Have you ever caught a nasty cold complete with cough and referred to it as “the croup?” I certainly have. It was a term I picked up from my mom when she referred to a cough and cold.
I didn’t learn that it is a real viral infection until my toddler caught it from another rugrat in daycare. My next door neighbor is a nurse practitioner, so I got the scoop on what the croup is and the best treatments.
Croup is a viral infection that little folks catch from their friends and share with other little friends. The main symptom is a bronchial like cough. It goes away in about 5 days if the case is mild. My son had a mild case and the best thing I could do for him was bundle his little self and sit on our porch in the cool moist air. It was raining the day I discovered he had croup, so we were lucky to have perfect treatment weather. I put a humidifier (cool mist) in his room that night and it helped lessen the nasty coughing.
Who knew that this generic term was a real virus? Wow.
