Coping with croup
this winter
Bugs abound in
winter and bounce around nursery schools and creches like invisible little
critters. Air-borne viral and bacterial infections spread quickly and little
children, who are in close contact with one another, share infections. Then
they bring them home. Little children also get sick very quickly – often
overnight – and because working mothers can’t always make alternative
baby-sitting arrangements, they go to school and spread their germs.
Upper and lower respiratory-tract infections are common
during winter. Symptoms of upper respiratory-tract infections include sneezing,
snotty nose, sore throat and fever. These infections can spread to the ears and
become otitis media (ear infections) or the brain and become meningitis
(inflammation of the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord) or
encephalitis – inflammation of the brain itself. Severe complications can
become systemic and attack muscles like the heart which can become fatal. These
are rare.
Lower respiratory-tract infections involve the bronchi and
lungs. Complications of these infections are bronchitis and pneumonia. Symptoms
are coughing, fever and lethargy. Children with bronchitis from a common cold
or even measles, can have episodes of croup. This is when the bronchi go into
spasm and it’s difficult to breathe. Episodes can be mild or severe. Mild
episodes can become severe.
Working in the admissions ward at the Children’s Hospital, I
remember croup cases. Usually toddlers, pale, frightened, blue around the lips
and fingertips, cold and crying. Their parents were equally distressed. The
panic only added to their child’s distress and bronchial spasm. The oxygen
tent, humidifier and separation from their parents into a strange environment
where doctors and nurses told them what to do made the situation worse!
When my daughter was a toddler, she had a number of croup
attacks. I had the confidence to nurse her through these episodes. First I gave
her a bronco-dilator (prescribed by the doctor). This would help her breathe.
Then I boiled the kettle in her room and left it boiling, watching the
water-level carefully and topping it up when necessary. After that I calmed her
with a story and distracted her with a flash-light that changed colour with its
multi-coloured lenses. This gave the bronco-dilator a chance to work, breathing
became easier with warmer, humified air and she was no longer frightened
because she couldn’t breathe. Then I rubbed her chest and the soles of her feet
with Vicks, tucked her up into a semi-sitting position, and she went back to
sleep.
Had her breathing become worse, I would have taken her to
the ER. I also took her for physiotherapy.
What can you do if
your child has croup?
- Invest in a humidifier or a nebuliser
- When you take your child to the doctor, ask for a bronco-dilator
- Rub Vicks onto the chest and soles of the feet (the pores here are biggest so it is well absorbed) at bed time
