Good Morning,

My son is 9 months old but has had a cough for around 5 1/2 months and we have been to our doctor a number of times and have been referred to a pediatrician and have been told by both that it is 'normal for a baby to cough this long'.

My husband and I have had enough of his cough (it wakes him at night) and we are willing to listen to any advice on this and explore all avenues to try and found out what is causing it. At present he coughs at about 4am on the dot most morning and these coughing fits will last around 5-10 minutes. He also coughs during the day a bit also, often when he exerts himself. He is on ranitidine for reflux and also has eczema on his face.

In the past we have be given inhalers (both the blue and orange) but then told that there was no point in giving them to him because 'it is normal for babies to cough this long and that it is not asthma that is causing the cough'. We started giving him the orange inhaler again about 4 days ago and are waiting a week or so to see how this goes.

We keep our house nice and warm and his room is always around 17-18 degrees C (63 degrees F). We do have a dog and have started to wonder if he has an allergy to her. Once again though, we have been told that there is no point in testing for allergies because there is nothing wrong, in fact no tests have been done nor offered. He also seems to sneeze a lot.

We are just looking for some advice on where we should go from here to try and diagnose what is causing his cough, we simply don't agree that it is normal for a baby to cough this long.

Many Thanks.