What should I do if my baby has a bad cough? Take some medicine now! Don’t cough up a lung disease! However, cough is not a disease, and often the rush to take medicine is often counterproductive. So, what are the other wrong ways to prevent and treat a baby’s cough? Baby cough, unreliable treatment methods: 1. “Take some medicine, don’t cough up pneumonia!” Unreliable index: ★★★★★ Truth: Cough is not a disease, it is a concomitant symptom. In most cases, a baby’s cough is a good thing, indicating that his defenses are normal. There are many causes of coughing, and coughing symptoms may occur in colds, laryngitis, pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis, bronchiectasis, etc. So, having pneumonia can cause a cough, but a cough is not likely to cough up pneumonia, so don’t get the cause and effect relationship backwards! 2. “You have to drink cough medicine, or you’ll be in trouble if you cough badly!” Unreliable index: ★★★★★ Truth: Coughing is a protective reflex mechanism of the body, through which coughing can expel pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses from the respiratory tract. Most coughs in small babies are coughs with phlegm. Because of their poor reflexes, phlegm is not easily coughed out, and if given a strong cough, it can lead to a large accumulation of phlegm in the respiratory tract, which can instead aggravate coughing symptoms and cause shortness of breath or even other complications in severe cases. When a baby has a cough with phlegm, the phlegm should be dissolved first, and the cough will naturally heal with less phlegm. 3. “Cough is inflammation, hurry up and take anti-inflammatory drugs!” Unreliable index: ★★★★☆ Truth: Most babies’ acute coughs are caused by colds and flu, with viral infections, and antibiotics are only effective for bacterial infections, but not for coughs caused by viral infections. If you give your baby antibiotics repeatedly for a long time, not only will it not stop the cough, but it will also produce drug resistance or cause allergies, which will bring more potential harm to your child’s body. In case of viral infections, let your baby drink more warm water or use phlegm-forming drugs to dilute the phlegm so that it can be easily expelled and not give bacteria a chance to multiply; if the cough is triggered by allergies, you should stay away from allergens and use anti-allergy drugs so that the cough can be easily cured. 4, food therapy prescriptions: salt steamed oranges, pears boiled water, honey unreliable index: ★★★☆☆☆☆ Truth: Food therapy prescriptions can be tried, but not completely dependent. There is no basis for whether “steamed oranges with salt” can cure cough, because salt and oranges put together without side effects, parents can try, but do not hold too much hope. Likewise, you can also give pear water to babies who do not like to drink plain water (pear water is also a supplement, so babies who have not added supplements cannot drink it), but the effect may not be as good as you think. How to take proper care of my baby’s cough? Don’t take cough medicine whenever your baby coughs Cough is not a disease, but a symptom caused by different diseases. Therefore you cannot rely on cough drops to control a cough; you need to treat the disease itself that is causing the cough. It is common to have a cough for 1-2 weeks after a cold. Don’t watch your baby cough badly for a few days and rush to cough medicine. If the cough is severe and interferes with daily activities, playing and eating, you should go to the hospital promptly and treat the cause of the cough purposefully, rather than using cough drops blindly to stop the cough. If the cough is caused by a bacterial infection, antibiotics are needed; if the cough is caused by allergies, anti-allergy medication is needed; if the cough is caused by a viral cold, it is impossible to eliminate the cause with medication and you have to wait patiently for your body to develop immunity against the virus. Babies with coughs and colds should drink more water For babies with coughs and colds, it is generally recommended to drink more water, take more rest and eat lightly. There should be no rush to use medicines that simply relieve symptoms. The first recommendation is to use mild physical therapy, such as inhaling hot water vapor to moisten the airway (but be careful to avoid burns), as well as elevating the head of the bed at an angle of 30 degrees when sleeping to avoid stimulation of the throat by nasal secretions. When a baby coughs violently, it is best to pick him up at night so that his upper body is at a 45-degree angle, or he can lift the pillow slightly, while gently patting the baby’s back with his hands, which can reduce the stimulation of the throat by gastroesophageal reflux and loosen the secretions adhering to the trachea and facilitate coughing out.