The barking cough that wont quit. High pitched wheezing and seal bark cough that often induces vomiting …..Thats CROUP!
Croup…is on the rise this cold and flu season. Many of the common viruses floating around can attack the immune system and cause one of the worst coughs of all time for your child and for you as a concerned parent. Croup is an acute respiratory tract infection common in children 6 months to 3 years old with a characteristic high pitched wheeze on inspiration, bark like cough and low grade fever. Your child may wake gasping for breath in somewhat of a panic as it is hard to pull air into the lungs. First things first bring them outside into the cool night air or a warm steamy shower to open the airways and get them breathing steadily and calm. You should notice great improvement with in a few minutes and may need to drive around at night in the cool air or stay in the shower for up to 20 minutes. If you notice your child is not improving, is drooling, has thick and gluey type mucus they are coughing up and unable to lie down, or lips are turning dark or bluish go to the emergency room immediately.
Best Homeopathic Remedies:
Aconite:
Aconite is the best remedy to use with the immediate onset of the croupy cough. When your child wakes up at night gasping for breath and with a spasmodic quality, restless and anxious use Aconite. The cough is dry, barking and intense brought on by cold dry air or winds.
Spongia
Spongia is one of the best remedies to use for dry, croupy coughs. The breathing is dry-like a cutting saw, hard to pull air into the lungs and the chest can get tighter and tighter gasping for breath or feeling suffocated. You can use Spongia after the first night of croup and using Aconite.
Hepar Sulphur
Hepar Sulph is used for a croupy cough that have some mucus build up to it, moisture in the cough with choking coughing fits. If your childs croupy cough moves from dry to a wet cough you can follow the Spongia homeopathic with Hepar Sulph.
Immune boost immediately with Elderberry, Briar Rose Gemmotherapy, Vitamin C and Zinc.
Make sure your child is staying hydrated and having a normal amount of wet diapers to assess hydration.
If heat and steam work better for your child, versus cool night air, you can set up a humidifier in their room. Adding essential oils like eucalyptus and tea tree oil can help clear the infection.
Rub their chest with vaporub or sesame oil and a few drops of essential oils like eucalyptus, lavender and tea tree oil to relax the muscles of inspiration that are going into spasm with the coughing fits.
Avoid foods like dairy, sweets and citrus to decrease inflammation and mucus build up in the throat. Vitamin C is great to boost immunity but orange juice will increase mucus production as well as cows milk.
