Steroids can be inhaled, taken by mouth, or given by injection. After epinephrine is given, your child should be observed for 3 to 4 hours to confirm that croup symptoms do not return.Ī steroid medicine may also be prescribed to reduce the swelling. If your child has viral croup, your child's doctor or the emergency department doctor may give them a breathing treatment withĮpinephrine (adrenaline) to decrease the swelling. Seems to be struggling to catch their breathĭrools or has extreme difficulty swallowing saliva Makes a whistling sound that gets louder with each breathĬannot speak or make verbal sounds for lack of breath If you are concerned that your child's croup is not improving, contact your child's doctor, local emergency department, or emergency medical services (911) even if it is the middle of the night. There are also no studies to prove that breathing in moist, cool night airs helps improve breathing. Though some parents may find that this helps improve breathing, there are no studies to prove that inhaling steam in a bathroom is effective. In the past, parents may have been advised to try steam treatment in the bathroom. Make sure they are drinking fluids to avoid dehydration. Ibuprofen (for children older than 6 months), as needed. If your child has a fever (a temperature of 100.4☏ or higher): If your child wakes up in the middle of the night with croup, try to keep them calm. Luckily, these most severe cases of croup do not occur very often. If this happens, they need to go to the hospital. In the most severe cases, your child will not be getting enough oxygen into their blood. The danger of croup with stridor is that sometimes the airway may swell so much that your child may barely be able to breathe. They may become too tired to cough, and you may hear the stridor more with each breath. As your child's effort to breathe increases, they may stop eating and drinking.

But if your child has stridor while resting, it can be a sign of more severe croup. Stridor is common with mild croup, especially when a child is crying or active. Most children with spasmodic croup do not have a fever. They will be hoarse and have stridor when they breathe in.

Your child may go to bed well and wake up in a few hours, gasping for breath. It can be scary because it comes on suddenly, often in the middle of the night. This type of croup is thought to be caused by an allergy or by Low fever, but some have temperatures up to 104☏ (40☌). They may make a coarse musical sound each time they breathe in, called stridor. Your child's voice will become hoarse and their breathing will get noisier. It often starts out just like a cold, but then it slowly turns into a barky cough. It is caused by a viral infection of the voice box and windpipe. Croup can occur at any time of the year, but it is more common in the fall and As they get older, it is not as common because the windpipe is larger and swelling is less likely to get in the way of breathing.

It is most commonly caused by an infection.Ĭhildren are most likely to get croup between 3 months and 5 years of age. The swelling causes the airway below the vocal cords to become narrow and makes breathing noisy and difficult. Read on for more information about croup, including types, causes, symptoms, and treatments.Ĭroup is a condition that causes a swelling of the voice box (larynx) and windpipe (trachea). It can be scary for parents as well as children. Croup is a common illness in young children.

Croup lung sounds