Q1.What should I do if my baby has a cough with phlegm at night and can’t cough it up on his own?
Is it because the technique is not right if I can’t get rid of the phlegm? Do I need to take medicine?
Coughing is a physiological protection mechanism. Usually, we do not advocate giving medication to small babies to suppress cough. For a mild cough, parents can pat the baby’s back more often to help expel phlegm. At night when sleeping as snot flows to the back of the throat, it can be stimulated to trigger an aggravated cough. Try raising the mattress in the direction of the head into an incline (the same applies to babies with severe milk spillage).
For a mild, occasional cough, it is recommended to drink plenty of water and pat the back to help expel the phlegm. For small babies who cannot cough up phlegm on their own, parents should pat their backs, preferably half an hour to a little before or 2 hours after drinking milk, or after nebulizer treatment for children with a lot of phlegm, for about a quarter of an hour each time (fingers bent together into a cup shape to pat the baby’s back). It is best for small babies to have a low head and high feet posture, so they can lie on their parents’ laps or have their lower body padded. When patting sputum, you need to closely observe the baby’s reaction.
For severe coughing and wheezing, try nebulizer treatment in consultation with a doctor. Commonly used nebulized inhalation drugs: 1, saline, can be used as a medium for other drugs or alone; 2, phlegmolytic agents, such as aminoglutethimide, so that sputum can be easily coughed out, and reduce the cough phenomenon; 3, bronchial antispasmodics, such as salbutamol, can release the bronchial spasm, to relieve the difficulty of breathing when wheezing episodes; 4, hormones, such as budesonide, with local anti-inflammatory effect, nebulized inhalation side effects are small, adverse reactions Commonly in the oropharynx local, after nebulization must wash face and rinse mouth with water. The above drugs should be used in accordance with the doctor.
Q2. My baby has a very bad runny nose and his mouth is red when he wipes his nose, so he cries when he wipes it. What should I do? I can’t sleep well at night because of puffing and panting. Is there any physical way to ventilate the nose because of nasal congestion?
Skin care for runny nose, baby’s skin is very delicate, wipe gently with a soft handkerchief, wipe many times will make the baby uncomfortable, you can use a wet towel to cover lightly after wiping, and then apply a little moisturizer to prevent chapped skin caused pain.
Nasal snot cleaning, with olive oil and other oils thinly coated in the mucous membrane of the clean nasal cavity, can reduce the secretion of secretions. If the nasal blockage affects breathing, use a nasal aspirator to suck out the snot, or use a cotton swab dipped in a small amount of water (saline) to remove it gently; if the swelling of the mucous membrane inside the nose affects breathing, use a warm towel on the root of the nose to relieve the symptoms of nasal congestion.
Q3.Does it matter if my baby coughs a few times every morning? There are no other symptoms.
There is no need to worry too much if your baby occasionally coughs once or twice in the morning, but if you have a long-term morning cough, sneezing and runny nose, you should consider whether there are allergies.
Q4: Your baby has a fever, and it doesn’t take long for the fever to rise again to 39 after taking medicine to reduce the fever. Does it mean that the viral infection is strong?
The decrease of body temperature needs to be completed by increasing the body’s heat dissipation, which is mainly done through skin sweating and urine discharge. Therefore, even if the medication is chosen correctly and the dosage is used appropriately, to achieve the desired effect of reducing fever, the child must be allowed to take in enough fluids, otherwise the antipyretic medication will not be able to play its role of reducing fever. In addition, proper physical cooling helps to achieve a better fever-reducing effect.
Of course, during fever, it is common for the body temperature to be high and low at times. The body temperature can return to normal only after the cause of the fever is eliminated and the disease is cured, and the temperature adjustment point returns to its original setting.
In principle, when the fever, when the baby’s axillary temperature is lower than 38,5 ℃, take physical cooling, axillary temperature in 38,5 ℃ or more, physical cooling (warm water bath or warm water bath) plus the use of drugs to cool down.
The use of antipyretic medicine for axillary temperature above 38,5℃ is not absolute, but also refers to the general performance of the baby. If the child is in good spirits and can eat and play, there is no need to use it; if the value is measured during the chill period, it means that the body temperature is likely to continue to rise, which requires consideration of whether to use antipyretic medicine according to the baby’s situation at that time and your past nursing experience.
Q5.Baby has a fever and the family won’t let him take a bath, can I rub his whole body with warm water? Do I need to pay attention to anything?
When the weather is cold, use warm water to wipe the bath, simply put, use a warm wet towel of about 37℃ to wipe the whole body including the baby’s forehead and face. The principle of fever reduction is to let the blood vessels of the skin expand, so that the body temperature is distributed, and the evaporation of water vapor left on the body after the warm wet towel wipe will also take away part of the body heat. Infants and children have a large body surface area, and warm baths are more effective at reducing fever than adults and older children. Some studies have shown that the efficacy of combining warm water baths with antipyretic drugs to reduce fever is more effective than drug cooling alone. When the weather is warm, you can choose to give your baby a warm bath directly, with the focus on controlling the water temperature, which should preferably be kept between 37 and 40 degrees Celsius (this value is higher than the AAP’s recommendation, as lower water temperatures can be uncomfortable considering the increase in body temperature during fever, so parents can use their discretion).
Whether to use physical cooling specific please refer to the performance and care focus of the 3 phases of fever (chills – hyperthermia – fever reduction), Q6, baby fever after taking medication, all of a sudden the temperature dropped to 36 degrees, does it matter?
If, after using the medicine, accompanied by a lot of sweating, the body temperature drops rapidly to significantly lower than the normal body temperature, it is usually due to the use of antipyretic drugs in large doses, or the joint use of other antipyretic drugs or hormonal drugs. At this time, it is necessary to keep the child warm, especially the end parts of the extremities. The room temperature can be adjusted appropriately, and if necessary, insulation measures such as warm water bags can be used to ensure that the child will not be burned; at the same time, warm water and juice should be provided to the child to replenish the large amount of water and electrolytes lost. Usually, after the above treatment, the body temperature will gradually return to normal. If your little one (or) is accompanied by poor spirit and poor response, you should seek medical attention while doing the above measures.
Q7.Baby has no appetite for fever and cough lately, only willing to eat milk and not even water, what should I pay attention to in diet?
Some people say that eating meat when you are sick is indigestible, while others say that there is no resistance if you don’t eat meat, so can you eat meat or can you eat eggs?
Whether it is fever, diarrhea, vomiting, or coughing, runny disease, the child’s digestive system function is weakened, the diet should be given to the child easy to accept easy to digest nutritious food, the following principles can be referred to (unless the disease has special contraindications), liquid and semi-liquid food should be given priority. Both children and adults generally prefer liquid foods to regular foods during illness. Smaller children who have not started complementary foods should drink as much milk as possible; babies in the complementary food stage can increase their intake of milk as well as plain water and rice porridge; older children can increase their intake of light soups in addition to the above.
Foods that can prevent dehydration should be given priority. Increase the intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, and make pureed fruits and vegetables or even juice according to the baby’s needs. Babies usually don’t like oral ORS liquids, so freshly squeezed apple juice can be used instead to prevent dehydration or mild dehydration (not commercially available juices!). . For moderate dehydration and above, seek medical attention as soon as possible and your doctor will take the necessary rehydration measures.
Nutritious foods that your child likes should be given priority. It is especially important to respect your child’s appetite when his or her appetite is reduced due to illness. Give up giving your child foods that you think are nutritious but that he does not want to eat, or if he only wants to drink some milk and eat a little banana.
Do not try to continue adding new complementary foods during illness. During illness, the digestive system is weakened and the body may be in a state of hypersensitivity, so new foods can easily trigger allergies and other illnesses.
Eat small, frequent meals and avoid eating large amounts of food and foods that are not easily digested. Most diseases do not require additional special food supplements, and it is time to give the digestive system a proper rest and adjustment.
Don’t force it, even if your child hasn’t eaten for twenty-four hours. Your child will eat according to his or her needs, and his or her appetite will gradually improve once he or she recovers. In fact, the child will make up for the missed “meals” during the illness in the period after recovery, that is, the child will soon after recovery, to regain the lost nutrition.
Q8.How can I solve the problem of feeding my baby when he is sick?
Give medicine when your baby is in a good mood and is not very full.
Most oral medications can be mixed with (warm) water and bananas, not with boiling water and mineral water. Some medications are not suitable to be mixed with fruit juice, milk, yogurt, etc.; do not mix medications with baby’s milk powder, porridge and other foods, so that you do not hate the food because you hate the medication.
If it is determined in advance that a certain food and drink can be mixed, it can only be mixed in a very small amount, and the amount of mixing cannot be eaten in a large amount, so it is not possible to take in enough medicine.
If feeding medication with a dropper, medicine dispenser or small spoon, insert it into the baby’s mouth at an appropriate depth to avoid spitting out the medication.
If feeding with a measuring cup, add the right amount of water to the residual medication at the bottom of the measuring cup, and then let your baby drink it all.
If the baby feels that the syrup agent is too sweet, you can add water (not boiling water or mineral water) to dilute it properly.
You can give some water to rinse the mouth after feeding the medicine.
For children who understand a little, try to communicate patiently with the child, get his cooperation when feeding the medicine, and clearly tell the child that he is taking the medicine so as not to lay a hidden problem for misuse of the medicine in the future.
In the United States, clinicians usually divide children into three stages according to their age. In the first stage, children under 2 years old are not allowed to use over-the-counter drugs on their own, but must use drugs under the guidance of a doctor and use water for oral medication; in the second stage, children between 2 and 5 years old, oral medication is also basically used in water; in the third stage, children between 6 and 12 years old, oral medication In addition to water, it can also be some pills or tablets; in either stage, it is not recommended to give children unnecessary injections and infusions.
Q9. Under what circumstances do I need to see a doctor for a cold and cough?
Infants under 3 months of age must see a doctor for a cough; older infants and children also need to consult a doctor immediately for the following conditions: severe cough or even respiratory distress, manifested by rapid or slow breathing, murmurs in breathing, increased activity of the intercostal, subpectoral and supraclavicular respiratory muscles (i.e. trismus), nasal flapping, cyanosis of the lips and nasolabial folds and the ends of the fingers and toes, and coughing or deep breathing accompanied by chest pain. Some severe coughs that are not cured for a long time must also be distinguished from cough variant asthma, upper airway cough syndrome, and mycoplasma infection.
Q10: My baby had a fever from a previous viral infection, and the cough did not go away for more than two weeks afterwards.
Most pneumonia is caused by viral infections, such as respiratory syncytial virus, influenza virus, parainfluenza virus, adenovirus, etc. Some are caused by bacterial infections, such as pneumococcus, Haemophilus influenzae, staphylococcus, etc. In recent years, pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection is also on the rise.
Pneumonia is not a “burn” or a “cough”. Fever and cough are only some of the symptoms of pneumonia, not the cause of pneumonia. Fever and cough are only some of the symptoms of pneumonia, not the cause of it. Inflammation in any part of the respiratory system can cause fever and cough, so fever and cough are not necessarily pneumonia. Not all upper respiratory tract infections will evolve into pneumonia. The common cold does not easily turn into pneumonia. Children with other diseases that weaken immune system function or respiratory system function, such as congenital heart disease, are at higher risk.