Symptoms of Croup

Croup has one of the most recognisable soundtracks in all of childhood illness - and learning its pattern helps you tell a noisy-but-manageable night from a genuine emergency.

The classic picture

• The barking cough: a harsh, seal-like or brassy cough - once heard, never forgotten
• Hoarse voice or cry
• Stridor: a harsh, raspy, crowing noise when breathing IN - the sound of air squeezing past a swollen airway
• Cold symptoms first: runny nose, mild fever and a regular cough for a day or two before the bark appears
• Worse at night and with crying: croup famously worsens after midnight and flares when the child cries or gets upset - a calm child breathes easier, which is why keeping them settled is real treatment
• The child is otherwise fairly well: alert, drinking, interested - ill but not toxic

How it usually runs

The worst nights are typically the first two. Most children are clearly better in 2-3 days and fully well within a week, though the ordinary cough can linger a bit longer.

The red flags - when croup becomes an emergency

Call 112 or go to emergency immediately if your child has:

• Stridor at rest - the harsh breathing noise even while calm and still, not just when crying or coughing
• Obvious struggle to breathe: chest sucking in between or below the ribs, ribs showing with each breath, nostrils flaring
• Bluish colour around the lips or face
• Drooling or inability to swallow saliva - think epiglottitis, not croup
• Unusual sleepiness, limpness or lack of response
• Skin looking pale, grey or mottled

When to see a doctor the same day

• Any stridor that keeps coming back, even if the child settles
• Fever lasting beyond 2-3 days, or a child under 6 months with croup symptoms
• Poor drinking or fewer wet nappies than usual
• Your instinct says the child is not right - parents are rarely wrong about this

One-line summary

A barking seal-like cough, hoarse voice and noisy in-breathing at night in a toddler with a cold is croup - usually manageable at home, but stridor while resting, breathing struggle, drooling or bluish colour means emergency care now.