Any advice would be gratefully received. V.M. Croup is not a single illness but the term given to respiratory infections which cause a child to make a particular 'croup' sound, like a harsh bark, when they cough or cry. These infections cause inflammation and mucus production and, therefore, narrowing around the upper breathing passages and voice box, which distorts the normal sound of breathing and coughing. It typically occurs in the autumn and winter, and affects children between the age of 3 months and 5 years. It is more severe in younger infants because the airways are smaller and more easily narrowed.
Children grow out of croup as the size and solidity of the air passages increase.
Some children get recurrent attacks of croup, which are usually brief and occur at night, known as spasmodic croup. Croup may also be linked to allergies and asthma. The initial symptoms are sore throat, fever, runny nose. Small babies may be off their feeds and slightly listless. Once the cough develops there may also be another noise called stridor - as the young child tries to draw a breath in, their relatively soft breathing tubes collapse, causing a high pitched sound.