How to stop a coughing attack in a child

Causes of coughing attacks and its types

Cough, including paroxysmal cough, is due to the following reasons:

1. Residual effects after an infectious disease of the bronchopulmonary system.
2. Allergic reaction.
3. Psychogenic reaction.
4. Bacterial or viral infection.
5. Presence of a foreign body in the respiratory tract.
6. Reflux of stomach contents into the esophageal canal (reflux).
7. Bronchial asthma.

There are the following types of cough:

1. Dry (unproductive or unproductive), without mucus separation from the respiratory tract. Characteristic of viral infections, allergic reactions, diseases of the pleura or lower respiratory system, whooping cough and parawhooping cough. A foreign body entering the respiratory tract is also often accompanied by a dry cough.
2. Moist (or wet, productive), accompanied by sputum production. It accompanies bacterial infections of the respiratory tract. At the same time, at the initial stage of treatment it is difficult to cough up sputum.

The doctor’s task for a dry cough that accompanies bacterial infections is to transform an unproductive cough into a wet one. This is necessary in order to facilitate the removal of mucus from the bronchi.

Note! Bronchial asthma may be accompanied by paroxysmal unproductive cough combined with shortness of breath and weakness, especially at night. At the end of the attack, viscous glassy sputum is released.

Night coughing attacks are most often caused by swelling of the mucous membrane of the larynx and lower respiratory tract, as well as the accumulation of mucus in them. This occurs under the following conditions:

• bronchitis;
• laryngitis;
• tracheitis;
• pneumonia;
• cystic fibrosis;
• asthmatic bronchitis.

Sometimes a clear connection between coughing attacks and putting the child to bed is due to an allergy to the components of the pillow filling - feathers and down. Replacing feather filler with synthetic material can improve the situation.

Allergic attacks of children's cough

If a child’s dry cough is allergic in nature, then the attack can be stopped at night only with the help of medications. This is possible only after confirmation of the allergy by doctors. This problem can be encountered at any age. The allergen is most often food, namely fruits, nuts, seafood. Allergies to dust, pets, detergents and hygiene products are common.

If a child suffers from seasonal allergies, then the period from late spring to early autumn is most dangerous. The first signs of allergies are very similar to viral diseases. The first thing that appears is a runny nose and cough. In addition to the cough, there is a sore throat. The child's appetite may decrease and fatigue may increase.

What to do if you can’t stop a dry cough on your own? Such cases occur extremely rarely, but require immediate medical attention. If adults cannot cope with such a problem on their own, they should immediately call emergency medical help. Before her arrival, you must try very hard to calm the child and distract him.

How to stop a dry cough in a child

A sudden dry cough in a practically healthy child can occur if a foreign body is present in the respiratory tract. It could be a small piece of a construction set, a toy, a bread crumb that has already penetrated deep into the object, and it is not possible to remove the object on your own. It is urgent to seek the help of doctors to perform a bronchoscopy in a hospital setting to remove the object.

If the baby is often sick, parents wonder what to do if the child coughs, how to stop coughing attacks.

The following actions will help ease a coughing attack:

1. You need to take the child in your arms and give his body a vertical position. Often, when lying down, the contents of the nasopharynx flowing into the larynx irritate the mucous membrane, causing a cough.
2. Rinse the child’s nose with saline solution and remove nasal discharge (if any). If a baby's cough is caused by a dry nasal mucosa, treat the nasal cavity with a cotton swab dipped in peach oil.
3. In case of swelling of the nasal mucosa, drip a vasoconstrictor (children's Naphthyzin, Vibrocil) into the nasal passages.
4. Give the child a warm liquid to drink - herbal decoction (chamomile), alkaline mineral or regular water.

On a note! In infants, raising the head of the bed to an elevated position sometimes also helps to cope with a cough caused by the flow of excessively secreted saliva during teething or the drainage of nasal contents into the throat.

In the room where the sick child is located, the following measures must be taken:

1. Humidify the air in the room to a level of 50-70% using a special device (humidifier), containers with water, or hanging wet diapers on heating radiators.
2. Ventilate the room.
3. Normalize the air temperature in the room, which should be within +18...+25°C.

If the attack is caused by an allergic component, you need to give the child an antihistamine. The drug Fenistil is approved for use in children from 1 year of age, other drugs can be recommended for older ages (for example, Zyrtec, Cetrin).

How to relieve a coughing attack in a child quickly and effectively

Many people believe that coughing is an extremely harmful phenomenon, and it needs to be dealt with immediately, and any means can be used for this, the main thing is that they act quickly and effectively.

You should not make a dangerous mistake - with the help of coughing attacks, the body gets rid of mucus accumulated in the respiratory tract.

It often happens that this unpleasant, but sometimes necessary cold symptom appears suddenly, and then parents have a question - how to relieve a coughing attack in a child, especially if the sputum is practically not coughed up?

How to quickly stop a coughing attack

Quite often it happens that a coughing attack begins suddenly, and the child cannot clear his throat. In such cases, parents should not hesitate - it is necessary to immediately take emergency measures, for which simple folk methods can be used.

Before relieving a coughing attack in a child, you need to make sure that it is not accompanied by suffocation - in such cases, you must urgently call an ambulance. If no suspicious signs are observed, you can use any alkaline drink, which will quickly relieve the child of discomfort.

For treatment, you can use mineral water mixed with warm boiled milk. It is better to take the components in equal parts. Usually it is enough to drink about 200 ml of liquid for the attack to end. Homemade medicine has no contraindications, but it is better to give it to children only after two years.

How to quickly treat coughing attacks at night

Most often, the cough appears at night, and the child cannot sleep, suffering from unpleasant suffocating attacks.

Is it possible to help the baby, and what is best to use for this? The first thing parents should do is make sure that this is just a coughing attack and is not accompanied by difficulty breathing or changes in skin tone. If nothing suspicious is observed, you can give the child any expectorant.

The following pharmaceutical preparations are recommended:

1. Bromhexine;
2. Thermopsol;
3. Mukaltin;
4. Pertussin;
5. Alteyka.

You should not abuse the medicine - be sure to give only the dosage indicated in the instructions. Most often, one dose of the drug is enough for the coughing attacks to stop and the child to fall asleep.

If coughing at night has been bothering you for several days, you can give the medicine shortly before bedtime. Usually this helps the child get a good night's sleep, but if night attacks recur, it is better to consult a doctor - he will certainly find out the cause of this phenomenon.

What can you cook at home?

If a child suffers from frequent coughing attacks, these unpleasant signs should not be ignored. It is recommended to carry out simple treatment, and for this you can use not only pharmaceutical preparations, but also herbal decoctions prepared at home.

How to relieve a cough in a child with herbal compounds? The following herbs can be used as components:

1. plantain;
2. oregano;
3. thyme;
4. coltsfoot.

To prepare the decoction you will need about 30 grams. crushed plant materials. You can take just one type of plant or use a mixture. This amount of herbs requires 300 ml of water.

Brew like regular tea, cover tightly and leave for half an hour. After cooling, filter and store in the refrigerator.

A prerequisite is to warm the medicine before giving the medicine to the child.

The baby should drink the prepared decoction throughout the day; it is especially important to give a few sips of the product immediately after the attack begins. Often, just a few days of treatment are enough for the problem to completely disappear.

Komarovsky: how to properly influence cough attacks

Komarovsky believes that cough should be treated not with drugs, but by creating conditions for the baby in which he will not only be comfortable, but also useful. The most important thing is to ensure high humidity in the room.

This is no less effective in treating cough attacks than the most effective and expensive expectorant medicine.

It is not necessary to immediately rush to the store and buy a humidifier - a few small containers placed around the room are enough.

If the child cannot clear his throat, you can take another necessary measure - bathe the baby. High humidity in the bathroom will certainly help cope with mucus accumulated in the respiratory tract.

It is this that often causes attacks, and only active thinning of the mucus will help get rid of them. A mandatory condition that you should not forget about when bathing is to open the door from the bathroom a little so that some of the steam escapes.

Otherwise, there will be too much moisture, and the child’s weakened lungs will not be able to cope with the lump of phlegm.

Komarovsky also advises giving your baby plenty of fluids throughout the day. It can be simple water, mineral water, juice, compote, the main thing is that the child should drink about one and a half liters of liquid per day. This will help prevent coughing attacks and your baby will be able to get a good night's sleep.

An effective remedy against coughing attacks is steam procedures.

You can also influence cough attacks using inhalations - steam procedures will not only quickly thin out the mucus, but will also significantly ease breathing after just one day of treatment. For inhalations, it is not necessary to purchase a nebulizer; you can use a proven method - brew herbal raw materials and breathe in warm steam.

The following herbs can be used as plant raw materials:

1. plantain;
2. oregano;
3. chamomile;
4. linden;
5. raspberry and currant leaves.

It’s easy to prepare the product – chop the herbs and pour boiling water over them. Leave until the broth cools slightly. Be sure to make sure that the steam is slightly warm, but not scalding - this can injure the mucous membranes.

Before the procedure, you can add a few drops of essential oil to the liquid - it has no less active effect on stagnant phlegm. For children it is allowed to use eucalyptus, rosemary, and clove oils.

Steam procedures are considered completely harmless, but it is better to monitor the child’s condition throughout the entire treatment. If strange or alarming signals from the body appear, be sure to refuse such treatment, go to the doctor and find out the cause of the cough. It is possible that it indicates a serious illness that needs to be treated immediately.

How to stop a child's night cough?

If a child coughs at night, the sequence of actions should be approximately the same as in the daytime. The child needs to be woken up, picked up, calmed down, and after a warm drink the baby can walk. If there is a cough accompanied by vomiting, before the doctor arrives, slightly tilt the child forward so that he does not choke on the vomit, then you need to rinse his mouth and wash his face. You can do express inhalation: go into the bathroom with your baby, turn on the hot water, stand over the clouds of steam for 10-15 minutes. Sometimes these actions are enough to stop the attack.

Inhalation procedure

If you have a prolonged coughing attack, you can perform steam inhalation. The temperature of the solution for children under 2 years of age should not exceed +37°C. As components of the inhalation solution, you can use a decoction of chamomile and wild rosemary. For older children, you can add a few drops of Zvezdochka balm to the water. Convenient to use and more effective than conventional steam inhalations, a nebulizer is an ultrasonic or compressor inhaler. The smallest particles of the solution will moisten the child’s airways, including the most distant ones. For young patients, a nebulizer is the most comfortable device.

Medicines to relieve a cough attack

To alleviate a child’s cough, the doctor may recommend some medications in the form of syrups or tablets:

1. Overslept.
2. Lazolvan.
3. Bromhexine.
4. ACC.
5. Ambrobene.
6. Mukaltin.

These drugs thin the mucus and improve its discharge. Some have an anti-inflammatory and enveloping effect on the bronchial mucosa.

Note! When using these products, you must read the instructions, since some medications can only be used from 2 years of age.

Sometimes a cough can be calmed by giving your baby a lozenge (for example, Doctor Mom). But during an attack, synthetic drugs are more effective than herbal remedies.

If the cough is caused by an attack of bronchial asthma, Salbutamol and Berotec inhalers are usually used.

Centrally acting antitussives (acting on the brain) can only be prescribed by a doctor. These include Glaucine, Libexin.

Folk remedies

When answering the question of how to stop an attack of wet cough in a child, it is important to note the importance of traditional medicine methods. Among non-traditional remedies, compresses based on boiled potatoes, honey, vegetable oil or cottage cheese, mustard plasters, and rubbing the chest with black radish juice are popular.

The following oral medications have a good effect:

1. infusion of figs with warm milk;
2. infusion of chopped aloe leaves, honey and butter;
3. infusion of sage leaves and hot milk;
4. infusion of black radish juice and a small amount of honey (sugar);
5. decoction of onions, honey and sugar;
6. mashed warmed bananas with sugar;
7. fresh cabbage juice with honey;
8. infusion of plantain leaves;
9. decoction of thyme leaves;
10. lemon juice with glycerin and honey;
11. warm milk with butter;
12. syrup from fresh onion juice with sugar.

Causes of nighttime dry cough

Parents should carefully monitor the amount and nature of their child's dry cough. In babies under one year old, it can occur due to:

• allergic reaction;
• bronchitis;
• inflammation of the trachea;
• first stage of respiratory diseases;
• intestinal flu.

At night, attacks of dry cough occur due to the fact that the irritants are stronger.

• The lying position of the child affects this.
• Many do not even admit that the reason for this may be hidden in the carpet on the floor, or the presence of a cat or dog at home.
• If there is high humidity in the apartment and there is mold, then it can also cause a dry cough.

Physiotherapy

Simple exercises will help to avoid congestion in the bronchopulmonary system, improve sputum discharge and prevent coughing attacks in a child:

1. In a sitting position, rest your hands on your waist. As you inhale, turn your entire body to the right, while moving your right arm to the side, and as you exhale, imitate the buzzing of a beetle. Do the same sequence of movements to the left. Repeat 5 times in both directions.
2. In a sitting position, raise both arms up and, while inhaling, spread them to the sides. As you exhale, lower your arms, while loudly shouting “Kaaar!” Repeat 5 times.
3. In a sitting position, while inhaling, bend your torso towards your knees. Bring your palms to your shoulders. As you exhale, say loudly “ga-ga-gaaaa.” Repeat 5 times.
4. In a sitting position, raise your arms up while inhaling. As you exhale, smoothly and slowly lower your hands to your knees, saying smoothly “meow.” Repeat 5 times.

Emergency measures during a coughing attack

Lack of effect, deterioration of the child’s condition (shortness of breath, change in skin color, hoarseness) is a reason to immediately call an ambulance. After examination, the doctor may decide whether hospitalization is necessary, and may administer prednisolone to reduce laryngeal swelling.

Source

A cough is the body’s reaction to an irritant: phlegm, mucus, dust, allergen or foreign body. Sputum is a sign of an inflammatory process or allergy. To humidify the air, the mucous membrane secretes a small amount of secretion. An increase in mucus indicates germs or viruses in the respiratory tract.

By coughing, the child clears the lungs. Seizures occur day and night, preventing the child from sleeping and being actively awake. The main task of parents is to alleviate coughing attacks, reduce their frequency and duration. To completely get rid of attacks, it is necessary to find out the cause of their occurrence and treat the disease that causes the cough.

Cough is a symptom of many diseases, so for its effective treatment it is important to correctly determine the cause.

How to calm a child's cough before bedtime?

Cough attacks can be stopped using folk remedies only if the disease is not advanced. It is very important to do this before bed so that your child sleeps peacefully throughout the night.

Before putting him to bed, you need to rub the baby’s chest with vodka and cover him with a warm blanket . You can also put paraffin on for 30 minutes, but not hot, which can warm up the bronchi and soothe soreness. It is recommended to exclude from the diet foods that irritate the mucous membrane (too salty, spicy).

How to stop a child's cough at night?

How can I help my child if he suffers from severe coughing attacks at night? This disease usually worsens at night, disturbing the child's sleep. This happens due to the fact that when lying down, the mucus cannot be absorbed and clogs the nasopharynx, causing a coughing attack. It is much more difficult to cough up at night, the child sleeps poorly and becomes restless. To reduce the number of seizures, the baby must be turned from side to side while sleeping.

How to stop coughing at night? To do this you need:

• Wake up the child, sit him down on the bed and give him tea with jam, chamomile decoction, mineral water or warm milk. This helps ease the attack and eliminates a sore throat.
• Before going to bed, you can rub your child's back and chest with black radish juice. This will allow him to sleep peacefully all night.
• You can give a small amount of butter or honey, which must be absorbed slowly. This is good for soothing a sore throat. Buckwheat honey is especially effective.
• You can also give your child cough syrups and syrups. The essential oils and other components they contain significantly alleviate the attack.

To stop a nighttime coughing attack in a small child as quickly as possible, you need to open hot water in the bathroom, take him in your arms and hold him as close as possible to the flowing stream and steam so that he inhales it. Moist air and steam can bring relief.

In addition, inhalation with cedar oil . If there is no special device for this, then you can replace it with a bowl of hot water with the addition of the mentioned ether. A warm compress placed on the chest can also help You can wrap a wool scarf around your neck, which retains heat for a long time. Be sure to humidify the air in the room in which the child sleeps.

How to stop a night cough in an adult?

Coughing attacks at night in adults can provoke stagnant discharge from the bronchi. If this disease is not treated, it can develop into chronic bronchitis. Coughing at night causes discomfort to everyone around, and it can accompany such serious problems as dry larynx, chest pain, and constant tickling.

At night, the body cannot function fully, so phlegm begins to accumulate and symptoms worsen. You can get rid of a cough attack using medications or traditional methods. Any drugs that contain mucolytics help eliminate symptoms for a while. It is recommended to drink as much liquid as possible, preferably milk with soda or honey .

There are several ways to get rid of nighttime cough attacks in adults:

• A teaspoon of honey should be placed on the tongue and dissolved; this will help a person not to cough all night. You can also drink a glass of milk with some butter and a teaspoon of honey before going to bed. This drink can warm and soften your throat.
• A pinch of salt should be kept in the mouth for a while and then swallowed.
• Pine buds save you from a severe cough attack at night. To do this, brew one tablespoon of raw material in a glass of boiling water. When an attack occurs, you need to take a sip of the infusion. Relief occurs almost immediately.
• Valerian infusion helps to get enough sleep and calm a strong cough. To prepare it, you need to dissolve 20 drops of infusion in a glass of water.

Dry cough has its own characteristics, so the ways to eliminate it are quite unique. So how to stop dry cough at night?

• Take two tablespoons of vegetable oil and add to 100 ml of boiling water. To get rid of the nasty taste, you need to add a pinch of salt. The solution is drunk at a time in small sips.
• It is necessary to beat the yolk of the egg and slowly pour hot milk into it, as well as one tablespoon of honey and vegetable oil.
• The fastest way to get rid of a dry cough is to grate ginger on a fine grater, then add one teaspoon of the resulting juice to the same amount of honey, and then drink it.

Thus, if you have a severe cough at night, you need to treat the disease that caused it. Such attacks do not allow a person to get enough sleep, as a result of which the body does not rest. There are many methods to help stop coughing at night. But in any case, you should definitely visit a doctor.

How to recognize a coughing attack on your own?

A physiological cough is provoked by particles of dust, food or strong odors (for example, cigarette smoke). This cough appears sporadically and is short-lived. If the cough becomes paroxysmal, occurs at night, after waking up or during quiet games, and other symptoms of the disease appear (for example, high fever), you should contact your pediatrician and conduct the necessary examination. Timely, competent treatment reduces the risk of complications.

Types and causes of children's cough

Types of cough in children and their characteristics:

• Dry. It mainly occurs due to the onset of inflammatory processes in the throat. As a result of the infectious disease, severe and prolonged attacks occur, which are disturbing at night. Other symptoms of the disease appear - high body temperature, general malaise, discomfort in the throat, vomiting. No sputum is produced with a dry cough.
• Wet. Characterized by the production of sputum. The frequency and duration of attacks depends on the thickness of the mucus. If the discharge is thick, the child coughs for a long time, since effort is required to cleanse the respiratory system. With liquid mucus, coughing occurs faster, so attacks are short-lived. With the accumulation of sputum, a new attack begins.

The time of day when severe coughing attacks occur is directly related to the disease that caused the cough. Kinds:

• morning - appears during inflammatory processes in the upper respiratory tract;
• evening – occurs with pneumonia, bronchitis;
• nocturnal - occurs with bronchial asthma, laryngitis, whooping cough.

Spasmodic cough in children appears due to respiratory viral diseases. Then there is a fever, redness of the throat and weakness. A severe cough is a symptom of:

• Laryngitis is a disease in which the larynx becomes inflamed. There is a rough barking cough.
• Tracheitis – inflammation of the trachea. Before the cough, symptoms of acute respiratory infections are observed.
• Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi. It starts with a dry cough, then turns into a wet cough, producing a large amount of sputum.
• Pneumonia is inflammation of the lungs. Children often get sick because their immune system is not strong enough. With pneumonia, an increase in body temperature above 38 degrees is observed. The disease begins abruptly, immediately after hypothermia. The sputum is yellow or green. Pneumonia requires hospital treatment; it is very difficult to cope with the disease at home - there is a high risk of complications.
• Whooping cough is a childhood disease that causes a barking cough. It is accompanied by other symptoms: blue discoloration of the skin and swollen veins. Treatment is carried out under the supervision of a doctor.
• Diphtheria is a dangerous infectious disease that causes plaque to appear on the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract and trachea. Coughing with diphtheria can provoke an attack of suffocation and asphyxia. If symptoms are detected, you must call an ambulance.

A cough combined with a runny nose may be allergic in nature.

Allergies can also be the cause of a cough. Allergic cough attacks are sudden. You need to pay attention when they occur: during contact with pets, in a dusty room, or outdoors when plants are flowering. These are the most common allergens.

If the cough begins while eating food, particles may enter the respiratory tract. It is necessary to help the child get rid of the foreign object. In children under one year of age, a cough may begin due to teething, as a large amount of saliva is released.

How to treat a beginning cough

At the early stage of acute respiratory infections, a nonproductive cough occurs, in which sputum is not released. It is accompanied by a burning sensation, a feeling of a lump in the throat and chest pain. Therefore, on the first day of illness, it is especially important to take antitussives that suppress the cough reflex. When the cough becomes wet, you need to switch to mucolytics and secretomotor, that is, expectorants.

Cough is a symptom, not an independent disease. To reduce inflammation and reduce the sensitivity of receptors in the ENT organs, they additionally resort to:

• gargling;
• inhalations;
• rubbing;
• compresses.

Comprehensive treatment increases the chances of a quick recovery.

But if there is no tendency to improve your health, do not delay your visit to the doctor.

Medicines in tablets and syrups

Dry cough in children and adults is eliminated with antitussives. They are divided into 2 groups - central and peripheral action. The former reduce the sensitivity of the nerve endings in the throat, while the latter suppress the functions of the cough center of the brain. If the cough is just starting, use the following antitussives:

When taking narcotic (opioid) cough tablets, strictly follow the dosage. Drug abuse is dangerous due to respiratory depression and addiction.

After 2-3 days, the cough becomes productive, so the sore throat decreases.

To reduce the viscosity of mucus and speed up its elimination, take medications with mucolytic (secretolytic) and expectorant effects:

To speed up the expectoration of mucus, take bronchodilators - medications that increase the lumen of the bronchi:

• Fenoterol;
• Combivent;
• Duo-medihaler;
• Formoterol;
• Bambuterol;
• Salbutamol;
• Indacaterol.

If there are signs of bacterial inflammation - yellow or green sputum, white plaque on the walls of the throat - the doctor will prescribe antibiotics.

Infection in the ENT organs is destroyed by Augmentin, Doxycycline, Clarithromycin, Moxifloxacin.

Lollipops

If you complain of a cough and sore throat, you can give your child medicinal lozenges. To treat colds, products based on essential oils, antiseptics, and herbal extracts are used.

Before treating an incipient cough in children, consult your pediatrician. Due to underdevelopment of the immune system, serious complications are possible.

Pharmacy lozenges for sore throat and cough:

• Hexoral;
• Vokasept;
• Doctor Mom;
• Strepsils;
• Agisept;
• Bronchicum;
• Septolete;
• Faringosept;
• Carmolis;
• Travisil;
• Anti-Angin.

Lollipops are recommended for children over 5 years old. The course of treatment depends on the cause of cough and sore throat and varies from 3 to 5 days. If you can't go to the pharmacy, try making homemade lollipops.

Traditional recipes for cough drops:

• Ginger. Pour 2/3 cup of granulated sugar into a saucepan, add 30-40 ml of water and the juice of ½ lemon. Add 1 tsp into the heated mass. mashed ginger root, ¼ tsp. chopped cloves. Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly. Add 15 ml of melted honey to the semi-finished caramel. After 2 minutes, the brown mass is poured into molds and left until hardened. When coughing, dissolve 1 lozenge 1 hour after meals up to 5 times a day.
• With cocoa butter. In a saucepan, mix ½ cup of honey and granulated sugar, add 60 g of cocoa butter. Bring to a boil in a water bath and stir. If desired, add 2-3 drops of eucalyptus oil. The homogeneous mass is cooled. Eat 1 tsp. up to 4-5 times a day.

Pharmacy and homemade lozenges disinfect the throat and speed up the healing of the mucous membrane. Thanks to this, the sensitivity of nerve endings decreases and the frequency of coughing attacks decreases.

Sprays and rinses

Local cough treatment is one of the safest and most effective ways to combat inflammation of the throat, bronchi and trachea. To ease the course of acute respiratory infections, aerosol preparations with antiseptic, sedative, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties are suitable:

• Tantum Verde;
• Oralcept;
• Strepsils;
• Faringosept;
• Inhalipt;
• Hexoral;
• Angal S;
• Miramistin;
• Sinupret;
• Lugol spray.

Treatment of cough in a child

Depending on the type of cough and the reasons causing the attacks, the pediatrician will prescribe appropriate treatment. Strict adherence to the doctor’s recommendations contributes to a quick recovery.

There are general requirements for relieving a spasm of a strong cough, applicable for any type: plenty of warm drinks, regular ventilation and high humidity in the room.

First aid during an attack

How to stop a child’s cough (more details in the article: how to treat an allergic cough in a small child?)? You need to act depending on the type of cough. First steps for dry cough:

• Calm the child. If he coughs at night, sit him on the bed or pick him up. Speak in a calm voice so that your anxiety is not passed on to your baby.
• To moisturize the mucous membranes, you need to give a warm drink. Water, juice, compote or fruit drink will do. You can prepare a decoction of chamomile with sage; warm milk with a spoon of honey also relieves coughing.
• It is necessary to moisturize the nasal passages. Use a saline solution from a pharmacy or prepare it at home using saline drops in your nose.
• Increase the air humidity in the room, ventilate the room more often.
• To achieve better results, you can turn on the water in the bath and sit in the room with the child so that he can breathe well-humidified air.
• If the baby stops crying, inhale with saline solution.

What to do first

Cough is a symptom of many respiratory diseases caused by infection or allergies. To prevent complications, start treatment at the first signs of acute respiratory infections. Timely provision of assistance prevents the spread of infection to the lungs.

How to treat a beginning cough in a child and an adult:

• Bed rest. Complete rest is recommended for 3-5 days. The patient is covered with a warm blanket and a small pillow is placed under the head.
• Air humidification. Hang damp sheets, towels, blankets in the room or use a humidifier. To reduce the viscosity of sputum, maintain air humidity at 70%.
• Ventilation. Providing access to fresh air has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the respiratory system. To speed up recovery, the room is ventilated every 2-3 hours.
• Drink plenty of fluids. For an infectious cough, it is recommended to drink a lot of tea, milk with honey, lingonberry juice, and alkaline mineral water. Liquids reduce symptoms of intoxication and thin bronchial mucus. Thanks to this, a dry cough becomes productive (wet).
• Wet cleaning. To reduce the frequency of coughing attacks, remove dust collectors from the room - carpets, soft toys. During cleaning, not only the floor is wiped, but also all horizontal surfaces - window sills, tables, racks, shelves, etc.

A persistent cough that lasts more than 3 days, accompanied by shortness of breath or chest pain, is a reason to consult a doctor.