Croup?

[AmberWaves]

Hi everyone,

I just received an email from my brother in Sydney, asking for well wishes for my niece, as she''s been hospitalized with the croup. Apparently it''s a very bad strain of it, and the poor child (5 months old) has had to undergo some terrible things to find out what in fact was wrong with her.

Along with some prayers for little Ivy, can anyone tell me what exactly croup is, and how big of a threat it is to a five month old?

 

[HeadOverHeels4James]

I''m sorry to hear that!! She should be fine.........



The term croup does not refer to a single illness, but rather a group of conditions involving inflammation of the upper airway that leads to a cough that sounds like a bark, particularly when a child is crying.

Most croup is caused by viruses, but similar symptoms may occasionally be caused by bacteria or an allergic reaction. The viruses most commonly involved are parainfluenza virus (accounting for most cases), adenovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, and measles.

Most children with viral croup are between the ages of 3 months and 5 years old. Croup is most likely to occur during the fall, winter, and early spring, and symptoms are most severe in kids younger than 3 years of age.

Most cases of croup due to viruses are mild and can be treated at home, though rarely it can be severe and even life-threatening. Some kids are more prone to developing croup, especially those who were born prematurely or with narrowed upper airways, and babies with a history of breathing problems like asthma.

 

[AmberWaves]

Thank you so much! I guess a lot of the problems stemmed from the poor thing being transported back and forth from hospital to hospital, with no one knowing what was wrong with her! She sounded like I did as a child (bad asthma), had a fever of 104, vomiting, coughing... they gave her various medications for asthma, took blood, forced a tube down her little throat... I know it scared the bejesus out of my brother, as he''d seen what I''d gone through as a baby from asthma.

Thank you for telling me all about it, I was curious to see how bad it can get. Thank you so much!

 

[HeadOverHeels4James]

Poor little baby!!

Bless her heart

 

[mela lu]

sending prayers and positive thoughts to your family.

 

[Miranda]

Oh poor baby! Healing thoughts going out to your sweet little niece. If they''re treating her she''ll be fine in a matter of days.

DD had croup in October. Her case was nowhere near as bad as your niece''s though. My little one had a virus that turned into severe bronchitis with symptomatic croup. At urgent care they gave her a nebulizer treatment and sent her home with antibiotics and steroids to take for a few days. It was very scary so I feel for your brother. My DD stopped breathing for a good 30 seconds one time and could not catch her breath. I think her condition was worsened by all of the terrible fires we had here in So Ca that month. A humidifier in her room did help a great deal.

 

[VegasAngel]

Sending well wishes. From what I know about Croup it''s treatable. I remember on my daughter''s babycenter birthboard a lot of babies had it. Love the name Ivy btw.

 

[somethingshiny]

More prayers for Ivy.

 

[AmberWaves]

Thanks for all the well wishes. It''s very hard to be so far away from them (I''m in Los Angeles, they''re in Sydney), knowing my poor brother is trying to be the strong guy all alone over there. I mean alone as in no one to give him the boost he needs, since I know he feels helpless.

They said her fever has broken and Ivy seems to be a little more coherent. I hope she continues to improve over the next few days!

 

[mom2twogirls]

I''m sorry to hear about your niece. My DD had the croup a few years ago and it was very scary. She sounded so terrible and had a hard time catching her breath, so we called 911 and they dispatched an ambulance. The EMTs verified that it was croup and told us to bundle her up and take her outside (it was winter), so she could inhale the cold air (helps open the airways, I think?). It did get better after a few days. I hope the same will be true for her.

 

[tiffanytwisted]

Amber, I''m so sorry that your niece is sick. I hope your brother is doing ok, that must be really hard to be that far away from his family during this.
I think I''ve mentioned before that I''m a nurse in a pediatric intensive care unit, so we see the worst of the croup cases. Is she on a ventilator (you said they put a tube down her throat so that''s what made me think that). There''s not a whole lot to actually treat the croup, as it is usually caused by a virus, so typically they just do whatever needs to be done to support the respiratory status (whether it''s a breathing tube, high humidity oxygen, etc.) until the inflammation is gone and then the kiddo is usually ok. The thing about little ones is that their airways are so small anyway that once they get inflamed it makes it much more difficult for them to breathe.
I will be thinking about her, please keep us posted.

 

[AmberWaves]

Thank you, Tiffany! My brother said her fever has finally broken and she''s coherent (as much as a five month old can be!). They had to transport her via ambulance, and since my poor brother is also sick, he wasn''t allowed in to see her. We''re all just really glad it''s not asthma.

Does anyone know how soon you can see asthma in an infant? She has a family history.

 

[diamondfan]

I am sorry but think she will be fine!

My oldest and youngest were prone to croup. In an adult it would manifest as laryngitis.

Croup is an inflammation of the upper airway (trachea) which is very little in children. It becomes enlarged and they make this strange seal bark sound (called stridor) as air goes over it. Kids usually outgrow it by the age of 4. It typically lasts three nights, getting worse the second night. My sons benefited from warm mist in the shower, all the hot taps on, for 20 minutes, then warmed juice to relax the airway, and then opening the freezer to breathe the cool air. Also, you can bundle them up and take them outside if that helps.

My son once had it so bad I had to call 911, and so it was scary. He ended up on a very strong injected steroid (decadron) and it was awful, but most times it resolves. You never forget that seal sound, it is awful.

 

[San Diego Bride]

i'm glad to hear your niece is doing better.

others have described croup well, so i won't go into a lot of detail. it's a swelling in the upper airway/trachea. the stridor you hear is the noise kids make when they are trying to get air in. the barking noise is when the air comes out as kids are coughing. because the trachea is narrowed with the inflammation there is more resistance for the passing air. this increased resistance is the cause of the odd noises. usually kids have trouble getting air into their lungs rather than getting air out.

as i'm sure you know since you're an asthmatic, asthma is a lower airway process. the inflammation is down inside the lungs. kids usually don't have a problem getting air in, but they do have a hard time getting air out. the wheeze generally comes when the air is going out.

as for the air in and out thing. when we're breathing comfortably, we usually spend a little bit more time breathing out than breathing in with each breath. it's pretty similar though so you usually can't tell a difference. asthmatics take a lot longer to breathe out with each breath than in whereas those with croup take a lot longer to breathe in with each breath than out. hopefully that makes sense.

croup is treated simply with either cool air, ie: taking the child outside in the winter (i'm assuming it's currently winter for your niece in australia) or humidified air, ie: standing in the bathroom with a warm shower going and the door closed so it's really steamy. when things get worse, you use a steroid that you can give iv or inject directly into the muscle (decadron) and nebulized steroids through a breathing machine. some people prescribe antibiotics, but it's usually a viral infection so these are unneccesary. croup can certainly get bad enough to require intubation and mechanical ventilation. those cases are rare, but definitely happen. it sounds like you're over that hump though.

as far as asthma with babies, it can present at any time, but is usually not officially diagnosed in the first year of life. many babies have some wheezing when they get colds. you treat the wheezing, but hesitate to give the babies the asthma label since most of the time they grow out of it. if babies have repeated or severe episodes of wheezing (especially without colds) then they may get the asthma label sooner. it's a really good sign if your niece is able to handle croup without wheezing a lot since most viruses tend to set off asthma.

i hope that helps. i realize you shouldn't trust a lot of things you read on the internet, but i do have a lot of experience treating kids with respiratory illnesses. i'll try to answer any other questions if you have them.

 

[AmberWaves]

Thank you so much everyone!

Novia, your explanation was perfect. I let my brother know about possibly taking her outside for a bit. He said she''s still wheezing a lot and just sounds terrible, but her disposition was improving greatly!

I know I was diagnosed with asthma when I was two, my dad had it, my grandfather had it, as did my brother (who grew out of it, the weasel). I''m pretty sure that would be his worst nightmare.

Not only does he feel helpless over there, but so do we, not being able to help our little gal feel better.