How to treat an expectorant cough in a child

Causes

There are many reasons for dry cough. These are respiratory diseases, inflammatory and infectious diseases. Most often, unproductive cough attacks are provoked by the following ailments:

ARVI.
Bronchitis.
Pneumonia.
Pleurisy.
Laryngitis and pharyngitis.
Measles.
Allergy.
False croup.
Angina.

A common cause of dry bronchospasms is whooping cough. The cough in this case is unproductive and hysterical, often leading to gagging. It is not difficult to diagnose whooping cough; immediately after a coughing attack, the patient inhales air noisily. At the same time, whistling sounds are heard in the chest.

False croup is a dangerous disease that requires immediate treatment. With severe swelling of the larynx and trachea, the attack can result in suffocation of the patient.

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What is a cough like with coronavirus?

At the initial stage, it is impossible to distinguish coronavirus from other respiratory infections. Their first symptoms are similar. Suspicions of COVID-19 arise only when characteristic symptoms appear - high body temperature, shortness of breath, severe weakness and pneumonia (usually bilateral).

If the disease is severe, acute respiratory distress syndrome develops - a condition in which the patient cannot breathe on his own.

The complications of coronavirus infection are severe, so it is important to recognize it as early as possible.

Dry

A severe, persistent dry cough of coronavirus is the main symptom of the disease. Coronavirus infection comes into contact with type II receptors of angiotensin-converting enzyme and affects the lower respiratory tract. This is why a dry cough appears. At the beginning of the disease, it is mild, consists of coughing, and does not cause discomfort to the patient. However, 3–4 days after the first symptoms appear, the situation changes.

A mild cough transforms into a dry, strong and debilitating cough, which is not characteristic of a common ARVI. This is the hallmark symptom of COVID-19. It is so aggressive that it causes chest pain, sometimes accompanied by vomiting. The attacks are prolonged, more than an hour. The patient experiences a spasm in the lungs, due to which the person cannot take a breath, he suffocates. Attacks are repeated three times a day or more.

Wet

Coughing with sputum during coronavirus is rare. At the initial stages it is absent, appearing only after dryness. A wet cough with coronavirus may indicate a worsening of the pathological process. The sputum removes dead lung cells destroyed by the virus.

If you have a wet cough, drinking plenty of fluids is important. Sputum may last for more than a week. It is not uncommon for a cough to persist after coronavirus, but it does not last long.

No temperature

A dry cough occurs before the onset of fever, but it is mild. As the inflammatory process develops, the readings may rise, sometimes slightly, to 37.2 °C.

In a mild form, coronavirus occurs without fever, but there is always a dry cough. This is the main sign. 30% of patients from Wuhan had a temperature within normal limits.

With temperature

This is a typical clinical picture for patients with COVID-19. Dry cough and fever are the primary signs.

What temperature a patient has depends on the reaction of the immune system and the presence of complications. In some patients it remains within the range of 37.3–38 ˚С, in others it rises to 39–40 ˚С.

As a rule, the most severe symptoms of COVID-19 coronavirus appear against a background of high temperature:

suffocation;
bouts of severe dry cough;
muscle and headache;
weakness, lack of appetite;
loss of taste and smell;
severe chest pain that prevents you from inhaling or exhaling.

When the temperature rises above 38.5 °C, the body stops fighting, the virus wins, the patient needs qualified medical care, otherwise there is a risk of death.

How to recognize a dry cough

It is not difficult to understand that your baby has a dry cough. The sound of this cough is reminiscent of the rough barking of a dog. This condition is observed with swelling of the patient’s pharynx, trachea and vocal cords.

Why does a child’s cough not go away for a long time?

In fact, coughing is a normal physiological process that does not pose any danger. With the help of coughing, the body gets rid of foreign substances (water, mucus, bacteria) or even objects. If the cough does not occur as a result of diseases, then it is defined as physiological; if due to any disease (ARVI, bronchitis, whooping cough, laryngotracheitis, pharyngitis, tracheitis), then such a cough is defined as pathological.

Physiological (normal) residual cough is characterized by the following symptoms:

The cough appears in the morning, immediately after waking up, and practically does not bother you during the day.
Shallow cough, without expectoration of sputum.
There are no signs of infection - high fever, sputum production, lethargy, etc.
After treatment for the underlying disease is completed, the cough becomes rare and less pronounced.

Thus, when the immune system is restored, it suppresses the cough on its own, and there is no need to use medications.

If, according to a parent, a persistent cough in a child is pathological, it is necessary to immediately contact a pediatrician to determine the cause and choose a treatment plan.

After ARVI

A cold is the most common cause of cough. Normally, with acute respiratory viral infections and acute respiratory infections, the cough goes away within 4-5 days after its onset. At the beginning of the disease, the cough is dry, after 1-2 days it becomes wet (productive); If the cough soon does not stop, or becomes more pronounced, this may indicate the development of a complication.

Help: If a child’s persistent cough does not go away after 2 weeks, you should consult a doctor.

Sometimes the cause of a lingering cough is prolonged use of mucolytic (sputum thinning) drugs - after the sputum begins to clear easily, the drugs should be replaced with plenty of fluids.

The duration of residual cough after acute respiratory viral infection can vary from 2 weeks to 1.5 months, and in the presence of a tendency to allergies - up to 2 months.

The duration of residual cough depends on several factors:

type of cough - wet or dry. A dry residual cough without expectoration goes away faster, since with a wet cough it takes approximately twice as much effort to remove the sputum that has accumulated during an acute respiratory viral infection.
the severity of the illness, whether there was a secondary viral or bacterial infection;
the state of the child’s immune system - strong or weak immunity.

The exact duration of residual cough is difficult to determine; in the absence of concomitant treatment, cough can persist for up to 5-6 months.

Usually, a residual cough during ARVI is considered normal, because it takes some time to restore the body and strengthen the immune system after an illness. However, if the cough is accompanied by difficulty breathing, the discharge of sputum with purulent contents, and an increase in body temperature, this indicates the development of complications. With such symptoms, the child should be shown to a pediatrician.

After bronchitis

Residual cough is quite common in children after bronchitis. This is characterized by the fact that children do not yet know how to expectorate sputum due to physiological characteristics. In addition, the bronchial mucosa in children takes much longer to recover than in adults. For these reasons, the cough may persist for some time after the end of treatment with a positive result.

Help: There is a misconception that residual cough after bronchitis is the result of the use of antibiotics. However, antibiotics have no effect on cough; moreover, treatment of bronchitis without such drugs takes longer and is more difficult.

Residual cough in a child after bronchitis can persist for 10-14 days, and in some cases up to 1 month. If the child is not bothered by other alarming symptoms, he feels well - there is no reason to worry.

You should pay attention if the following symptoms appear with a residual dry or wet cough:

sore throat or chest pain;
periodic or constant elevated body temperature;
presence of wheezing when breathing;
lack of appetite, decreased activity, deterioration in general health.

All this may indicate the development of pathological processes in the lungs, even inflammation, and requires immediate diagnosis.

Requirements for dry cough medications for children

Medicines used to treat dry cough in young children must meet the following requirements:

Act very quickly, relief should occur after just one dose.
Have a prolonged action. Thanks to medications, the baby should be able to rest from coughing attacks.
Be safe for children of different ages.
All drugs for the treatment of children must be equipped with measuring devices to facilitate dosing.

When treating cough in young children, preference is given to drugs in syrups and solutions. Children take medicines that have a pleasant taste and aroma more easily.

Treatment for barking cough should be comprehensive. Only in this case will it be possible to quickly get rid of this unpleasant symptom.

Drug treatment

If a child cannot cough for a long time, the doctor prescribes medications aimed at thinning mucus and facilitating its removal from the respiratory tract. The following medications may be prescribed to your child:

Mucolytics. These medications increase sputum production and reduce its viscosity. Thanks to such medications, the mucous secretion is thinned out and removed from the body more easily.
Expectorants. Promotes rapid removal of mucus from the respiratory tract.
Antitussives. They act on the cough center of the brain, helping to reduce its activity. Antitussive drugs are given to the child only as prescribed by the doctor.

Antitussive drugs are not given simultaneously with mucolytics. Otherwise, congestion will occur in the respiratory organs, and the condition of the sick child will sharply worsen.

It is recommended to give antitussive drugs only at night so that the sick child can sleep and rest normally.

Treatment of expectorant cough: how to quickly help your child

A cough with sputum in children is no less difficult than a dry cough. The fact is that sometimes it is very difficult for a baby to cough up accumulated mucus. The task of parents is to begin proper treatment as quickly as possible in order to alleviate the child’s condition. It should be aimed at liquefying sputum and introducing it, as well as eliminating the cause of the cough.

Causes of expectorant cough

You need to treat a cough only after you find the cause of its occurrence. To do this, you need to contact a pediatrician who will send the little patient for all the necessary tests and collect an anamnesis. An expectorant cough reflex can occur in a child in the following situations:

In case of an allergic reaction, obstructive bronchitis or asthma, it is not accompanied by fever. In this case, the child will not have any signs of developing an infection.
For diseases with the formation of mucus, such as rhinitis, sinusitis, sinusitis and allergic rhinitis. In this case, mucus from the nose enters the esophagus and causes irritation of the cough receptors. As long as mucus forms in the nose, the cough cannot be cured.
With pneumonia, expectoration of sputum begins during recovery.
It accompanies the following pathologies: cystic fibrosis, cystic hypoplasia and Kartagener's syndrome.
At the resolution stage of most acute bacterial and viral infections, an expectorant cough also occurs. For example, it is one of the symptoms of tracheitis, bronchitis, bronchiolitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis.
It may be a complication of gastroesophageal reflux.

Depending on the root cause of the cough reflex, it is necessary to draw up a treatment plan.

What rules should be followed during treatment?

In children, mucous formations are not excreted as well as in adults due to the immaturity of the respiratory system. Doctors recommend adhering to the following rules during treatment:

Proper care of the baby reduces recovery time by a third. The child should be treated only with those means and methods approved by the doctor.

How to treat a cough with medications

Before you start treatment, remember that you should give medications only according to the regimen that the doctor developed for your baby. You should not change pharmacological agents at your own discretion, and you should not reduce or exceed the recommended dosage.

There are a number of medications that are most often prescribed to children. They can be plant-based or synthetic-based. If the cough is wet, the following medications are used:

If the sputum is very viscous, then drugs based on carbocysteine and acetylcysteine are prescribed to treat the child. Children with breathing problems are prescribed medications that increase the lumen of the lungs. These could be vasodilators such as Papaverine or the narrow-spectrum drug Bronchocin.

Auxiliary recipes

Doctors advise treating babies in several ways. This will help stabilize their condition faster. There are several additional measures that can help your child recover faster:

paraffin applications;
inhalation;
exposure to the chest with ultrasound;
classic and vibration massage;
breathing exercises (used only for schoolchildren);
herbal preparations.

It is not recommended to use folk remedies to treat a child, as they can cause a gag reflex or an allergic reaction. If you want to use an expectorant (chest) collection, it should only be given at a time of day when the baby is awake. You should only buy the composition that your treating pediatrician recommended to you.

How else to treat cough in children

Various physiotherapeutic procedures can help cure a non-productive cough.

Physiotherapy

When treating a nonproductive cough, first of all, they resort to inhalations. You can carry out both steam inhalations by brewing medicinal herbs in a saucepan or boiling several potato tubers, and inhalations through a nebulizer.

The sick child is seated at a table on which there is a saucepan with broth, and a towel is covered over his head. He must inhale the vapor for 15 minutes. Steam inhalations can only be performed on young children in the presence of adults, as there is a high risk of burns.

It is safer to inhale using a nebulizer. This device converts medicinal solutions into a fine mixture, which easily enters even the lower respiratory tract.

In mild cases, inhalation through a nebulizer is carried out with alkaline mineral water, baking soda solution or saline solution. For pneumonia and bronchitis, inhalations with Ambroxol or Lazolvan are prescribed. These drugs are pre-diluted with saline in a ratio of 1:2 or 1:3, depending on the age of the child.

If obstruction is observed, then inhalations with Berodual or Ventolin are necessary. The dosage of these drugs is determined by the doctor, depending on the age of the child.

After inhalation, the child should not be allowed to drink or eat for half an hour. At this time, the baby should refrain from talking. Such simple measures will help prolong the effect of medications.

Phytotherapy

For non-productive cough, medicinal herbs help well. The most commonly prescribed drugs are based on the following herbs:

Licorice.
Elecampane.
Thyme.
Alteyki.
Ledum.
Oregano.

A decoction of medicinal chamomile helps well. Warm chamomile tea can be given to your baby at night. This herb has an antiseptic and soothing effect. After chamomile decoction, the baby sleeps soundly and does not cough all night.

It is worth considering that some herbs are poisonous, for example wild rosemary. They must be used with great caution and strictly following the recommended dosage.

Homeopathy

Attitudes towards such treatment methods are ambiguous. In 2020, homeopathy in Russia was recognized as a pseudoscience. But many people note that preparations based on extracts from plants and minerals help cure even serious diseases. Homeopathic medicines should be used only under the supervision of a homeopathic physician and in strictly prescribed dosages.

Massage

For nonproductive coughs in children, doctors often recommend therapeutic massage. By kneading and patting the respiratory organs, blood circulation is activated, which leads to easier removal of mucus from the body.

A child should have a massage an hour before meals or an hour after a meal. Massage is allowed only when the child’s body temperature is normal .

Compresses

Warming compresses will also help to quickly relieve an unproductive cough. You can place them on your child’s back and chest. Compresses are made according to different recipes:

Three tablespoons of rye flour are mixed with a tablespoon of honey heated in a steam bath and a dessert spoon of vodka. Mix everything well. Form a cake and apply it to the child’s back for 2 hours. The top is insulated with a scarf.
A pack of fatty cottage cheese is heated in a water bath, a tablespoon of honey is added and the resulting mass is spread on cellophane. Apply cottage cheese to the chest of a sick baby for an hour and a half. After this, the compress is removed, the skin is wiped with a napkin and a cotton shirt is put on the baby.
Take a teaspoon of aloe juice, half an ampoule of Eufillin, a tablespoon of Dimexide and hot water. Mix everything thoroughly, moisten a piece of gauze folded 4 times in the resulting solution and apply it to the chest. The top is insulated with cellophane and a scarf.

You can make a compress from boiled potatoes. To do this, it is pounded to a puree. Add a tablespoon of aloe juice and the same amount of honey. The resulting mass is laid out on cellophane and applied to the chest.

After applying compresses, the condition of the sick child improves significantly. Cough attacks become productive, bronchospasm disappears. It is recommended to apply compresses twice a day. After this procedure, the child needs to lie under a blanket for an hour.

If the body temperature of a sick child is high, it is strictly prohibited to apply warm compresses!

Treating an expectorant cough in a child: tips for parents

Mucous formations (sputum) are discharged worse in a child than in an adult. The reason is that in children the sputum is thicker and the airways are not developed enough. How to treat a wet cough?

Treatment of wet cough requires knowledge of the rules:

An expectorant cough must be treated competently, using different methods and means. Only by using a set of methods can you cope with the disease and avoid complications.

Medicines

Synthetic expectorants based on plant components:

syrups:
pectusin;
bronchicum;
Dr. Mom;
other similar drugs.

mucaltin;
From cough;
lazolvan;
terpinhydrate;
other similar drugs.

In this group there are both sweet mixtures and more bitter medicines (for older children).

To thin the sputum, if necessary, you need to use carbocisteine or acetylcysteine preparations;

For breathing problems, papaverine and bronchocin are recommended to relieve spasms in the bronchi and increase their lumen.

Physiotherapeutic effects

Inhalations. This procedure is prescribed for children of all age groups and in any condition. It is more effective and safer to use drugs that do not require preheating;
ozokerite and paraffin applications on the skin of the chest, which can improve blood supply and ensure the delivery of immune cells;
Ultrasound effect on the chest.

Massage (vibration)

classical;
massage devices.

Breathing exercises (for older children)

Folk remedies

Recipe 1. Add sugar to the onion (peeled), leave for 12 hours. You need to eat the onion in parts along with the juice.
Recipe 2. Brew 1 tablespoon of dry thyme herb (coltsfoot, sage, wild rosemary) with a glass of boiling water. Drink ½ cup of the decoction 2 times a day.
Recipe 3. Brew ready-made expectorant mixtures.
Recipe 4. Dilute warm milk with non-carbonated mineral water (alkaline) in a ratio of 1:3, drink in large sips.

When using folk remedies, it should be remembered that they can cause a gag reflex in a child at the same time and/or instead of coughing. These medications should not be given before bedtime.

Why does cough treatment take longer?

Coughing in children is common. Over time, each family compiles its own universal set of recipes and methods of treatment. Often proven recipes become ineffective, and the child continues to cough 1.5-2 weeks after the start of treatment. If this happens, you need to call a doctor and not engage in further self-medication.

A lingering cough is possibly the appearance of a new infection in a child’s body, weakened by the disease.

Microorganisms affecting the body:

All infections can greatly worsen the child's condition and even lead to pneumonia (pneumonia).

Mycoplasmas, pneumocystis, chlamydia cannot exist independently, since they are parasites and receive nutrients from the host organism.

But these organisms die quickly. Children can become infected with these parasites only through close household contact in kindergarten, in the yard, at school, at a party, or from a coughing relative. Children weakened by the disease are especially susceptible to this.

It is necessary to provide a mini-quarantine for a sick child. The absence of harmful contacts can protect a sick baby from complications, and others from possible infection.

Comprehensive treatment, care, and compliance with all the rules of caring for a sick child can work wonders. And subject to complete recovery, your baby will forget about the illness.

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Traditional methods

Traditional medicine recipes will also help to quickly eliminate a non-productive cough. Most of these recipes are time-tested and absolutely safe for children.

Radish juice

Black radish is washed and peeled. Hollow out the center with a knife and put a tablespoon of honey there. After a couple of hours, they begin to give the child the secreted juice, a teaspoon, three times a day.

You can simply cut the radish into slices, put them in a jar and sprinkle with sugar. After an hour, the child can be given sweet cough syrup.

For treating children under 2 years of age, it is recommended to use white radish rather than black. The juice of this root vegetable is softer.

Milk with soda

Milk with honey and soda will help soften a cough. To do this, heat a glass of milk, add a teaspoon of linden honey and ¼ teaspoon of baking soda. It is recommended to give this drink to your child immediately before bedtime.

Raspberry tea

Raspberry tea has long been used to treat colds and coughs. To prepare it, add a couple of teaspoons of raspberry jam to a glass of hot water. You need to drink this tea in small sips.

You can brew raspberry leaves and twigs. This decoction will not only help cure an annoying cough, but also reduce body temperature. You can add a little honey to the broth to taste.

In order for the child to recover faster, the house must maintain optimal temperature and humidity.

If the child does not cough up sputum, it is necessary to give him plenty of fluids. Due to this, the sputum will be thinned and easily removed from the body. Do not forget that the air temperature in the children's room should not exceed 21 degrees, and the humidity should be close to 55% .

How to quickly cure a wet cough in a child?

A child may often develop a wet cough; it most often begins to worry in the fall or winter, because it accompanies all diseases of the respiratory system that occur with acute respiratory infections and viral infections.
It is a reliable protection; it can be used to cleanse the respiratory system of phlegm and remove pathogenic microflora. At first, a child has a dry cough; it gradually develops into a wet one. This type of cough must be treated immediately, and do not forget to take into account individual characteristics, because it accompanies diseases such as tuberculosis, malignant tumors, allergic reactions, and viral respiratory infections.

Causes of wet cough in a child

1. Due to tracheitis, laryngitis, obstructive bronchitis.

2. An allergic wet cough is especially dangerous; it leads to bronchial asthma.

3. Due to the inflammatory process in the pulmonary system.

4. A wet cough is a consequence of inflammation in the nose; it produces a large amount of mucus from the nose.

5. For gastroesophageal reflux.

6. In cases of congenital pathological processes - cystic fibrosis.

7. In newborns, a cough can be triggered by the fact that their muscles have not yet fully developed.

8. In one-year-old children, a wet cough appears due to the fact that the esophageal and gastric muscles are not developed; it can also appear against the background of teething.

When is a wet cough dangerous for a child?

1. If it occurs suddenly and lasts for a long time.

2. When the body temperature rises during coughing, it lasts more than three days.

3. If wheezing is heard.

4. Pain in the chest area.

5. The baby refuses to eat food.

6. When pus and blood appear in the sputum.

How does a wet cough occur in a child?

Glandular cells appear on the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract, causing a large amount of mucus to appear; it can be serous, purulent and bloody. With an inflammatory process in the respiratory organs, mucus can increase, it is a strong irritant, and this is how a cough appears.

Treatment methods for cough with phlegm

It is very important for a child to use pharmaceutical drugs, with their help the sputum will drain and come out faster, such as mucolytics. Also, the pediatrician often prescribes syrups for the child such as “Pectusin”, “Doctor Mom”, “Bronchicum”, “Alteyka”, they are of plant origin. But they must be treated with extreme caution; they often cause various allergic reactions. Synthetic drugs include Ambroxol, Mukaltin, Lazolvan, which can effectively treat a child’s cough.

You can thin sputum with acetylcysteine, carbocysteine, and dry cough syrup. You can get rid of bronchial spasm using bronchocin, salbutamol, papaverine.

Physiotherapeutic procedures for the treatment of wet cough in a child

1. Using inhalation, you can relieve a painful cough; inhalations using essential eucalyptus oil and pine oil are especially useful. Inhalations carried out with a nebulizer will help cure cough. It is also recommended to use herbal decoctions, Essentuki mineral water, and ACC.

Applications of paraffin and ozokerite will help improve blood circulation; with their help you can stop the inflammatory process. When the body temperature does not rise more than 37 degrees, you can use an application of potatoes, mustard plaster, with their help, phlegm is removed faster.

2. Treatment of wet cough with UHF and ultrasound, they act deeply on the respiratory organs.

3. Special gymnastics for the respiratory organs, as well as massage in the form of vibration, greatly help the child. All this can be done at home. Breathing exercises are best done in the form of a game, for example, arranging a competition to see who can inflate balloons the fastest. Another effective game is to take a cocktail straw and rinse air through it into a glass. Vibration massage is easy to do if you know the nursery rhyme “Rails and Rails.”

Traditional methods of treating wet cough in children

1. Drink as much liquid as possible - tea, rosehip infusion, fruit juice, compote.

2. Drink warm alkaline water - “Polyana Kvasova”, “Essentuki”.

3. Warm milk with Borjomi mineral water helps a lot.

4. Use decoctions of elderberry, coltsfoot, chamomile, linden decoctions; sage herb is an excellent remedy for coughs.

5. It can be cured using this recipe; for this you need to chop one onion, add two tablespoons of honey, lemon juice, leave, drink the next day.

6. Viburnum-sugar syrup is a great remedy for coughs; your child will enjoy drinking it.

Under no circumstances should drugs be used if wheezing is heard in the pulmonary and bronchial systems. This can cause even more harm to the child, as a large number of bacteria can begin to develop in it, which can lead to complications such as tonsillitis, respiratory failure, or pulmonary abscess.