Why there is a cough in the baby, and how to treat it

Cough accompanies many diseases. Coughing of the baby can provoke hoarseness of voice, vomiting, disturb sleep, be accompanied by anxiety and worsen the course of the underlying illness.

Cough in the infant: causes and varieties of

In 90% of cases in children, cough is a sign of acute respiratory viral infection( ARVI).Moreover, the infectious and inflammatory process can be either in the upper( oropharynx, nose, nasopharynx), or in the lower( trachea, larynx, lungs, bronchi) airways.

Another cause of coughing in infants may be inflammation of the ENT organs( pharynx, nose and sinuses) or the presence of adenoids( an increase in the tonsil in the pharynx).

Cough is one of the main clinical symptoms of bronchial asthma. With this disease, cough can be compared with attacks of suffocation.

A sharply developed cough in a baby can be a signal for inhaling a foreign body into the bronchi and trachea, and this poses a great threat to the life of the baby and requires urgent medical intervention.

Cough in babies can also be caused by non-respiratory diseases. So, it can occur in children with heart disease or gastrointestinal pathologies.

Another reason for the development of cough in a baby can be a large concentration of harmful substances in the air( tobacco smoke, gas contamination), as well as overheated or dry air in the room.

For more rare reasons is a reflex( psychogenic) cough, which appears, for example, in pathologies of the middle ear( with its inflammation) or external auditory canal( with sulfur plugs).

The cause of coughing is dry, when the amount of sputum is insignificant, is usually the inflammation of the upper parts of the airways( trachea, pharynx, larynx).This kind of cough can be painful and obtrusive.

In cases of inflammation of the trachea, the cough of the child is coarse and muffled. A separate subspecies of dry cough - cough barking, it occurs with laryngitis( inflammation of the larynx).A serious complication of this disease can be a false croup, or stenosis of the larynx - a sharp, sudden narrowing of the lumen in the airways due to edema of the mucous membrane. At the same time it becomes too difficult for the baby to breathe: the air is very difficult to enter the respiratory tract. That's why a long-lasting barking voiced cough and hoarseness of voice in the baby should be the reason for an urgent appeal to the doctor.

When sputum appears, the cough becomes wet. More liquid sputum is easier to clear, while more viscous and thick requires considerable effort;in this case the cough is deeper. Coughing attacks usually stop after spitting, but after it accumulates, they begin again.

With a cold, children sometimes also cough in the morning. Such short coughs should not cause parents anxiety: they arise because the mucus flows from the nose into the lower part of the respiratory tract.

At the very beginning of acute bronchitis and acute respiratory viral infection, cough is dry, and after a couple of days it gradually becomes wet, then the baby begins to clear up the cough well-this is a natural course of the disease and assumes a gradual recovery. Any deterioration in the condition of the baby at a time when the cough has turned to wet, should cause anxiety in parents and serve as an excuse for contacting the doctor for the timely prevention of the development of possible complications.

How to treat a cough in a baby?

Treatment of a disease accompanied by a cough should always be done under the supervision of the doctor. To begin therapy it is necessary at the first symptoms of disease.

The mode of the sick kid should be sparing, but it is not necessary to severely restrict the motor activity of the baby, as the movements help better clear the bronchi from accumulated mucus and accelerate the healing process.

If the kid wants to play - play along with it, this, of course, should not be too active games, preferably quiet games. It is useful to take a breastfeed more often on hands, gently patting it on the back. A useful procedure is also massage.

Gentle should be and food. If the child refuses to eat, do not force him, and offer him light, but moderately high-calorie food: fruit puree, jelly, jelly, warm milkshake. It's okay if a couple of days of crumbs eat less than usual. Only to drink with this necessarily need a lot. The liquid helps to remove toxins from the body as soon as possible, to dilute sputum and to remove it. Prepare your baby's favorite juices, drinks, offer them to drink from a fun non-spill cup or through a straw, water the baby in the game.

The main methods of cough treatment in children with ARVI are measures aimed at dilution and elimination of sputum.

To get the sputum off better, you need to moisten the air in the room where the baby is. And in the cold season, when central heating works, it is better to put a wet sheet or towel on the battery. But it is better to use a special device - an air humidifier.

Today, there is a huge selection of drugs that reduce viscosity( mucolytic) and improve the expectoration of expectoration( expectorants).

When coughing appeared against the background of a respiratory viral infection, it is possible to advise an expectorant for coughing for babies of vegetable origin, for example, a decoction of Ledum, mother-and-stepmother, elecampane( cook them on a water bath according to the instructions), plantain juice orblack radish with honey, extract of fruits of thyme and anise. This group also includes preparations of marshmallows, thermopsis, licorice and essential oils. Posfully proved to be a cough medicine for infants from the ivy leaves Prospan. The active ingredient of this herbal remedy is saponins and alkaloids - substances that make the bronchial mucus more liquid, increase its amount, increase the reduction of bronchi and promote the expectoration of sputum.

Just do not overestimate the possibility of herbal preparations, because their action is not long, you need frequent small doses, since an increase in a single dose causes vomiting and nausea. In addition, herbal remedies can greatly increase the amount of sputum, which babies can not pump out independently, and this, in turn, leads to disruption of the drainage work of the bronchi.

In the complex treatment of cough, you can combine different methods of entering the body of drugs. Along with tablets and syrups, inhalations and compresses are used to treat respiratory organs. With inhalations, the medicine directly influences the respiratory system mucosa and nerve endings, contributing to liquefaction of sputum, a reduction in spasm and cessation of cough. The simplest but effective method that can be done at home is steam inhalation. They are effective in diseases of the upper respiratory tract. For example, inhalation of a solution of drinking soda( 4 tsp per liter of water) will help with an obtrusive, but unproductive cough in infants.

At home in the complex treatment of a child's cough, you can do a toddler massage your chest and feet. Especially good are gentle patting and tapping movements in the chest area for better separation of the sputum. Carrying out a massage with herbal balms and ointments( Bronchicum, Doctor Mom, Pulmax Baby) will enhance its effectiveness.

Prevention measures

Remember that the baby is less likely to get colds, it needs to be hardened( water procedures and air baths are useful).Effectively dousing the baby's legs with cool water. At any time of the year you need to spend more time outdoors.

In the cold season, with outbreaks of viral infections, try not to visit crowded places.

Never smoke when you are a baby!

Full nutrition, enriched with vitamins, is also able to strengthen the health of the child.

Also strengthen the immunity of the baby with preventive and antiviral drugs.

Good health to you and your baby!