Consider allergy meds. Oldest child had chronic croup for years as well as frequent bouts of asthma and eczema. Started Children’s Claritin around age five and there have been barely any issues with croup, asthma and/or eczema since then.

Also, using saline nasal irrigation at the first sign of stuffy nose/congestion cut the recovery time from respiratory bugs in half and generally would prevent the congestion from settling in the lungs (so we would avoid 1-2 weeks of unnecessary coughing).