The Best Humidifiers for Croup – Unbiased Reviews

Croup makes normal breathing difficult, and it is a respiratory infection that is common among children under the age of three. We reviewed the best humidifier for croup in this article.

Croup cough is caused by cold and viruses. The ailment causes children to wake up in the middle of the night. The illness usually lasts for about five days, a moment that every parent does not wish to experience.

It is a respiratory infection that causes the trachea to swell up.  This makes it difficult for the sufferer to breathe, thereby causing a barking cough and a hoarse voice.  The most common causes of this ailment are flu, cold, contaminated air, and contagious atmospheric condition.

A practical solution to relief your baby of croup cough is by getting the right humidifier.  It works by improving the humidity or moisture content of the surrounding air. To help you baby reduce the symptom of this ailment, keep him or her warm and install a good humidifier in your baby’s room.

The moist air created by the humidifier will help reduce the swelling in the trachea.  Note that a cool mist humidifier is the best option for this purpose.

Furthermore, the cool air helps in easing stridor. The cold air relieves stridor by freezing the microbes responsible for infection in the trachea, thus making them powerless.  So, you must get the right product for you to achieve your aim of buying a humidifier for croup.

How can I treat croup at home with a humidifier?

A humidifier is an electric device that increases the humidity or moisture content when used in a room. So how can you treat croup at home with this humidifier?

In our previous article, we discussed about what humidifier does to a baby. One of the excellent ways is by getting the shower all steamed up to warm temperature and getting your baby into the bathroom. This is because moist air that is warm tends to be a good way to relax and break the croup.

In cases whereby you can’t undergo the stress of warming water, humidifiers with warm mist can serve this purpose more effectively.

For kids with croup, it is highly essential that the parents remain calm because panicking could cause the child to be in distress which does not help. The more the baby cries, the more the croup symptoms increase thereby becoming worse.

Keeping your baby warm and calm is just the firststep, you are also to use a good humidifier to create a moister cool environment because this helps in getting the swellings in the trachea down in the cough treatment. A cool mist humidifier, not a vaporizer should be used.

The cold air helps relieve stridor. How? Extremely low temperature will freeze the microbes that cause infection in the trachea, thereby rendering them powerless.

If its cold outside, you could take your kid out to breathe in the cold just for a few minutes. If it isn’t cold outside, you can make use of your freezer. But cool mist humidifier is your best option.

Qualities to consider when choosing the top best humidifier for croup

• Type of humidifier:

There are several types of humidifiers which is based majorly on their mode of humidification. The ultrasonic producesmist by utilizing ultrasonic sound vibrations, and the impeller humidifierwhich makes use of a fan or disc rotating at very high speed to make the mist.

These two humidifiers are known to disperse materials from their water tanks into the indoor environment. There is also the evaporative or steam humidifier which uses a fan to blow air through a filter or wick, and it does not disperse materials from its water tank into the environment like the ultrasonic and impeller humidifiers.

Studies show that the evaporative or steam humidifier offers the lowest level of risk because it does not disperse its water tank materials, unlike the ultrasonic and impeller that also releases pathogens that could cause infections if inhaled into the lungs.

Both the cool or warm mist humidifierhelps in relieving croup cough, even though the cool mist humidifier works best for children. Hence we have picked humidifiers with both cool and warm mistfunction

• Cost of maintenance:

Before purchasing any humidifier, you must consider the hidden cost of maintenance because most humidifiers orvaporizers might need frequent changing of the wicks or filters for it to operate at a healthy level.

Therefore, finding out the cost of these replacements and how frequently they should be done beforehand, would help inchoosing the proper product to purchase.

• Noise Level:

Some humidifiers operate at a high sound production level which could be harmful to the hearing of the child. It implies that this could be a determining factor for hearing disabilities or sleep alterations later in the future; therefore it is necessary to go for a humidifier with low sound production for the safety of your child.

• Effectiveness:

This has to do with the water tank capacity in relation to the size of the baby’s room. The efficiency of humidifier also has much to do with how long you would be using it on a stretch.

I might want to ask you if  you are buying the humidifier for a large room? Also, are you planning to use it overnight? If yes is your answer to the question, then you should opt for a humidifier with a big water tank.

Better still, you could as well go for those humidifiers with timers which either allows the humidifier to pause, then run to maximize the water inside or the kind of timer that runs until the tank is completely empty, then stops.

• Easy to use/control:

Since you might not have that luxury of time to keep reading manuals about control of your newly bought humidifier, you might want to opt for the simple ones that offer just the same function as the complicated ones. Most of the humidifiers we picked are really simple for anyone. Some are even automated for shutting off and on

Best humidifiers for croup in children

1) Bionaier Ultrasonic Warm Cool Humidifier – Overall best

Special feature: No filter needed, Big water tank and quiet.

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This humidifier keeps indoor humidity level pleasant and comfortable. It is designed for quiet treatment operation and disperses visible mist into the air for ultimate comfort and freshness. The Bionaier humidifier is the overall best humidifier for croup. 

Comparing this humidifier with the Avalon premium humidifiers, I would pick bionaier any time any day. Why? So far so good, it has been running 9 hours every night, and it’s easier to clean than even the vicks unit and Avalon unit. This ultrasonic humidifier is all round excellent even to the extent of saving space.

Unlike other units, it doesn’t produces a bad sound, and remains solid. It is very easy to fill with water. I keep recommending this Ultrasonic humidifier because it is really easy to use and easy to clean for parents. As for the running time, it runs for 5 days when set on the low 

The water tank has a paired nozzle on top of it that combines two independent nested pieces which allows you to have two vapor shoots coming at any direction you choose. I must confess that i like this versatility very much.

2) Boneco Warm or Cool Mist Ultrasonic Humidifier 7135

Special feature: Noiseless, digital display and higher output

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This humidifier uses high-frequency vibration to turn water into a micro-fine mist that creates a comfortable environment in any room.

I have been testing this humidifier for a week now, and the only thing I am wondering is why I didn’t get it sooner. So far, I can say my sleep quality has improved. My bedroom is about 400sq feet, and I set the humidifier to 40% low mist output with the heater turned on.

The demineralization cartridge is a plus to those having hard water but not necessarily needed if you are using distilled water. When Soft water is used in this humidifier, helps significantly with curing sinusitis and bronchitis

Above all, I figured out that it has two water tanks and you can use fill both with water at a time and use. This will help not always to have to refill until 4 days. It is very easy to use and easy to clean

3) Honey well HWM-950 Filter-free Warm Moisture Humidifier – 

Special Feature : with water distiller, dual settings and energy saving

The honey well HWM-950 is a filter-free humidifier that works in a simple manner by releasing vapor to change the humidity level of the room it is placed in. It works very great and it is easy to use.

It has a great value and decent energy cost. If run on 8hrs a day for a month, the cost per kWh ranges from $3.74 – $7.49 on a high setting (260 watts) but the cost dropped down to $0.12- $0.25 if the humidifier was run on a low setting (130 watts).

In this humidifier, I especially like the option of you been able to add essential oils and set it to a moderate level for perfect sleep. It actually gives nice subtle smell. Honeywell also makes white noise which helps keeps the baby at ease of sleeping nicely.

4) Holmes Warm Mist Filter Free Single room Humidifier w/Auto shut off:

Special feature: Filter free, portable and budget friendly

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This is a warm mist humidifier that is designed for small rooms unlike the BONECO and Bionaier Humidifier that can cover medium and large rooms. It increases the humidity level of the room it is placed in a 1800sq ft home.

Its simplicity is actually the selling point because it was designed to perform its function without you having to tamper with it.  It has an auto-off feature which turns it off whenever the tank run out of the water. Even the water tray and heating element were made removable in such a way that you can always clean.

It is however a handy item for combating the cold dry winter air. They can last a couple of years and because the mist is warmer, you do not have the nasty clammy feeling you often get from cool mist humidifiers.

5) Vicks Warm Mist Humidifier – best budget friendly

Special feature: Auto shut off, dual settings and value for the price

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The Vicks humidifier adds moisture to the air giving relief from coughs, colds or comfort from dry air. It boils water up to a pure steam vapor up to 96% bacteria free and mixes with dry air in the cooling chamber to release warm, moist air into the room.

It can run for 8-9 hours on the high setting and about 10-20 hours on the low setting, and I also didn’t have to turn it off when the water runs out, because it has an auto off setting.

It is very easy to assemble and disassemble, and the material quality is very durable which is the advantages it has over some other humidifiers in the market.

It has a dual setting that allows you to run it intermittently. I mean you can run it on high settings for 8-9hrs during the night, then you can change the settings to low settings in the day which will help you to run it for about 19-20hrs.

Bottom line : Best humidifier for croup Treatment

From all the products discussed above, the most efficient and easy to use is the Bionaier Humidifier because not only can it cover a room with large size, it can also switch between warm and cool mist. It also has a fine handy design alongside Antimicrobacterial protection and a vaporizer all in itself. It is a very good croup humidifier.

The next best product is the BONECO humidifier because it has almost the same qualities with the Bionaier except for the fact that it has more tendencies to release mineral particles from the water tank. It also has a digital display, automatic adjusting of humidity release level according to the room temperature and operates in a quiet manner.

Important reads:

• How to help croup cough