Children under one year of age often experience increased activity of the salivary glands. This can be caused by various reasons: from teething to acute respiratory disease. The main thing is to correctly determine the cause of this condition. In most cases, this problem does not require treatment and goes away on its own.
Baby drooling is a common occurrence.
Causes of increased salivation at night
If a child chokes on saliva in his sleep, he should be moved from a position lying on his back to his side or stomach, then the mucus will not flow into the lungs, causing a cough. The problem is worse at night because:
- The baby lies on his back;
- The child does not move for a long time;
- Mucus drains into the lungs along the back of the throat;
- At night, the activity of the salivary glands increases.
This condition should not be considered a pathology; it is normal in children under one year of age.
The most common reason for the active formation of saliva is teething. Also, the volume of mucus secreted increases sharply when a child suffers from acute respiratory infections and acute respiratory viral infections. When the period of recovery begins, this condition passes. The baby begins to choke on saliva because mucus from the mouth constantly gets into the throat, and the baby does not have time to spit it out.
The most likely cause of the problem is active teething
Cough in a child's sleep
Paroxysmal night cough is a fairly common occurrence, and many are familiar with it.
Such a cough interferes with sleep, deprives vitality and energy not only of the child, but also of his parents. In this situation, panic begins, and many mothers immediately try to feed the child with all sorts of medications and antibiotics; this is not recommended under any pretext, because incorrect treatment will not only not have a therapeutic effect, but may simply aggravate the situation. By studying the reasons that cause coughing in sleep, you can easily avoid many mistakes and help your baby in a timely manner. Coughing is primarily a defense mechanism. But when a child wakes up crying loudly in the middle of the night and coughing horribly, it is very difficult for parents to remain calm. They want to quickly help the baby and stop the cough in any way possible. In this case, medicines, cough syrups, various rubbings, and even folk remedies are used. Due to panic, many parents forget that coughing is a natural defense mechanism of our body. In this way, the human body reacts to infectious and bacterial lesions of the upper respiratory tract, lungs and bronchi.
Why do coughing attacks tend to appear at night? Coughing attacks during sleep appear due to the fact that mucus in a supine position tends to accumulate and slowly flow down the back wall of the nasopharynx, thereby irritating sensitive nerve receptors; such a cough is called a reflex cough. In the lying position, the phlegm in the bronchi is excreted much worse; excessive stagnation of phlegm provokes a cough impulse, thus the body tries to get rid of mucus and various microorganisms.
Coughing during sleep in children necessarily indicates the presence of some kind of illness:
- Exacerbation of cough during sleep can be a symptom of the following diseases:
- The most common cause of cough during sleep is considered to be a viral infection;
- Acute and chronic rhinitis provoke a paroxysmal dry reflex cough during sleep;
- The presence of chronic pharyngitis;
- A night cough is often a sign of asthma, especially if it develops during exhalation and is accompanied by a characteristic whistling sound. In children with mild asthma, this cough is almost the only symptom;
- The presence of a prolonged cough that occurs only at night is, as a rule, a consequence of a previous history of whooping cough. With whooping cough, a paroxysmal dry night cough appears at regular intervals, the attack begins suddenly, the skin acquires a pronounced bluish tint, the cough is always accompanied by a characteristic whistling sound;
- Night cough quite often occurs in children suffering from adenoiditis; in such children, breathing through the nose remains difficult and they have to breathe through the mouth, as a result of which the nasopharyngeal mucosa quickly dries out, this provokes the appearance of cough.
A disease such as cough requires the right approach; its treatment should be handled exclusively by a qualified pediatrician. Because only a person who has received a special medical education can determine the nature of the occurrence of cough in each specific case.
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Emergency help for choking on saliva
Parents often wonder whether a baby can choke on saliva and why this happens. This is really possible if the baby sleeps in a supine position. Also, a sleeping baby may choke when burping. To prevent this from happening, after feeding you should keep the baby in an upright position for about 15 minutes and only then put it in the crib.
Emergency help may be needed if:
- The mucus is thick and viscous, and the child cannot spit it out on his own;
- The baby's nose is very clogged due to a runny nose;
- Salivation is caused by ingestion or inhalation of a foreign body;
- The child suddenly found it difficult to breathe.
In these cases, parents must act correctly so as not to harm the baby.
If a baby chokes
If parents see that the child is choking on saliva, they need to give the baby an upright position as soon as possible. A baby after six months who can sit can be placed on pillows to sleep in this position; Children up to two to three months are placed on their stomach. If the baby cannot breathe, you need to take him by the legs, turn him head down and hold him in this position until he spits out mucus or a foreign body. This must be done quickly.
What not to do
When a child is choking and cannot clear his throat, parents should not be nervous, because anxiety always interferes with the correct action. Also, you should not slap the baby sharply on the back - this can push the mucus even further into the respiratory tract. If the baby screams loudly, you should not interfere with this - with a scream, he can get rid of the abundance of saliva on his own. If there is increased salivation, the baby cannot be limited in liquid; on the contrary, he should drink as much as possible. Acidic drinks (for example, cranberry juice) should be avoided - they provoke excessive saliva production.
Attention! You should not give your baby bagels or dryers instead of a teether. The baby may bite off a small piece and choke. All rattles with small parts inside that the baby takes into his mouth must be securely closed.
First aid must be provided quickly and correctly
First aid for a child with a runny nose
Concerned about the health of their children, parents are buying up the entire range of “children’s” medicines for colds and the first symptom – a runny nose. When a child begins to choke or sniffle, parents mainly use vasoconstrictors, often forgetting that other drugs can also be used, especially in the early stages of a runny nose, when it is easiest to stop. Thus, natural remedies for combating runny nose and nasal congestion have proven themselves very well - essential oils of juniper or fir, eucalyptus, lavender, mint. Children from 2 years old can take a ready-made mixture of oils in a convenient form. For example, the Breathe inhaler patch - it sticks to clothing and works for 8 hours straight. The combination of disinfecting, anti-inflammatory, tonic and analgesic properties of oils impregnating the patch will help quickly restore nasal breathing and reduce the symptoms of the disease. Essential oils do not dry mucous membranes and are not addictive. Moreover, when prescribing specific medications against ARVI, you can continue to use the patch to speed up recovery.
When you need a doctor's help
If a child chokes on saliva in his sleep due to a runny nose, the snot flows down his throat and interferes with sleep. In this case, you should contact your pediatrician to prescribe antiviral drugs and vasoconstrictor nasal drops. You also need medical help if:
- The child has a red and swollen throat (this may be a sign of infection);
- Small ulcers are visible in the mouth, longitudinal grooves are visible on the tongue (a characteristic sign of stomatitis);
- In addition to salivation, severe cough and high fever are observed;
- Children's teeth erupt in the wrong order.
Typically, an infant begins a period of active drooling after six months, when the first milk teeth erupt. However, in some cases this time begins much earlier - at three to four months. In this case, it is necessary to bring your baby to the doctor, since premature appearance of teeth may indicate rickets and other diseases.
To alleviate the condition, you can give your baby a special children's toy - a teether. When a newborn girl or boy chews or sucks such a rattle, the child gets rid of excess drool and pain in the gums, and therefore begins to feel better.
When the toddler turns one year old, the activity of the baby's salivary glands gradually slows down, but periodically resumes during the appearance of new pairs of milk teeth. At this time (up to 2.5 years), you should be especially attentive to the health and well-being of the baby and make sure that he does not suffocate from increased salivation during sleep.
Help! The child is vomiting due to mucus in the throat from a runny nose!
Young children are exposed to colds much more often than adults. Viral and infectious diseases are accompanied in different ways, but most often, one of the accompanying symptoms is a runny nose. Snot flowing almost continuously indicates that the baby is sick or becomes a residual phenomenon of an already cured infection.
Often the abundance of discharge even leads to vomiting. Often, excess mucous secretions drain from the nasal passages not only outward, but also along the back wall of the larynx, causing coughing and vomiting. Infants, whose bodies are not yet sufficiently adapted to the environment, especially suffer from the gag reflex when a runny nose appears. Even if a child has a gag reflex with a runny nose only once, this cannot but cause concern among parents. Moreover, when current snot irritates the larynx, and a similar reaction occurs in the baby once a day.
In addition, if rhinitis is caused by an infectious process in the body, the pathogenic mucus enters the esophagus and infects all internal organs. Vomiting itself carries only one danger - it can cause dehydration.
In addition, such manifestations very often frighten both the child himself and his parents, who have no idea what to do when the baby vomits.
Infants have such a thing as regurgitation of leftover food after eating. All mothers must bring the baby into an upright position after breastfeeding in order to remove excess air from the diaphragm. However, vomiting between feedings indicates the spread of infection in the child's body. If a baby vomits frequently and profusely, this may be a symptom of ailments such as appendicitis, intestinal infection, intoxication, nervous system disease, or metabolic disorder.
If a child has a cold, the gag reflex can become one of the symptoms of a sharp increase in temperature. An excess of snot also causes the baby to vomit. Not all small children know how to blow their nose, so excess mucus should be removed by parents using suction.
If this does not happen, the snot begins to flow down the back wall of the larynx, where it then accumulates, causing a cough. The accumulated mucus gradually flows down the throat into the stomach, infecting and irritating it, which causes a gag reflex in children.
Ask your baby to blow his nose or spit out mucus, and if he is too small, use an aspirator to suck out the snot. Timely clearing of mucus from the nose will prevent vomiting. Since vomiting is only a consequence of the disease, but not its cause, it is necessary to treat the child for such physiological manifestations by paying attention to the underlying cause.
The appearance of a runny nose in children can be a consequence of both infectious or viral infections, and allergic reactions of the body to external irritants. During vomiting attacks, if they happen frequently, be sure to consult your doctor, since the most harmless cold in your opinion, accompanied by such symptoms, can cause complications in your baby. Before the pediatrician arrives, put the child to bed, give him plenty of fluids, and try not to feed him rough foods that irritate the nasopharynx.
If there is no increase in temperature, do not take any measures, as self-medication can harm the baby. When treating, remember that your main task should be to clear snot from your child’s sinuses. Since vasoconstrictor drops and sprays are contraindicated for small children, use physiotherapy.
Rinse the baby's nose with a solution of sea salt and inhale it in a nebulizer with saline solution. It is necessary to do the procedure only if the child’s runny nose does not go away and the vomiting does not stop. When purchasing medications for a runny nose, be sure to follow the prescription of a specialist. Not all medications suitable for treating adults are suitable for young children. Most of them, having a high concentration, are more likely to have the opposite effect and provoke a gag reflex.
Aquamaris is recognized today as the best drug for young patients, but it is possible to treat a runny nose with this remedy only when the discharge is liquid and transparent. If your baby’s snot has a viscous consistency with an incomprehensible yellow or gray tint, you cannot do without the help of a specialist. In newborn babies, it is easy to confuse vomiting with afternoon belching, caused by overeating or swallowing excess air.
If the baby vomits immediately after eating, there is no need to panic immediately. Monitor your baby's further behavior. If your baby vomits after every meal because he has a runny nose, try to pump out the snot shortly before feeding. Every meal is important for an infant, and therefore, a child's refusal to eat because he cannot breathe through his nose will soon lead to malnutrition and exhaustion.
It happens that in the first months of life, a child’s runny nose is not caused by any pathological processes at all. This physiological phenomenon is observed in the process of formation of the child’s body and its adaptation to the environment.
In this case, breast milk will help get rid of excess mucus. Place a few drops of breast milk into your newborn's nose. For a baby, this is the best antioxidant, strengthens the immune system and is an excellent antibacterial agent.
In addition, the procedure of wiping the inside of the nose with a cotton swab dipped in milk has an excellent preventive effect. If your child vomits during a cold, do not rush to sound the alarm. Observe the baby and measure the temperature. Be sure to pay attention to keeping your baby’s nose clean, regularly clean and rinse the sinuses, and treat a runny nose with all possible means, be sure to consult a doctor.
All mothers and fathers know very well that vomiting in children is not such a rare occurrence. However, in practice, when faced with an attack, many are simply lost and do not know how to provide first aid to the baby, what to do and where to call. Authoritative children's doctor Evgeny Komarovsky, author of numerous articles and books on children's health, explains why vomiting happens and what adults should do about it. Vomiting is a protective mechanism, a reflex eruption of stomach contents through the mouth or nose.
During an attack, the abdominal press contracts, the esophagus expands, the stomach itself relaxes and pushes everything that is in it up the esophagus. This rather complex process regulates the vomiting center, which in all people is located in the medulla oblongata. Most often, vomit is a mixture of undigested food debris and gastric juice.
Sometimes they may contain impurities of pus or blood, bile. The most common cause of childhood vomiting is food poisoning. Vomiting can be observed with various infectious diseases: rotavirus infection, scarlet fever, typhus.
Less commonly, this problem is caused by accumulated toxins; this condition can occur with serious kidney disease. Other causes of vomiting include diseases of the stomach and intestines, neurological diagnoses, and head injuries. In most cases, vomiting in children begins at night. The baby wakes up from severe nausea.
In this situation, it is important not to be scared or confused. Parents' actions should be calm and confident. The younger the child, the more dangerous vomiting is for him, since dehydration can occur, which can be fatal for children. A single vomiting without any additional symptoms in a child should not cause much concern for parents, says Evgeny Komarovsky. However, parental inaction can be fraught with tragic consequences in cases where vomiting is repeated, as well as if there are other symptoms indicating disorders in the body.
The most common cause of vomiting in children is food poisoning. Poison can enter a baby’s body through various foods: dairy, meat, seafood, vegetables and fruits. In the vast majority of cases, the gag reflex is caused by nitrates and pesticides used on fruits and vegetables. Even very high-quality meat products can cause severe poisoning if they are prepared incorrectly. Evgeny Komarovsky emphasizes that the first symptoms of food poisoning usually begin to appear between 4 and 48 hours after eating.
Quite often, you can stop vomiting caused by food on your own, at home. At the first symptoms of poisoning, enteral detoxification with the enterosorbent Enterosgel must be used as first aid. After administration, Enterosgel moves through the gastrointestinal tract and, like a porous sponge, collects toxins and harmful bacteria.
Unlike other sorbents, which must be thoroughly diluted with water, Enterosgel is completely ready for use and is a delicate gel-like paste that does not injure the mucous membrane, but envelops and promotes its restoration.
This is important because poisoning is often accompanied by exacerbation of gastritis, which causes the lining of the stomach and intestines to become inflamed. However, Evgeny Komarovsky reminds that there are situations in which mothers and fathers should not engage in independent healing.
Medical assistance is required: There are situations in which a child needs emergency medical attention as soon as possible. While waiting for the doctor to arrive, the child should be placed on his side so that during the next vomiting attack the child does not choke on the vomit. The baby should be held in your arms, on its side. There is no need to give any medications. In order for the doctor to quickly understand the true cause of the child’s condition, parents must remember in as much detail as possible what the baby ate over the last 24 hours, what he drank, where he was and what he did.
In addition, mom and dad will have to carefully examine the vomit in order to then tell the doctor about its color, consistency, whether there is an unusual smell, whether there are any impurities of blood or pus in it.
Dark, coffee-ground-colored vomit may indicate serious stomach problems, including peptic ulcers. If there is an admixture of bile in the masses and there is a bitter-sweet smell, one may suspect a problem with the gallbladder and biliary tract.
The green color of the vomit may indicate the neurological nature of the reflex; vomiting also occurs in a severe stressful situation, when the child cannot cope with anxiety and emotions in any other way. It is recommended to leave samples of vomit and feces of a sick child until the doctor arrives in order to show them to a specialist.
This will facilitate the fastest and most accurate diagnosis of the true cause of the condition. Vomiting in an infant may be a completely natural process of developing digestive functions, but it is better if it is diagnosed by a doctor.
Komarovsky emphasizes that vomiting in infants is often a completely expected cause of banal overeating if parents are too zealous in their desire to feed their child more and more calories. Vomiting can also be of another nature - allergic, traumatic, and also inflammatory. In other words, this reflex accompanies a great variety of different diseases, some of which require prompt hospitalization followed by surgical care, and therefore vomiting attacks should not be underestimated.
So, parents should make every effort not to stop vomiting at any cost and try to treat something with folk remedies, but to carefully observe.
It will be just great if they can provide the following information to the doctor who comes to the call: If a child has some of the above symptoms, but is not vomiting, Komarovsky advises inducing the reflex on his own.
Possible consequences and complications
Situations when a child chokes on saliva are most often characteristic of acute respiratory diseases and the period of teething. There are usually no complications; any baby can choke or choke slightly, it’s not scary.
However, if a child chokes on mucus from a runny nose and finds it difficult to breathe, self-medication or improper treatment can lead to bronchitis (pneumonia). In this case, treatment with antibiotics will be required. If your baby starts coughing, you need to pay attention to this.
Constant contact of saliva on the chin of a newborn can lead to skin irritation: redness, itching, and discomfort. In this case, it is recommended to lubricate the affected area with any moisturizing baby cream containing panthenol. Also, do not rub irritated skin with a towel. If your baby begins to drool a lot, you can only gently blot it with soft cotton pads or a microfiber cloth.
Increased activity of the salivary glands is not a disease, but a normal physiological condition
Doctor Komarovsky's opinion
Komarovsky believes that cough due to strong salivation is most often caused by the appearance of teeth; this condition does not require treatment. Even a healthy child must cough sometimes to clear the nasopharynx of saliva and mucus. However, if the baby begins to choke, urgent medical attention is needed; self-medication is dangerous.
Attention! If during the period of teething the temperature rises above 38.5 degrees, most likely we can talk about an infection. This happens quite often, because during this period the child’s body becomes especially vulnerable.
The child’s body is particularly vulnerable and increased susceptibility to medications, so it is strictly forbidden to give the baby any medications without prior approval from the attending physician. The dosage should be appropriate to the age and (or) weight of the baby.
