As the baby begins to cough, the parents panic. This is understandable: a child cannot describe his condition, and coughing can be a manifestation of both colds and allergic reactions. Especially frightening is a cough in a baby without a fever. It can appear for various reasons, which is why a doctor's consultation is so necessary. And about how to treat different types of cough, in the most general terms this article will tell.
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Causes of dry and wet, barking and severe cough
It is not clear what happens with the baby if the cough proceeds, as they say, without fever and snot. No less frighten and runny nose, cough in a newborn. In this case, it is very important to assess the nature of coughing - it can be dry, without sputum separation, and productive, with its abundant discharge. It is also important that the baby begins to have seizures day or night.
A common cause of dry cough may be a cold and SARS with inflammatory processes that cause the appearance of sputum. The most painful, unpleasant is a dry, barking cough, it is unproductive, exhausting. When sputum begins to recede (this happens a few days after the onset of the disease), the cough becomes wet, mucus comes out with it.
If the child does not cough for long, then it is generally accepted that he suffers an acute period of the disease. With prolonged coughing, lasting more than three weeks, doctors talk about a chronic course.
Important! A long-lasting cough that is asymptomatic, that is, without visible signs of a cold, is very dangerous, it may not be associated with acute respiratory viral infections or other colds. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the treatment regimen at the pediatrician.
If other diseases such as asthma, allergies, etc. are excluded, if artificial provocative conditions (excessively dry air in the baby’s room, allergen, including dust, mold) are eliminated, then we can talk about home treatment. You can do this in two stages:
- try to make a dry cough in a baby moist and productive;
- provoke a more active discharge of mucus, for this use preparations of an expectorant action.
In principle, coughing is not harm, but good for the body. With the help of it, a person removes sputum, and therefore it is important as a natural form of self-cleaning of the respiratory tract and respiratory system. But if the baby is coughing hard, nauseating, the attack is difficult to stop, then antitussive drugs should be used.
What diseases indicates
So, a wet cough is different from a dry one, and it is less dangerous and unpleasant. But dry is uncontrollable, it is often accompanied by sore and itchy throat. Most often, such a cough indicates an infectious or catarrhal disease:
- infectious - pertussis, acute respiratory viral infections, flu;
- laryngitis and pharyngitis;
- allergies
- bronchial asthma (this cough can be detected by characteristic whistling);
- parasites - a paroxysmal nature may indicate that worms that have entered the lungs are wound up in the body.
A wet cough without temperature in children occurs with acute respiratory viral infections, bronchitis, pneumonia and acute respiratory infections. At the same time, asthma can also occur with a wet cough after a seizure.
This type of cough is useful because the attacks are short-term, after which relief comes, and in general, a person himself can cause this cough to expel sputum from the lungs and bronchi. An acute cough of this type can be within three weeks. Then it subsides and resumes again, in this case we are talking about a relapsing type. Finally, chronic can last several months and be permanent.
Barking cough, in addition to whooping cough and bacterial diseases, SARS, can be a warning to even more dangerous conditions. So, for example, such a cough accompanies diphtheria, it can talk about false croup, oncological disease, and also that a foreign body is stuck in the respiratory tract.
Among the unnamed causes that cause this phenomenon are psychosomatic problems, that is, diseases or conditions caused by stress. Another cough happens when the digestive system is disturbed, when acid is thrown from the stomach into the esophagus.
How to treat cough in infants without fever
Before treating a cough in a child without fever, it is recommended to exclude external irritants of the throat and pharynx. The simplest tips for coughing in children are:
- Ventilate the room with fresh air.
- Try to moisten the air by hanging wet towels on the battery or using a special device.
- Plant a child and give a drink - mineral water without gas or warm milk.
- Make a chest massage.
Important! With a strong cough, accompanied by pale skin, shortness of breath, you need to urgently call a doctor or an ambulance, and in a severe case, take the child to the hospital!
Medications
For treatment, babies are given medications in the form of syrups, tablets or potions. Moreover, it is better not to offer tablets to crumbs up to 5 years, but potions are good from birth.
Among the drugs distinguish bronchodilators, anti-inflammatory drugs, antibacterial agents. They are prescribed by the doctor, he also adds drugs such as antihistamines and enterosorbents to therapy, if necessary for treatment.
Among these funds there are antibiotics, they must be given in a strictly indicated dosage and for certain diseases.There are hormonal drugs, and those that are prescribed in combination with other drugs. Therefore, no self-medication, especially when it comes to babies!
Important! Sometimes, out of ignorance, mothers begin to give the child everything in a row that they see in a pharmacy or an advertisement for medicines. This is dangerous because some substances cannot be combined at all. For example, it is not allowed to use cough suppressing drugs to treat a wet cough, and even more so it is forbidden to take them in parallel with sputum thinners.
Folk remedies
Relatively harmless folk remedies. They are most often used for coughing in children, but it should be noted that even these funds are best clarified and agreed with the doctor. In general, ointments, decoctions, teas, and infusions, which have been used in folk medicine for centuries, are applicable for treating a baby.
Among the effective ones is milk with sage grass: a small spoonful of grass is added to 150 ml of milk, the mixture is boiled, cooled and given to the filtered child in a warm form.
Warming compresses are good for treating any type of cough. The composition can be made from a few drops of eucalyptus oil and a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil. Massage the warm mixture into the skin on the back and chest of the baby and, wrapping it, leave it for an hour or a half.
Steam inhalation works great for sputum thinning, they can be done with soda, mineral water, herbs. However, with very young children, such a procedure is difficult.
When coughing a baby, it is necessary to turn it over more often, providing blood supply to the bronchi, increasing blood flow through other organs. Try to shift the baby as often as possible.
Possible consequences
If the cough is not treated, relying on the fact that it will pass, this can lead to a chronic disease, for example, chronic bronchitis. Under the guise of a simple cough, serious illnesses that are not even associated with a common cold can “hide”. Sometimes the delay in diagnosis and treatment is similar to death, especially if the child choked on some object and could suffocate.
So it is necessary to fight cough, but only after establishing its root cause and prescribing competent and adequate treatment.
Prevention
Preventive measures should be known to every mother with a baby. It is necessary to apply them from the first days of his life. This is the prevention of colds and infectious diseases, diseases of bacterial origin, that is, everything that leads to the appearance of cough, including.
And therefore, any mother should remember the simple rules of general hygiene, especially important if there is a baby in the house:
- carry out frequent wet cleaning of the room;
- wash hands for yourself, the baby, as well as everyone who comes in contact with the child;
- remove plants that can cause allergies in the baby from the nursery;
- completely exclude contact with people who are sick with infectious diseases;
- proper nutrition of the mother during pregnancy and feeding the baby, taking vitamins is, if not a guarantee of health, then help in the fight against colds and, as a result, cough.
Following these recommendations, you will be able to navigate in the event of a child coughing and behave correctly in this situation.
