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 of all, you have to determine what kind of cough your baby has~
Cough caused by an upper respiratory tract infection
Symptoms: An irritating cough, itchy throat, cough without phlegm, coughing day and night, without 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 and choose Pediatric Lung Fever and Cough and Asthma Oral Liquid, Pediatric Cold and Flu Punch, Vitamin C Yin Qiao Tablet, Children’s Clear Lung Pill, Pediatric Clear Throat Punch, Pancreatic Punch, Shuang Huang Lian Oral Liquid, Pediatric Hui Chun Pill, Pediatric Clear Heat San, etc.
Cough caused by bronchitis
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 frequently 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 too 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 suck out, use nebulized inhalation and choose 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 fever-reducing medicine when the fever is high; give the baby enough fluids, such as raising the head when the baby is lying in bed; 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 1:5000 furacilin liquid or compound borax liquid gargle, Dulaifen, chlorhexidine, mint tablets or containing iodine tablets containing, 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 blown into the throat. Acupuncture of the cheek car, hegu and shaoshang or closure of the mandibular angle can make the inflammation subside and provide especially good pain relief.
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 moves 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 and flu. Once an allergic cough appears, see a doctor as soon as possible to find the allergen, make a clear diagnosis, and stop it from developing into 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, Ciclopiro, Sisumec, Karetan, Salbutamol, Fenagan, Mucosolvan, etc.
If you use Chinese medicine, you can consult your doctor and choose Pepto-Bismol Cough Syrup, Chuanbei Loquat Syrup, Chuanbei Snow Pear Cream, Xiao Qing Long Combination, Cough and Asthma Syrup, Cough and Asthma Granules, Xiao Qing Long Granules, Gu Ben Cough and Asthma Tablets, etc.
Choking and coughing caused by inhalation of foreign body
Symptom judgment: If the baby did not previously cough, runny, sneezing or fever and other symptoms, suddenly appear violent choking cough, while breathing difficulties, bad face, especially the smaller children, may be put into the mouth of foreign bodies, 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 hands to pick in its mouth, so as not to pick the foreign body deeper and deeper, the airway completely blocked. If nothing is coughed up and the baby coughs or wheezes repeatedly, it means that the foreign body has reached the lower respiratory tract and should be taken to the hospital immediately for timely removal.
Home remedies for pediatric cough
Hot drinks to relieve cough
Drinking more warm drinks can make the baby’s mucous phlegm thinner, relieve the tension in the respiratory mucosa and promote coughing up of phlegm. It is best to let your baby drink warm boiled water or warm milk or rice soup, etc. You can also give your baby fresh fruit juice, which should be less stimulating such as apple juice and pear juice, and not citrus juices such as orange juice and grapefruit juice.
Water vapor coughing method
Babies with a cough will find relief at a room temperature of about 20°C and humidity of about 60-65%. If the cough is severe, 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 calm the cough.
Hot water bag on the back to stop coughing
Fill a hot water bag with hot water at about 40°C, wrap it with a thin towel outside and put it on your baby’s back near the lungs to speed up the cold and stop the cough quickly. 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 the compress, and never burn your baby.
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 it to scratch and aggravate the cough 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 the baby’s back and encourage him/her to cough up the inhalation through coughing.
Pharmacist 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 that 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.