If your child with asthma coughs instead of wheezes, the way my daughter does, then you probably know the heartbreak of staying up all night with a child who can't sleep because of the coughing fits. Doctors and most reputable medical websites usually don't recommend using cough medicines for children with asthma. If your child's main symptom is coughing and you suppress that cough medicinally, you will mask the only indication you have for a worsening flare. In addition, most cough medicines don't work well for asthmatics, anyway, because they don't treat the root of the problem.

But sometimes, you and your kid just have to get some sleep. Sometimes, too, your child's throat rather than lungs generates the cough. When you've given all the nebulizer or inhaler treatments you can safely give and your child has a safe peak flow reading and respiration rate, how can you get the coughing under control? Over the years, here are a few non-medicinal tricks I learned:

Honey
A spoonful of honey right before bedtime will coat and soothe an irritated throat.

Pillow Elevation
Add an extra pillow to keep your child's head higher while she sleeps, allowing post-nasal drip to drain down the back of the throat.

Warm Drinks
Hot tea or cocoa or any other warm beverage right before bedtime will also soothe an itchy throat. The steam is an added benefit. Breathing it in will help loosen any mucus in your child's nasal passages and lungs.

Showers
Long, hot showers before bedtime produce even more steam to loosen mucus and soothe airway irritation. Keep the exhaust fan off to let the bathroom steam up even more, but don't let your child stay in too long or the moisture will have the opposite effect on her pulmonary health.

Cool Drinks
I don't know why this one works, but it does. Occasionally, even when my daughter did not have a dry throat, giving her a drink of cool (but not cold) water helped stop a coughing fit.

Mentholated Vapor Rub
I include vapor rub in this list because it is only sort of a medicine. The menthol can ease congestion, but be careful because some asthmatics have negative reactions.


I have to confess that I do resort to cough syrups once in a while now that my daughter is 8 years-old, healthier, and more aware of her asthma. She doesn't experience coughing fits as often as she did when a little girl, but she still has her moments. With the pulmonologist's approval, after trying all other remedies and ensuring my daughter is breathing okay, I will give her some cough medicine if I'm truly desperate for her to sleep.

Got any cough remedies of your own? Post them in the forum, which you can link to at the bottom and right side of this page.


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"Smile, breathe and go slowly." -Thich Nhat Hanh



This article is not written by a medical professional, and information on this page should never be substituted for your physcian's advice. If you have any questions about your asthma and/or allergies, you should always contact your physician first.