Western medicine does not consider coughing to be a disease, but a symptom that can occur with many diseases. An infant’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, then 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: The baby is drowsy, has a runny nose, sometimes can be accompanied by fever, the temperature does not exceed 38 ℃; poor spirit, loss of appetite, after sweating to reduce the fever, the symptoms disappear, the cough still lasts 3 to 5 days.
Causes: It is common in all seasons and when there is a big change in temperature. Generally, it is experienced by cold, such as sleeping at night, wearing too little clothes, taking a bath and getting cold, etc. Doctor’s advice: Generally, no special treatment is needed, feed your baby more warm water, ginger water or onion water. Try to use cold medicine sparingly. When your baby is irritable and feverish, give a little pediatric Xin orally; do not use adult antipyretics, do not feed cough syrup, cough tablets and other cough medicines, and do not abuse antibiotics.
Cold air irritating cough
Characteristics: The cough is initially 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, a viral bacterial infection can develop secondary to it.
Doctor’s advice: Let your baby be exercised from an early age with temperature changes. Take your baby outdoors frequently, even in the cold season, as 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 38℃ or more, usually not easy to reduce the fever, lasting for a week; cough with shortness of breath during high fever, baby is in poor spirits.
Causes: caused by viral infection, mostly in winter and spring flu epidemic season, often with clusters.
Doctor’s advice: If influenza is suspected, you should seek medical attention immediately to clarify the diagnosis and treat under the guidance of a doctor.
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.
Causes: Cough is mostly stimulated by inflammatory secretions and often caused by cold.
Doctor’s advice: 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 when the baby moves or cries, 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.
Doctor’s advice: For babies with a family history of asthma and other allergic diseases, coughing 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: Most often seen in older babies, mainly caused by respiratory tract infections.
Doctor’s advice: cold medicine is available when the symptoms of cold are obvious at the beginning, and antipyretic and expectorant are available for fever, but cough medicine is not suitable. If the sputum is high or purulent, it indicates a secondary bacterial infection and should be treated with appropriate antibiotics according to the doctor’s opinion. If the cough is not effectively controlled, it may develop into pneumonia.
Fine bronchitis cough
Characteristics: An irritating dry cough that can cough up more sputum.
Symptoms: Cough with fever, shortness of breath and wheezing.
Cause: Inflammation caused by viruses entering the mucous membrane of the fine bronchi, most common in babies within 6 months of age.
Doctor’s advice: If your baby has difficulty breathing or is unable to eat or drink, you should seek medical attention. If the symptoms are mild (just shortness of breath without symptoms such as dyspnea), you can put a humidifier in your baby’s room to help get rid of the mucus in the lungs and give your baby enough water to drink.
Cough caused by other diseases
Pertussis cough features: coughing that is light day and heavy night, and a dozen or so coughs in a row will make you breathless, with an inspiratory chicken sound at the end of the cough. Coughing and choking with symptoms: inspiratory difficulties, cyanosis of the lips and mouth Pneumonia cough: irritating dry cough with sputum Accompanying symptoms: fever, shortness of breath, flapping of the nose Tuberculosis cough: recurrent dry cough Accompanying symptoms: lethargy, night sweats, low fever in the afternoon Laryngitis cough: strong dry cough, similar to the roar of a seal Accompanying symptoms: light day and heavy night with low fever Home relief program Elevate the baby’s head at night if If your baby keeps coughing while sleeping, elevate his head to relieve the coughing symptoms. 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 a scratchy throat and making the cough worse at night. 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.
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, take the head-low-foot-high position immediately, pat the baby’s back and encourage him/her to cough up the inhalation through coughing.
Coughing with water vapor
Babies with coughing fits will find relief at a room temperature of about 20°C and humidity of 60-65%. If your baby has a severe cough, let him/her inhale steam or sit in a steam-filled bathroom for 5 minutes. The moist air will help to clear the mucus from the 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℃, 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 especially effective for coughing symptoms that appear in the early stages of cold and flu.
Put on some underwear for your baby before applying the compress, and never burn your baby.
Hot drinks to stop coughing method Drinking more warm drinks can make your baby’s mucous phlegm become thin, relieve the tension of the respiratory mucosa and promote coughing up phlegm. It is best to let the baby drink warm boiled water or warm milk, rice soup, etc. You can also give your baby fresh juice, juice should choose less stimulating apple juice and pear juice, etc., should not drink orange juice, grapefruit juice and other citrus juice.