Does This Seem Unusual to You? Toddler Cough ..

Updated on January 03, 2012
M.M. asks from Chicago, IL
8 answers

My 20 month old was down with a bad cough 3-4 weeks ago. He still coughs a bit in the mornings but otherwise is better. I got that cold from him and have been coughing for past 2 weeks(the longest for M.) ! He is definitely doing better than M..His pediatrician had told M. that the cold was in his lungs and he seemed very congested. She put him on antibiotics for ear infections that he also had and the next time I took him in for follow up after a week or so , she told M. his lungs were very clear.And ears looked fine as well.

Anyways I have recently noticed that he coughs a lot after he jumps or runs a lot. We got a xbox 360 couple weeks ago. And he loves playing some games on it which requires a lot of jumping. He pleads for M. to put it on for him everyday and then after a while I hear him coughing. yesterday he was running around a lot and I heard him coughing. I never noticed this before he fell sick with cold and cough last month. But now everytime he runs/jumps a lot I hear him coughing.

So now I am not sure if he is doing this because he still has a cough or could it be something else? I have heard it could be a symptom of asthma , so I am concerned and wondering if I need to talk to his doctor about it. He coughs a lot but not like he is catching for his breath or anything.I don't hear any wheezing or crackling etc. He still continues to play and is not tired or anything.

Am I reading too much into this or is this really something I need to talk to his doctor? He has always been an active kid. Do you think I should not let him use that game on xbox for a while until his cough clears up? As I said I never noticed this until we started letting him jump for the xbox game. But then he already had a cold and cough.What do you think mommas? I am really hoping it's nothing but just want to be sure.

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D.B.

answers from Minneapolis on

This sounds normal to M.. I had once taken my son to a specialist after a cough didn't go away a month after he had been sick. The doctor told M. this was normal, and that sometimes with bad colds a cough can linger for weeks.

I had a cold 2 weeks before Christmas and STILL have a small cough everytime i get off the treadmill. It's just all the gunk and dead stuff working it's way out.

More medicine is not going to help anything.

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K.U.

answers from Dallas on

Both my son's have forms of asthma, both aggravated by colds and exercise. When they are sick or running around a lot, they cough and cough until it sounds like that barking seal noise. At that point, I give them a breathing treatment with Albuterol and the nebulizer. My younger son is on a daily medicine called Pulmicort during the winter/cold/flu season to minimize the need for the Albuterol or a full on asthma attack.

It could just be a lingering cough from his cold, but it's probably worth it to ask the doctor about asthma and reactive airway disease.

1 mom found this helpful
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C.L.

answers from Minneapolis on

It could be a variety of things, including reactive airways or cough variant asthma, but either way I would check back with his doctor or even request to see a pediatric pulmonologist. He could just be taking awhile to recover from the upper respiratory infection he had, but it wouldn't hurt to check. I seem to recall he was born early? That can make them more susceptible to things like reactive airways. You don't need to have wheezing to have asthma. My oldest son has cough variant asthma which was diagnosed at age 2 1/2. It could just be a lingering cold/virus, but I would have him checked again.

A.W.

answers from Kalamazoo on

Sometimes movement and being active can get things 'flowing' more inside, loosen stuff up. That would lead to more coughing, especially from post nasal drip stuff.

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☆.A.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Sounds like he needs another round of antibiotics to M.. My son just finished a Z-Pak, preceded by a stronger antibiotic after the 10 days of amoxicillan prescribed in the first place. There's a lot of stuff out there that is NOT responding to the first antibiotics given....and a lot of pneumonia cases.....get him re-checked.

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R.J.

answers from Seattle on

That's reeeeeally normal after an upper respiratory infection, and will go on for months if he had pneumonia. It takes awhile to get the phlegm all moved out.

Honestly, if he's not regressing (exercise shuts your immune system down while you're exercising... hence why moms are sick forever, we keep shutting our immune systems down and the infection gets a toehold... 2 steps forward, 1 step back... why kids and husbands who get to sleep and be taken care of get well quite quickly. Of course, I'm generalizing, I'm sure many husbands take time off work to take care of their sick wives so they can sleep and get better, I just don't know any... and I know many parents who drag their sick children around instead of letting them rest and they stay sick for ages longer than they would if they weren't)...

Anyhow... exercise when you're STARTING to get better, can cause a full on relapse... but if he's BETTER, just still moving the phlegm out; Have at!

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E.B.

answers from Miami on

If the cold was in his lungs and he was very congested why didn't your pediatrician put him on Xopenex or Albuterol? Do you have a nebulizer at home? Call in for another appointment and mention it to them again. I personally would not have left that office without a treatment for the cold in his lungs. I've heard that there are times it can clear up on its own but you can never be too careful. Also, has he had any fevers? Possibly walking pneumonia? And bronchitis too. But remember also, when you have a cold and when you go for a run all you're doing afterwards is coughing. You have the cold right? So jump for a few minutes and see how you feel after? You will surely be coughing too because it's moving around. And it's the winder time, so the cold air is getting into his system too.

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B..

answers from Dallas on

Did your Dr. say anything about bronchitis? I caught that from my son a few weeks back, and still have the lingering cough. Since then, I start to cough when I'm really using my lungs. (As in, any physical activity.) My son didn't get it as bad, but he still will cough a bit after he's run or had some good physical activity.

I also had these symptoms when I had walking pneumonia once. That took a steroid to clear up.

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