A baby’s cough with phlegm is usually an external cough. External coughs are also divided into wind-cold coughs and wind-heat coughs. Coughing is a defensive response against germs, which removes germs, mucus and other irritants from the airways. Although coughing is a normal physiological mechanism for clearing the airways, prolonged coughing is not good for health.
Parents can observe their child’s tongue. If the tongue is white, the child has a wind-cold cough, which means the child is cold and has thin, white, sticky phlegm and a stuffy, runny nose. If the tongue is yellow and red, the child has a wind-heat cough, which means that the child has more internal heat, and the cough has yellow, thick phlegm that is not easy to cough up, and a sore throat.
Mom and dad should first clarify that coughing is a self-protective reflex of the human body. Having foreign bodies in the respiratory tract, including phlegm, is what causes irritation to the airways and then makes people cough, so coughing is a self-protective pathway for the body that needs to eliminate foreign bodies. Although there is a beneficial side to coughing, severe and prolonged coughing can lead to bleeding in the respiratory tract. Moms and dads must pay more attention to this, and with proper care, they can keep their babies away from coughing and restore their health.
When a baby has a cough with phlegm, parents should first not just give the baby cough medicine, but should first observe the situation and then treat it symptomatically. If the cough is not serious, you can choose daily care or dietary therapy, but if the situation starts to get serious, then you should see a doctor immediately.
I. Baby cough with white sputum
When a baby coughs with white phlegm, it is usually because the baby has a cold or flu. Let your baby’s head rest a little higher when he or she sleeps, so that he or she can breathe well and rest well. If your baby does not have a fever, try not to use medicine to treat it.
Mom and dad should give their baby more plain water on a regular basis, pay attention to keeping warm, eat light and easily digestible food, and avoid oily food or stimulating food, such as overly sweet and salty food. The treatment period for baby cough is extremely long, and if you can apply food therapy, you will often receive unexpected results. At the same time, the temperature, humidity and air concentration in the baby’s bedroom should be appropriate, and the baby should be dressed and covered properly, and attention should be paid to keeping the baby’s abdomen warm.
The disappearance of phlegm needs to be a process, and parents should usually take good care of it. If you have the conditions, you can add a humidifier to the room, especially during the dry bath season and at night. If necessary, parents can give the baby medication under the guidance of the doctor to treat the symptoms. If the symptoms are not relieved after three days of medication, it is time to go to the hospital again.
Babies often have a cough that lasts for a long time without other complications. If you find that your baby is coughing in the morning and vomiting phlegm and it lasts for more than three weeks, this is probably bronchitis or allergic bronchitis.
II. Baby’s cough with yellow sputum
Most coughs in young children are still viral infections and usually do not require special treatment. If a baby has yellow phlegm in his cough, it means that the child’s internal heat is heavy. It is important to choose drugs that clear heat and detoxify the body and cool the body, such as the commonly used Jin Yin Hua, Scutellaria baicalensis, Lian Qiao, Pan Lan Gen and Fishy Herb. These herbs can not only treat the baby’s phlegm with yellow phlegm, but also inhibit bacteria and viruses and fight the flu. It will be better if they are combined with phlegm-draining and diluting medicines to treat together.
The nature of phlegm is different, some phlegm is clearer, some phlegm is more mucus. Clear phlegm tends to be a symptom of wind-cold cold, yellow phlegm tends to be a symptom of phlegm fire in the lungs, and the medication for the two is different. In case of viral infection, the total white blood cell count and neutrophil ratio are usually normal, or both are reduced, while in case of bacterial infection, both are increased, and antibiotics must be taken for bacterial infection.
What to do if your baby has a cough with phlegm
First of all, you can shoot the baby’s phlegm, or you can give the coughing baby cough medicine, or do a nebulizer treatment. In daily care, give your baby more water and dress loosely and comfortably so that your baby’s breathing is not affected. A comfortable environment should be established for your baby at home and indoor ventilation should be maintained.
1.Phlegm patting care
Mom and dad snap their hands up and pat from the child’s back, from bottom to top and from outside to inside, because this is the direction of the child’s lung lobes and bronchi, which can promote sputum patting. The mother can have the child lie on your forearm and pat the child with her other hand. A stronger pat on the back is required; too light an effort is not very effective. It is important to take extra care of a coughing baby at night so that the phlegm does not block the airway and affect the baby’s normal breathing.
2. Take cough and phlegm medicines
When your baby has a cough with phlegm, take oral cough medicine or nebulizer treatment, which can moisten the respiratory tract and dilute the phlegm. However, cough suppressants should not be used because cough suppressants and phlegm are two different things, and cough suppressants will affect the discharge of phlegm and aggravate the condition.
3.Pay attention to ventilation in the room
Pay attention to ventilation indoors to keep the air fresh, with the temperature controlled at 25℃-26℃ and the humidity between 50%-60%. Family members try to avoid smoking in the house. A little smell of smoke will make the baby’s respiratory tract uncomfortable and the phlegm more unsuccessful in coughing up, so for the health of the baby, the home should become a smoke-free place.
4.Dressing should be appropriate
Dress your baby appropriately, don’t think about the baby is sick, you have to add clothes to him, so as not to catch a cold. In fact, when the baby is sick, clothes to avoid too much or too little, and to be loose, elastic pants should not be too tight or wear to the chest, so as not to affect the baby’s breathing.
5.Supply enough water
When a baby has a cough with phlegm, parents should give the baby more warm plain water. Sufficient water can effectively help the baby dilute the phlegm, which is conducive to coughing up the phlegm. The diet should also be as light as possible. Breastfeeding mothers should also pay attention to their diet, hydrate more and eat less food that is on fire, as these are passed on to the baby through the breast milk.