Coughing is a physiological protective reflex of the body to expel external germs due to adverse external stimulation of the mucous membrane of the trachea in our larynx. Babies cough when they feel uncomfortable in their throats or when they have a foreign body feeling, and coughing is good for the elimination of phlegm. However, when many mothers see their babies coughing, their first thought is how to stop it, which is not scientific. Because babies are small, they do not cough up phlegm, and if harmful substances are not discharged in the lungs, it is easy to cause lung infections. So what exactly is the right thing for parents to do? First you have to determine which kind of cough your baby has~
I. Cough caused by an upper respiratory tract infection
Symptoms: An irritating cough, itchy throat, coughing without phlegm, coughing day and night, not accompanied by shortness of breath and shortness of breath. This is a cough caused by an upper respiratory tract infection. If a child has an upper respiratory tract infection, in addition to coughing, he or she will also have symptoms such as drowsiness, runny nose, loss of appetite, and low fever. Usually, the symptoms disappear after sweating and fever subsides, but the cough will still last for 3-5 days.
How to stop coughing: Dry air can aggravate coughing by aggravating the discomfort of your baby’s respiratory mucosa, so keep the air in the room moist by using a humidifier, hanging wet towels, mopping the floor with water, putting a clear water basin in the room, and putting a sink on the heater to increase indoor air humidity. If your baby’s cough and nasal congestion symptoms persist for a week and do not improve, you should see your doctor.
Medication: Antibiotics are generally not used. Penicillin, or cefadroxil penicillin, erythromycin, etc. may be used when bacterial infection is suspected or when complications are present. Specific medication is determined by the doctor. If you use Chinese medicine, you can consult your doctor to choose pediatric lung fever and cough oral liquid, pediatric cold and flu flush, vitamin C silver warp tablets, children’s lung clearing pill, pediatric throat clearing flush, plate blue root flush, double yellow lian oral liquid, pediatric rejuvenation pill, pediatric fever clearing san, etc.
Bronchitis-induced cough
Judgment of symptoms: Bronchitis usually occurs next after a baby has a cold and is caused by a bacterial infection. The cough is phlegmy, sometimes violent, and usually occurs more often at night with a coughing and wheezing sound. The worst coughing time is two hours after the baby goes to sleep, or around 6:00 am.
To stop coughing: Keep the air in the room circulating, maintain the room temperature at about 20°C and humidity at 60%. Give adequate amount of vitamins and proteins, drink water frequently and eat small amounts of food several times. When a child coughs and sputum, it indicates an increase in bronchial secretions. To promote the smooth discharge of secretions, use nebulized inhalers to help expectoration, 2-3 times a day for 5-20 minutes each time. In the case of infants, in addition to patting the back, the baby should be helped to turn over once every 1-2 hours to keep the child in a semi-recumbent position, which is conducive to the discharge of sputum. In addition, babies should not eat foods that are too sweet or salty, as this will aggravate the cough at night. Do not let your baby get overly excited and cry, as this will also aggravate the cough and shortness of breath.
Medication: If the sputum is sticky and not easy to be sucked out, use nebulized inhalation and 10% ammonium chloride combination, Bixuping, or Pediatric Powerful Phlegm (1-2 tablets for 2-4 years old, 2-3 tablets for 5-8 years old). If frequent dry cough affects sleep and rest, a small amount of cough suppressants can be taken, such as promethazine and chlorpromazine 0.5-1mg/kg/time, 2-3 times a day, care should be taken to avoid overdosing and prolonging, which affects the physiological vitality of cilia and makes secretions not easy to discharge. Chinese medicine treatment can be used in the remission period with some cough and asthma Chinese medicine preparations, which can also reduce the symptoms to a certain extent. Specific medications should be taken only after consultation with a doctor.
Cough caused by pharyngitis
Symptoms: When a baby has laryngitis, the typical symptoms are hoarseness and pus phlegm, but very little of it can be coughed up and most of it is swallowed. Older babies will complain of a sore throat, and babies who cannot express themselves often show irritability, refusal to feed, and a “hollow, hollow” sound when coughing.
To stop coughing: Place a humidifier in the room where the baby sleeps, or take a steam bath and stay in the bathroom with the baby for 10 minutes; apply antipyretic medicine when the fever is high; give the baby enough fluids, such as raising the head when the baby is lying in bed; and remember not to smoke around the baby.
Medication: follow medical advice available antibiotics (penicillin, vanguardin), sulfonamides and antiviral drugs (such as morpholine bisphosphonate, amantadine, virus spirit, etc.). Local use of 1:5000 furacilin liquid or compound borax liquid gargle, Dulaifen, chlorhexidine, mint tablets or iodine-containing tablets contain, or antibiotics plus hormone nebulized inhalation. Chinese medicine treatment: heavy malignant cold, light fever, no sweating, floating pulse can be used for internal consumption of ephedra soup. If the fever is heavy and the malignant cold is light, Yin Qiao San can be taken internally, or Niuhuang Detoxification Pill, Detoxification and Anti-inflammatory Pill, or Liu Shen Wan can be taken internally. Topical use of ice borax or tin type of san blowing into the throat. Acupuncture of the cheek car, hegu and shaoshang or closure of the mandibular angle can make the inflammation subside and have a particularly good effect on pain relief.
IV. Allergic cough
Judgment of symptoms: Allergic cough is mainly characterized by persistent or repeated episodes of severe coughing, mostly in paroxysmal episodes, usually more obvious in the morning after the baby gets up, and the coughing is also aggravated when the baby is active or cries, and loves to sneeze and cough when encountering cold air, but there is little sputum. The cough is more severe at night than during the day, and lasts for a long time, usually up to 3 months. Allergic cough mostly occurs during the pollen season, or when the weather turns cold.
How to stop coughing: If your baby has an allergic cough, try to avoid colds in general and see a doctor as soon as possible to find the allergen, make a clear diagnosis and stop the development of asthma.
Medication: Several common medications for allergic cough
1. Anti-inflammatory drugs: ① glucocorticoids prednisone budesonide ② antileukotriene, zallust, zileuton ③ inflammatory mediator blockers, sodium cromoglycate, ketotifen ④ inflammatory mediator antagonists, fexofenadine.
2, bronchodilators: ① β2 agonists, terbutaline, salmeterol ② xanthines, aminophylline ③ anticholinergics, isoproterenol.
3. The most commonly used trade names at present are: Shunyerin, Pramipex, Aizhuang, Merlin, Ciclosporin, Sisumec, Karetan, Salbutamol, Fenagan, Mucosolvan, etc.
If you use proprietary Chinese medicine, consult your doctor and choose Pepto-Bismol cough syrup, Chuanbei loquat syrup, Chuanbei snow pear cream, Xiao Qinglong combination, cough and wheeze syrup, cough and wheeze granules, Xiao Qinglong granules, Gu Ben cough and wheeze tablets, etc.
Five, choking cough caused by inhalation of foreign bodies
Symptom judgment: If the baby did not previously cough, runny, sneezing or fever and other symptoms, suddenly appear violent choking cough, while breathing difficulties, the face is not good, especially the smaller children, it is possible that the foreign body into the mouth, accidentally into the throat or trachea caused.
Coughing method: After the baby inhaled the foreign body, the mother should encourage coughing, do not use your hand to pick in its mouth, so as not to pick the foreign body deeper and deeper, the airway completely blocked. If you don’t cough up something and your baby coughs or wheezes repeatedly, it means that the foreign body has reached the lower respiratory tract and should be sent to the hospital immediately to be removed in time.
VI. Home relief care program for pediatric cough
1. Hot drinks to stop coughing
Drinking more warm beverages can make the baby’s mucous phlegm thin, relieve the tension in the respiratory mucosa and promote coughing up of phlegm. It is best to let your baby drink warm water or warm milk, rice soup, etc. You can also give your baby fresh fruit juice, which should be less stimulating such as apple juice and pear juice, but not orange juice, grapefruit juice and other citrus juices.
2.Water steam cough method
Coughing baby in the room temperature of about 20 ℃, humidity of about 60-65% of the environment will ease the symptoms. If your baby has a severe cough, let your baby inhale the steam; or hold your baby in a steam-filled bathroom for 5 minutes, the moist air will help clear the mucus from your baby’s lungs and quell the cough.
3.Hot water bags on the back to stop coughing
Hot water bag filled with about 40 ℃ hot water, wrapped with a thin towel outside, and then put on the baby’s back near the lungs, which can accelerate the cold, can quickly stop the cough. This method is very effective for cough symptoms that appear early in the cold and flu.
Warm tip: Put on a few pieces of underwear for your baby before applying it, and never burn your baby.
4. Raise your baby’s head at night
If your baby coughs incessantly while sleeping, elevate his or her head and the coughing symptoms will be relieved. Head elevation is helpful for most coughs caused by infections, because when lying down, nasal secretions can easily flow down the baby’s throat, causing a scratchy throat and making the cough worse at night, while elevating the head can reduce the backward drainage of nasal secretions. It is also necessary to change the sleeping position frequently, preferably to sleep on the left and right side in rotation, which is conducive to the discharge of respiratory secretions.
Warm tip: Do not lie down to sleep immediately after feeding a coughing baby to prevent coughing from causing spitting up and mis-aspiration. In case of choking by accidental inhalation, you should immediately take the head-low-foot-high position, pat your baby’s back and encourage him/her to cough up the inhalation through coughing.
Reminder: Antibiotics should not be given to babies casually. The main pathogen of respiratory infections in babies, coughing, is a virus, and antibiotics are not needed for viral infections. It will increase the burden on the liver and kidneys, and will also cause bacterial resistance, so the next time your baby gets sick, taking this medicine may not work. Therefore, antibiotics should be given only when the doctor clearly diagnoses a bacterial infection.