for which may indicate the child is becoming more unwell.

CROUP is a common condition, often caused by a virus, that mainly affects babies' and young children's airways and is characterised by a barking cough.

If you’re child has croup they might have started off with cold-like symptoms to begin with, such as a temperature, runny nose and cough.
They may also have a hoarse voice, difficulty breathing and sometimes a rasping sound when breathing in

Croup symptoms usually come on after a few days and are often worse at night and if your child has croup it should normally start to improve within 48 hours.

During this time you should try do the following 7 things at home:

1. Stay calm in order to reassure your child.

2. Sit your child upright on your lap if their breathing is noisy or difficult and try to let them find the most comfortable position.

3. Encourage your child to drink cool drinks regularly (little and often) to help soothe their throat and keep them hydrated.

4. Give your child paracetamol or ibuprofen liquid, following the instructions on the bottle – this will help keep any temperature down.

5. If their temperature is high, dress them in cool, loose clothes and don’t use anything warmer than a sheet to cover them in bed.

6. Stay with your child, or check him or her regularly, as you need to know if the symptoms are getting worse.

7. Some people find that taking their child outside in the cool, fresh air helps to relieve their symptoms.

Two things that you should NOT do are

1. Putting your child in a steamy room or get them to inhale steam

2. Do not give them cough or cold medicines

10 warning signs include:

1. Going blue around the lips
2. Making a harsh noise as they breath in.
3. if they have pauses in their breathing or has an irregular breathing pattern, or they look like they are struggling to breath.
4. They are too breathless to talk / eat or drink
5. They become pale, their skin looks mottled or feels abnormally cold to touch.
6. and 7. The sixth and seventh reasons are linked – these are if they become extremely agitated (crying inconsolably despite distraction), confused or on the other hand if they are very drowsy (difficult to wake)
8. If they develop a rash that does not disappear with pressure (the ‘Glass Test’)
9. Is under 1 month of age with a temperature of 38°C /100.4°F or above
10. Seems to be getting worse or if you are worried.

In general if you think your child may have croup its worth speaking to your doctor.

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[mattscruggs]

Anyone watching this at 4am while croup keeps your little one up in your arms?

[paulajanson]

My son has croup multiple times per year until he was 11. At which point they called it reactive airway disease. Always in the winter when the forced air heat was on. The only thing that ever worked was taking him outside in the cold air. Humidifiers and steamy bathrooms NEVER HELPED. Just my experience. It’s a very scary illness. But I promise, cold air is the answer.

[yvonnejohnson]

My toddler used to get this fifty years ago. She was also asthmatic. There was nothing available for her in those days. I used to take her into the bathroom, shut the door and fill the basin with hot water. I put a yellow plasticduck floating on the water and I sat on the side of the bath. I sat her on my knee and covered our heads with a bath towel and held her hands so that she didn’t put her hands into the hot water. Then I told her her to blow the duck and she did. That meant that she was inhaling the steam and it worked.

[yeebthooj]

I’m up at 2am with my 16 month old this morning. I found out he breathes better sleeping on his tummy on a pillow that is slightly elevated.

[jackobrien]

Well why is steam bad for them? And why no natural cough medicine? More details 🙏

[Romyshaww]

So many different advice on this topic, my son got croups a year ago and we had to rush to the ER we didn’t know anything about it. The Dr advised, steam in the bathroom, popsicles to soothe his throat, going outside to breathe in the cold air or opening the freezer and breathe the cool air.
Yesterday my SIL put my nephew in a steamy bathroom since we were on vacations in a hotel we didn’t really have a lot of options, she said it worked but she still took him to the ER. It’s a scary situation. I had never heard anything like that until my son got sick. I didn’t know about the existence of that sickness.

[IsaacPollak]

My Dr and most google answers suggest to use humidifier for the breathing, not sure why you say the opposite, also most dr recommend even to take child in bath and let hot water run to get a very steamy room

[sheilamarie_]

Why are the steam baths not a good idea? The pediatrician suggested for me to do steam baths as a main method of combating his croup

[mayraplascencia]

Hi thank you Doctor for these videos especially helpful for first time parents. I have a question, do you have any topics on swallowing issues or aspiration and how these sound?? My toddler after drinking water does a few loud air gulps and we don’t know what it is, his breathing is fine but it’s just a strange sound.

[hasisme]

Yes it’s almost 2 am here and my seven year old is barking at me

[fannybeltran]

My 3yr old was diagnosed with croup today. I’m so scared! Today is his 1s day. He doesn’t want to eat . Dr said I need to maintain him hydrated

[teezhareynoso]

My daughter started her cough by July 13 then I bring her on her pedia and prescribed to nebulize, then after 1 week it was getting worse and her cough is just like barking and dry. She's having a hard time to sleep and almost vomiting. We bring her again at her pedia and He said it was LTB or croup so the pedia prescribed Levofront syrup and montelukast chewable tablet. Somehow it's getting better but when the medicine stop her dry cough came back and I observed it more worse during night time. It is ok Doc until now she's experiencing again. Btw, I'm from the Philippines.

[anujikku]

Thank you for this video.Really helpful

[elarinna]

I don’t know what to do anymore. My toddler gets it every once a month or every time she gets sick/. Changed Ventolin to Flixotide even that doesn’t help anymore. The only thing that immediately stops the attack is Adrenalin injection in the leg..

[manwaerakat]

My toddler got out of bed at 1am we can hear him coughing like a seal. He was blue and drooling and barely able to breath. We calmed him down and took him straight outside for air. Then can e can in and turned in steam in the shower. That makes him throw up which seemed to bring relief. Then took him back outside for some cold air. Have him honey and Motrin. I hate croup so much.

[navy]

Even now I have a croup I'm 17 years old . Doctors said to me that I must avoid eating Popsicles .

[daninaavery]

My son has croup yet again. He has had it 7 times in a year and a half. He’s 2 years old. His breathing gets so strained that we have to take him to the ER to get steroids every time. I’m wondering if I should take him to a specialist because this cannot be normal and I’m worried about exposing him to such strong steroids. He will not nebulizer and nothing else helps. As soon as he is on his back sleeping he cannot breathe.

[mehveensyed]

My daughter is coughing since last night constantly. Now also she is coughing. Giving her nebulization and medication still cough is there. She is 22months old. Please reply to this. Thanks

[carolinenarud]

Homemade Popsicles to soothe my throat....?

[godwins]

Why not cough or cold medicine? I wonder🤔 why he said that