Croup

Last week Caleb got a very unusual flu. It started with coughing and blocked nose. It was bad enough because he almost couldn't breathe at all through his nose and causing him not sleeping well at night. Poor mommy too, yes of course...whenever babies don't sleep well, it means panda eyes too for mommies.
Why do I say it was unusual? well, not only it was bad enough (I say bad enough whenever the flu makes a blocked nose n makes my prince couldnt sleep well. He got flu before but not always with blocked nose), but because on day 3 the cough got worse at night. The cough was dry, loud and scary! Happened a couple of times only and then the cough sound went back to normal sound of cough. I knew it was croup. I read about it before and I was pretty sure it was not usual cough. So I grabbed my blackberry and google about it (at 2AM!!), and found out that Caleb had all the symptoms but it also said that croup was a mild case and can be treated at home. But despite having read the information, I still decided to bring him to see his doctor and she prescribed an antibiotics for his sore throat and a medicine for his voice box.

Ok now I am going to share with you what is croup.

Croup is when your kid coughs with a barking sound. It was dry and loud. and pretty sure it is scary for both parents and the child. It is caused by some kind of flu virus that attacks the voice box and trachea. Mostly attacks children between 6 months - 3 years old. Most croup case is mild and can be treated at home.
the symptoms start with runny nose, cough or fever (Caleb didn't have any fever) and the barking cough peaks on day 2 or 3. We can hear the high pitched or squeaking noise when the child breathes. It gets worse at night and when the child is crying.
It is contagious. But if anyone is in contact with croupy kid will not get croup, but only the cold symptoms.

I hope this information helps :)