Introduction: Western medicine does not consider coughing to be a disease, but a symptom that can occur with many diseases. A baby’s cough is an organic defense reflex to expel respiratory secretions or foreign bodies. In other words, coughing is a protective physiological phenomenon in babies. However, if the cough is too violent and interferes with eating, sleeping and resting, it loses its protective significance. Therefore, it is important to identify the cause of the cough and then treat it symptomatically. You should never assume that a cough is a cold or pneumonia and make blind treatment.
Cough caused by the common cold
Characteristics: It is mostly an irritating cough, as if the throat is itchy, without phlegm; it does not distinguish between day and night and is not accompanied by shortness of breath or shortness of breath.
Symptoms: baby is drowsy, runny nose, sometimes can be accompanied by fever, body temperature does not exceed 38 ℃; poor spirit, loss of appetite, after sweating to reduce fever, the symptoms disappear, the cough still lasts 3 to 5 days.
Causes: It is common during the four seasons and when there is a big change in temperature, and it is common to experience cold, such as sleeping with a blanket at night, wearing too little clothing, and getting cold in the bath;
Advice: Generally no special treatment is needed, feed your baby more warm water. Use cold medicine sparingly, avoid using adult fever reducers, and do not feed cough syrup, cough tablets and other cough medicines, not to mention the abuse of antibiotics.
Cold air irritant cough
Characteristics: The cough starts as an irritating dry cough.
Symptoms: Light sputum, no fever, no shortness of breath and other accompanying symptoms.
Causes: Cold air is a purely physical factor that irritates the respiratory mucosa causing an irritating cough. It occurs in babies with little outdoor activity. When babies suddenly go out and inhale cold air, the delicate respiratory mucosa becomes congested, edematous, exudative, and other inflammation-like reactions, thus inducing a cough reflex. Initially, there is no microbial infection, but when it persists for a long time, it can be followed by a viral bacterial infection.
Advice: Let your baby be exercised from an early age with temperature changes. Take your baby outdoors often, even in the cold season, and insist that only an exercised respiratory tract can withstand cold air stimulation.
Influenza-induced cough
Characteristics: A slightly hoarse cough emanating from the throat with a tendency to get progressively worse and sputum ranging from little to a lot.
Symptoms: accompanied by obvious click symptoms (tears, snot, increased respiratory secretions), often accompanied by a high fever of more than 38℃, generally not easy to reduce the fever, the time lasts for a week; cough with shortness of breath during high fever, the baby is poor in spirit.
Causes: caused by viral infection, mostly in the winter and spring flu epidemic season, often with a cluster of phenomena.
Suggestions: Suspected influenza should be treated immediately by a doctor for a clear diagnosis and under medical supervision.
Cough caused by pharyngitis
Characteristics: Coughing with a “hollow, hollow” sound.
Symptoms: hoarse voice, pus phlegm, little coughing up, mostly swallowed. Larger babies will complain of sore throat; babies who cannot express themselves often show irritability and refusal to feed.
Cause: Cough is mostly stimulated by inflammatory secretions and often caused by cold.
Suggestions: Seek medical attention promptly and treat the symptoms after a clear diagnosis.
Allergic cough
Characteristics: Persistent or repeated episodes of severe coughing, mostly in paroxysmal episodes, aggravated by the baby’s activity or crying, and more severe at night than during the day.
Symptoms: thin sputum and shortness of breath.
Causes: Caused by antigenic or non-antigenic stimuli, more often during pollen season.
Advice: For babies with a family history of asthma and other allergic diseases, cough should be given extra attention, early medical consultation, clear diagnosis and active treatment to stop the development of asthma.
Tracheomalacia cough
Characteristics: Mild dry cough in the early stage, later turns into wet cough with phlegm sound or coughing up yellow pus sputum.
Symptoms: Early symptoms of a cold, such as fever, sneezing, runny nose, and throat discomfort.
Causes: It is mostly seen in older babies and is mainly caused by respiratory tract infections.
Opinion: cold medicine is available when the symptoms of cold are obvious at the beginning, fever can be used as antipyretic, expectorant, and cough medicine is not suitable. Sputum or purulent sputum indicates secondary bacterial infection and should be treated with appropriate antibiotics according to the doctor’s opinion. If not effectively controlled, it may develop into pneumonia.