With the recent cooler weather, many babies are coughing and sometimes coughing more than they should. Parents get nervous when their babies cough and always take them to the doctor urgently or buy cough medicine for them to eat because many parents worry that if they don’t treat their cough, their babies will cough up pneumonia.
What is pneumonia?
Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs caused by viruses and bacteria. The air sacs in the lungs are infected and the inflammation causes exudation that fills the alveoli with exudate, resulting in coughing, fever, shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing, bruised lips and nail beds, and feeding difficulties or irritability in small babies. Of course not all of the above symptoms appear when a baby has pneumonia, if the baby has a violent cough, high fever and poor spirits that baby is likely to have pneumonia.
The chances of pneumonia occurring are gradually decreasing with the application of the pneumonia vaccine, and most babies can recover from pneumonia with active and reasonable treatment.
What are the causes of pneumonia?
Pneumonia can be caused by a variety of pathogenic microorganisms, including viruses, bacteria and fungi, with viral or bacterial infections being the most common, sometimes in combination with bacterial infections. Another less common cause of pneumonia is the inhalation of a foreign body, which can also cause pneumonia. Coughing is not one of the causes of pneumonia.
Is it true that a cough can become pneumonia?
Coughing itself does not lead to pneumonia. Pneumonia is mainly caused by viral or bacterial lung infections, not by coughing itself.
It is not caused by the cough itself. However, coughing is only one of the symptoms of pneumonia.
What do parents need to do when their baby has a cough?
1. Do not smoke around your baby.
2.Please place a humidifier in the room where your baby sleeps. Try a steam bath (let your baby stay in a bathroom full of mist for 10 minutes, be careful not to burn your baby), or steam your baby’s face if you have a beauty steamer for ladies at home.
3, give the baby enough water, such as breast milk, milk, warm water, soup, porridge, etc..
4.If your baby is over 1 year old, you can give him/her some honey (2~10ml each time) to dilute the phlegm and relieve the coughing symptoms, especially at night.
5.Don’t take it upon yourself to buy some cold medicine or cough suppressants for your baby, especially for babies under 6 years old, because these drugs have limited effects and can have some side effects, and coughing is also a defensive reflex for babies, making it easy to cough up phlegm, and cough suppressants inhibit coughing, so phlegm is less likely to be coughed up.
How is pneumonia treated?
Treatment of pneumonia depends on the age of the baby, the severity of the pneumonia, whether it is caused by a viral or bacterial infection; if the pneumonia is severe or the baby is small, hospitalization may be required.
If the pneumonia is caused by a viral infection, there is no need to apply antibiotics, but if the pneumonia is caused by a bacterial infection, it is necessary to apply antibiotics. Don’t think that your baby will stop taking the medication because the bacteria may still be in your baby’s body, and if the course of antibiotics is not enough, it is likely to come back.
How can I prevent my baby from getting pneumonia?
1. Your baby’s living environment should be ventilated and clean, and windows should be opened frequently.
Washing hands frequently is the most effective way to prevent pneumonia, because viruses and bacteria are everywhere and babies can come into contact with pathogens at any time, so teach them how to wash their hands properly.
3. Avoid taking your baby to places with too many people, such as shopping malls and restaurants.
4, avoid contact with sick people, such as someone at home with a cold or pneumonia, try not to touch the baby, such as the best contact with a mask, before contact with the baby must wash their hands.
5.Baby can be prevented from pneumonia by getting a pneumonia vaccination.