Most croup is mild and passes in a few days; home care is keeping the airway calm - stay calm yourself (crying tightens the airway), sit your child upright, offer fluids, and use child-dosed acetaminophen for fever.
The steam-bathroom trick is no longer recommended - no evidence, plus scald risk. The critical part is knowing when home care ends: struggling to breathe, noisy breathing at rest, drooling, blue or grey lips, or unusual drowsiness means emergency help now. Same-day advice for non-improving bark, children under one, or any real worry - a single clinician-prescribed steroid dose is the standard fix for anything beyond mild. Pymander is a free AI doctor, 24/7 by text, and can help you judge tonight's cough.
What to do
Common questions
How do you treat croup at home?
Croup - the seal-like barking cough, hoarse voice, and raspy breathing-in sound (stridor) that typically follows a few days of cold symptoms and is often worse at night - is usually mild and passes in a few days. Home care is mostly about keeping the airway calm: stay calm yourself and comfort your child, because crying and distress tighten the airway and worsen the breathing; sit them upright rather than lying flat; offer fluids to keep them hydrated. Child-dosed acetaminophen helps the fever and aches. The old steam-bathroom trick is no longer recommended - no evidence it helps, and it carries a scald risk. The part that matters most is knowing when home care ends: call emergency services if your child is struggling to breathe, has noisy breathing when resting (not just when upset), is drooling or cannot swallow, looks blue or grey around the lips, or is unusually drowsy or limp. Get same-day medical advice if the barking cough is not improving, your child is under a year old, or you are worried - croup sometimes needs a single dose of steroid from a clinician, which works fast and is the standard treatment for anything beyond mild cases. Pymander is a free AI doctor, 24/7 by text, that can help you judge tonight's cough.