Rough wet cough in a child. A child has a barking cough without fever - what to do and how to treat? Hard breathing as a sign of illness

When the trachea is affected, the patient has a dry and hard cough, which is characteristic of the flu. Several exhausting days must pass before the cough subsides. If the infection reaches the bronchi, bronchitis occurs, and if the disease reaches the alveoli, pneumonia begins to develop.

In such cases, the cough becomes persistent, the sputum becomes more abundant and usually takes on a greenish tint, which indicates the presence of pyogenic bacteria. In rare lobar pneumonia, the sputum may be brownish in color, which is associated with the release of formed blood components into the lumen of the alveoli.

For young children, the appearance of a hard, strong cough may indicate a very dangerous lesion in the larynx. The gap between their vocal folds is significantly narrower, unlike in adults, so even minor inflammation and swelling can cause the glottis to close. Symptoms of this condition, called croup, include hoarseness of the voice, a very rough cough that has a barking character, and increasing shortness of breath. With croup, a child may choke, so if there is a barking cough and shortness of breath, emergency medical intervention is required. Parents should be very attentive to the form of cough in their child. It is very important to determine the cause of a persistent or severe cough. A severe night cough is often caused by asthma, a bacterial infection, a virus, throat irritating fumes, or a very serious illness.

You should definitely consult a doctor if your child:

  • coughs continuously all night long;
  • expectorates unusually colored sputum;
  • has an elevated body temperature;
  • he has difficulty breathing;
  • The cough is severe or lasts more than 2 days.

To cure a hard cough you need to:

  • Take drugs that reduce swelling and have an antibactericidal effect; these are drugs whose active ingredients are pentoxyverine, codeine, tusuprex, dectromethorphan, paxeladin, oxeladin. The following drugs are suitable for children: Hexapneumin, Biocaliptol, Stoptussin, Glycodin.
  • Reduce the temperature in the house and increase the humidity. Coughing attacks in children begin in winter, when apartments are heated, hot dry air begins to irritate the respiratory tract and leads to increased coughing. Cooler air in the house is more humid, and therefore more gentle on the respiratory tract.
  • Drink liquids such as water, broth or juice, which are the best expectorants for the hard, barking, dry cough that accompanies a cold. These fluids help remove phlegm and soothe coughs.

Such an unpleasant phenomenon as a cough is familiar to every person. It can be completely harmless. Occur as a single act, serving to clear the throat and respiratory tract from accidental ingestion of the smallest foreign particles, dust, and water droplets. In this case, there is nothing to worry about.

However, sometimes reflex spasms of the diaphragm may not be fleeting, but severe, rigid, and persistent. If this is so, then there is no need to suffer from an unpleasant phenomenon and wait for it to go away on its own. The right decision would be to go to the hospital to see a therapist or pediatrician. An experienced specialist will determine why a hard cough occurs, how to treat the disease, and how to alleviate the patient’s suffering. After this, all that remains is to strictly follow all medical instructions and wait for relief.

Why is it necessary to treat a hard cough?

Heavy reflex exhalations are almost certainly associated with serious illnesses. When they occur, you cannot remain idle. If a persistent cough is observed, treatment should be started as soon as possible. After all, an unpleasant phenomenon can be a harbinger of such serious pathologies as:

  • Bronchial asthma.
  • Pneumonia.
  • Tuberculosis.
  • Cardiac dysfunction.

Even if the cause of a severe cough is a less serious illness, in no case should you miss the moment of effective treatment and do nothing. The fight against the symptom must be timely, since the consequences of inaction can be fraught with complications, the development of the disease into a more severe form.

What are the features in the treatment of hard cough?

When dealing with persistent reflex spasms of the respiratory tract, there are some nuances:

How to treat a hard cough?

The choice of methods and methods to combat severe persistent reflex spasms of the respiratory tract is quite diverse. Most often these are: medications, herbs, foods, compresses, inhalations, warming and other accessible, simple techniques. How to treat a severe cough, what remedies to use are decided only by a doctor.

Medications are used in the form of syrups, tablets, and mixtures. Medicines such as:

  • Bronholitin.
  • Lazolvan.
  • Mucoltin.
  • Bromhexine.
  • Ambroxol.

Before treating a terrible cough with a particular pharmaceutical drug, you must carefully read the contraindications and side effects. When visiting a doctor, be sure to discuss the specifics of your physical condition and mention the presence of allergies and other individual characteristics. If everything is normal, then you can safely start taking medications. If there are certain restrictions, then you should consider how to treat a severe cough using other methods.

However, even if taking medications is not limited in any way, pharmaceutical drugs alone are not enough. Folk remedies help perfectly:

  • Drinking milk with honey, herbal decoctions, viburnum, rose hips, mint, raspberries, thyme, sage.
  • Warming your feet in water with mustard.
  • Rubbing the breasts with animal fat.
  • Eating radish with honey.

And these are just a few methods taken from centuries-old folk experience.

Inhalations also have an excellent effect in combating severe, hard coughs. They can be done using special devices - nebulizers, into which medicinal solutions are poured. However, even if you don’t have an inhaler, it doesn’t matter. Old proven methods using a saucepan or kettle are also quite effective. Inhaling the vapors of boiled potatoes for 10 minutes for several days is an excellent way to combat the unpleasant symptom.

The use of compresses has long established itself as one of the most effective methods of combating severe coughs. Applying warming bandages does not require any special skills or expensive medications. Potatoes, cottage cheese, vodka, cabbage, and honey are excellent as a remedy.

In addition to the above remedies, when treating a severe cough, experts recommend including milk porridge, mashed potatoes, chicken broth in the diet, constant consumption of liquid in large quantities, as well as the use of various vitamin supplements.

By regularly using all the doctor’s prescriptions, including these treatment methods, you can successfully cope with a severe cough and quickly return to excellent health.

If the bronchi and lungs are completely healthy, breathing creates some additional noise during inhalation and exhalation. In this case, the inhalation is heard very clearly, while the exhalation is not audible at all. The time ratio of exhalation to inhalation is one to three. Hard breathing in the lungs is as follows.

If an inflammatory process occurs in the lungs, inhalation and exhalation are clearly audible. It is this type of breathing, in which for the doctor, inhalation and exhalation do not differ in volume level, and is called hard.

The surface of the bronchi becomes uneven as a result of the appearance of mucus on it, resulting in the audibility of breathing sounds when exhaling. Wheezing becomes audible if a lot of mucus accumulates in the lumen of the bronchi. Residual manifestations of ARVI are cough with hard breathing.

If we are talking about the first months of a child’s life, then in this case, hard breathing is explained by insufficient development of the alveoli and muscle fibers.

Hard breathing does not require any additional treatment. Everything can be solved by walking in the fresh air, following a daily routine and taking enough liquid. An important aspect is the ventilation and humidification of the room in which a sick person stays, be it a child or an adult. In the event that there are no possible violations of the patient’s condition, special measures to eliminate hard breathing are not required.

In some cases, children may experience wheezing when mucus from the nose drips down the back of the throat.

Causes of hard breathing

Hard breathing is often a consequence of an acute respiratory infection. If the patient’s health is normal, there is no temperature, and no wheezing is heard when breathing, therefore, this kind of symptomatology is not a reason for any concern. However, in some cases, other causes of hard breathing are possible.

Noisy breathing may be evidence of the accumulation of mucus in the bronchi and lungs, which must be removed so that its appearance does not cause inflammatory processes. The accumulation of mucus occurs as a result of dry air in the room, lack of fresh air, or drinking. Regular warm drinks, constant changes in air circulation in the room against the backdrop of constant walks in the fresh air can be extremely effective.

If we are talking about a child, then hard breathing may appear due to progressive bronchitis, if it occurs against the background of wheezing, dry cough and elevated temperature. Such a diagnosis can only be made by a doctor.

When hard breathing is combined with attacks of suffocation, shortness of breath and its worsening during physical activity, we can talk about bronchial asthma, especially if you are surrounded by people suffering from this disease.

Heavy breathing may be a consequence of a previous injury to the nose or adenoids. In this case, a doctor's consultation is necessary.

Swelling of the nasal mucosa or respiratory organs is possible due to the presence of all kinds of allergens in feather pillows in the patient’s environment. The cause is determined by allergy tests.

Cough, hard breathing

Breath sounds of a certain type are always created during the exhalation process of inhalation by normal airways and healthy lungs. There are some nuances in which noise differs in children and adults and they are due to the characteristics of anatomy and physiology. As mentioned above, exhalation is equal to one third of inhalation and the general tendency is that in the normal development of the situation, inhalation is heard quite well, but exhalation is practically not audible at all. This is not surprising, since inhalation is an active process, while exhalation occurs on its own, without requiring any specific expenditure of effort.

Inflammation processes in the airways, in particular in the bronchi, in the vast majority of cases cause a change in the volume of exhalation and it becomes as clearly audible as inhalation. As you know, this type of breathing is called hard.

Consequently, hard breathing can be determined by a doctor in the process of inflammation of the bronchial mucosa (bronchitis) and in a situation where the surface of the bronchi is covered with dry mucus, creating unevenness of the inner surface, resulting in noisy breathing during inhalation and exhalation. In the case where there is a large amount of accumulated mucus, and its accumulation occurred directly in the lumen of the bronchi, wheezing would definitely be heard by the doctor. If there is no large accumulation of mucus, there is no wheezing and the patient feels quite normal - therefore, the likelihood of serious inflammation in the bronchi is very low. Most often, it happens that hard breathing and cough are residual manifestations of a previously suffered ARVI and they are caused by an excessively large amount of mucus that has accumulated and dried on the bronchial surface. There is no danger in this - treatment is carried out through walks in the fresh air. In this case, medications are not required, you just need to walk more and moisturize the bedroom.

Hard breathing, fever

Hard breathing against a background of elevated temperature is often observed in inflammatory diseases, in particular bronchitis. The temperature remains at 36.5-37.6 degrees Celsius, and symptoms such as drowsiness, general fatigue, and loss of appetite may occur. Most often, such symptoms occur in children. For this condition, which manifests itself in a child between one and a half to three years of age, the use of drugs such as Efferalgan, Viferon, and Fimestil is effective. With adequate treatment and following all the recommendations of the attending physician, this condition goes away quite quickly, of course, depending on the age of the patient and his individual characteristics.

Child's hard breathing

Caring for the health of their child, parents often pay increased attention to the slightest visible changes in their condition. The appearance of hard breathing in a child is often automatically associated by parents with a disease of the baby’s respiratory system. Very often this is confirmed by doctors, however, there are situations when a child’s hard breathing is explained by imperfections in his respiratory system and requires a special approach to eliminating it.

Especially at a child’s early age, the cause of his hard breathing may be the weakness of the muscle fibers of his lungs and the underdevelopment of the alveoli. This can last up to ten years, depending on how physically developed the child is.

The cause of hard breathing in a child, along with symptoms such as fever and cough, is a disease of his respiratory system. This can be pneumonia, bronchitis and other similar conditions. If the above symptoms occur, you should immediately contact a specialist to make an accurate diagnosis.

If hard breathing is a manifestation of residual symptoms of past diseases, the child does not require special treatment. In order to soften the mucus accumulated in the lungs, he should drink more warm water and be in the fresh air more often. Humidifying the air in the rooms where the child stays helps a lot.

Suspicion of an allergy is caused by a severe cough in a child, which occurs against a background of heavy breathing and other symptoms. In this case, it is urgent to establish the source of the spread of allergic effects and help stop the child’s contact with this source.

Hard breathing, how to treat it

If we are talking about treating a severe cough in a child aged one to ten years, you can give him infusions of medicinal herbs, such as peppermint, marshmallow root, licorice root and plantain leaves. It should be noted that such a problem in children of this age can be eliminated. Fresh air and constant humidification of the baby's bedroom will effectively help resolve this issue.

If a child suffers from a hacking cough, it is best to soften it with banana puree. It’s not at all difficult to prepare: you just need to mash the banana, then add some boiled water, you can dilute it with some honey if the child is not allergic to it. This mixture should be given to the child three times a day, half an hour before meals. You can also boil figs in milk and also give this drink to your child.

If moist wheezing becomes audible, this is evidence that the mucus in the respiratory tract has begun to liquefy. As air passes through the respiratory tract, a sound is created that resembles the collapse of bubbles. If this happens, you can make herbal preparations for the child, prepared on the basis of coltsfoot, wild rosemary and plantain.

In adults, the occurrence of hard breathing is not an independent disease, but only indicates that changes are taking place in the general condition of the person. This situation does not require separate treatment - it will just be enough to limit yourself to walks in the fresh air, monitor compliance with the daily routine and drink plenty of fluids. If more severe symptoms are not observed, compliance with all of the above preventive measures will be quite enough for the problem to resolve itself soon. It does not require any additional treatment.

Hard, scary, severe cough

Such an unpleasant phenomenon as a cough is familiar to every person. It can be completely harmless. Occur as a single act, serving to clear the throat and respiratory tract from accidental ingestion of the smallest foreign particles, dust, and water droplets. In this case, there is nothing to worry about.

However, sometimes reflex spasms of the diaphragm may not be fleeting, but severe, rigid, and persistent. If this is so, then there is no need to suffer from an unpleasant phenomenon and wait for it to go away on its own. The right decision would be to go to the hospital to see a therapist or pediatrician. An experienced specialist will determine why a hard cough occurs, how to treat the disease, and how to alleviate the patient’s suffering. After this, all that remains is to strictly follow all medical instructions and wait for relief.

Why is it necessary to treat a hard cough?

Heavy reflex exhalations are almost certainly associated with serious illnesses. When they occur, you cannot remain idle. If a persistent cough is observed, treatment should be started as soon as possible. After all, an unpleasant phenomenon can be a harbinger of such serious pathologies as:

  • Bronchial asthma.
  • Pneumonia.
  • Tuberculosis.
  • Cardiac dysfunction.

Even if the cause of a severe cough is a less serious illness, in no case should you miss the moment of effective treatment and do nothing. The fight against the symptom must be timely, since the consequences of inaction can be fraught with complications, the development of the disease into a more severe form.

What are the features in the treatment of hard cough?

When dealing with persistent reflex spasms of the respiratory tract, there are some nuances:

How to treat a hard cough?

The choice of methods and methods to combat severe persistent reflex spasms of the respiratory tract is quite diverse. Most often these are: medications, herbs, foods, compresses, inhalations, warming and other accessible, simple techniques. How to treat a severe cough, what remedies to use are decided only by a doctor.

Medications are used in the form of syrups, tablets, and mixtures. Medicines such as:

  • Bronholitin.
  • Lazolvan.
  • Mucoltin.
  • Bromhexine.
  • Ambroxol.

Before treating a terrible cough with a particular pharmaceutical drug, you must carefully read the contraindications and side effects. When visiting a doctor, be sure to discuss the specifics of your physical condition and mention the presence of allergies and other individual characteristics. If everything is normal, then you can safely start taking medications. If there are certain restrictions, then you should consider how to treat a severe cough using other methods.

However, even if taking medications is not limited in any way, pharmaceutical drugs alone are not enough. Folk remedies help perfectly:

  • Drinking milk with honey, herbal decoctions, viburnum, rose hips, mint, raspberries, thyme, sage.
  • Warming your feet in water with mustard.
  • Rubbing the breasts with animal fat.
  • Eating radish with honey.

And these are just a few methods taken from centuries-old folk experience.

Inhalations also have an excellent effect in combating severe, hard coughs. They can be done using special devices - nebulizers, into which medicinal solutions are poured. However, even if you don’t have an inhaler, it doesn’t matter. Old proven methods using a saucepan or kettle are also quite effective. Inhaling the vapors of boiled potatoes for 10 minutes for several days is an excellent way to combat the unpleasant symptom.

The use of compresses has long established itself as one of the most effective methods of combating severe coughs. Applying warming bandages does not require any special skills or expensive medications. Potatoes, cottage cheese, vodka, cabbage, and honey are excellent as a remedy.

In addition to the above remedies, when treating a severe cough, experts recommend including milk porridge, mashed potatoes, chicken broth in the diet, constant consumption of liquid in large quantities, as well as the use of various vitamin supplements.

By regularly using all the doctor’s prescriptions, including these treatment methods, you can successfully cope with a severe cough and quickly return to excellent health.

Severe cough, what should I do? how to treat?

Answers:

Oleg Pavlenko

BE SURE TO GO TO THE DOCTOR AND HAVE A FLUOROGRAPHY DONE! YOU MAY HAVE TUBERCULOSIS! IT IS PREFERABLE TO BE EXAMINED IN A GOOD CLINIC! and BE TREATED ASAP! NRO IN ANY CASE, UNIVERSAL REMEDIES - HONEY WITH TEA AND MILK! - EVERY HOUR! RASPBERRY (JAM WITH TEA) - LEMON WITH TEA - THE MAIN PLENTY OF HOT DRINKS) FEET WARM! - THIS IS I HINTING ABOUT SOCKS - REGULAR WOOL TOP). HEALTHY SANDWICH - MIXED CHEESE WITH GARLIC AND MAYonnaise. SPREAD THIS PASTE ON YOUR BREAD AND WASH WITH TEA! for 1 CHEESE 2-3 CLOTHES OF GARLIC! IF YOU ARE VERY BOLD, YOU CAN CUT THE ONION AND EAT IT. IN GENERAL, ONIONS, GARLIC IN THE MATTER OF COUGH AND COLDS - THIS IS THE MOST BASIC - IF THERE ARE NO ALLERGIES - EAT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN EAT, JUST BE HAPPY WITH SOMETHING TO EAT - SO THAT THERE IS NO HEARTBURN! AND ALSO PREFERRED - GRANDMOTHER'S METHOD - BUY MUSTARD, GROUND RED PEPPER, HONEY, GARLIC - MIX AND HEAT IN A WATER BATH!
PUT THE HOT MIXTURE ON 2-3 LAYERS OF GAUGE OR NAPKIN - APPLY TO THE CHEST - WRAP IN A WOOL SCARF AND LEAVE FOR 1 HOUR. Repeat UNTIL THE COUGH STOPS

JURA 18RUS

child? massage and alcohol rubbing - the concentration is very small - child

Without GMO

good for cough: chop the onion and add sugar (you can add honey). when the juice starts to flow, give a teaspoon 3-4 times (more often if possible)

Inga *

hello helps

Svetlana

Call a doctor....

FARIT

inhalation helps. boiled potatoes, herbs.

Lisa

what is the cause of the cough? what can be heard in the lungs, like tests. how long have you been sick?

PRO100maria

we save ourselves with an inhaler with saline solution. Helps a lot. Then, when the cough becomes milder, I add ambroxal to the saline solution. Five days and no cough. Mukaltin also helps a lot. We always have it in our first aid kit. And let the doctor listen to rule out problems with the lungs. Get better.

Child's hard breathing

When caring for the health of their child, many parents pay attention to any visible signs of changes in the functioning of his body. Parents automatically associate hard breathing and accompanying symptoms with respiratory disease. Experts often confirm this, but there are situations when breathing difficulty is the result of imperfect lungs and does not require treatment. We will talk about what hard breathing means and when it needs to be treated in this article.

Signs of hard breathing in a child

The main symptom of hard breathing is increased noise in the lungs, heard when exhaling. The child may also experience slight hoarseness in their voice.

Hard breathing as a result of imperfect respiratory system

The cause of hard breathing in a child, especially at an early age, can be weakness of the muscle fibers of the lungs and underdevelopment of the alveoli. This condition can persist until the age of 10, depending on the physical development of the child.

Hard breathing as a sign of illness

A child's harsh breathing, coupled with other signs such as cough and fever, are evidence of a respiratory disease. It could be bronchitis, pneumonia, etc. Only a specialist is authorized to make a diagnosis and you should contact him immediately if these symptoms appear.

Hard breathing as a residual phenomenon after illness

A history of acute respiratory viral infection can cause difficulty breathing and coughing in a child as a residual effect. This occurs due to the remaining dried mucus on the bronchi.

What to do if you have difficulty breathing?

If you notice hard breathing in a child at any age, you should consult a doctor. Only a specialist will help identify the cause and prescribe appropriate treatment, if necessary.

If hard breathing in a child is observed as a residual phenomenon, drug treatment is not required. He needs to continue to drink warm water to soften accumulated mucus residues and spend a lot of time in the fresh air. You also need to humidify the air in the rooms where the child is.

Difficulty breathing and a harsh cough in a child, not accompanied by other symptoms, are characteristic of allergic reactions. If you suspect an allergy, you need to find out its source and exclude further contact of the child with it.

Hard breathing: causes and treatment

Healthy airways and lungs produce special sounds during exhalation and inhalation. However, not all noises may be normal. There is hard breathing, which is caused by inflammatory processes affecting the air passages, especially the bronchi. These processes almost always change the volume of exhalation, and it can be heard as clearly as inhalation.

Symptoms of the disease

Such breathing is easy to identify by obvious indicators of a general disease - the appearance of a dry, tense cough, shortness of breath. Temperature may increase slightly. But these signs are characteristic of simple ARVI. In most cases, due to incorrectly prescribed therapy, ARVI ends in bronchitis.

Usually, when examining and listening to the chest area, the doctor hears hard breathing in the lungs. At the first stage of the illness, wheezing is usually not heard. With an acute course of the disease, the patient’s well-being may significantly worsen: a wet cough begins with difficult sputum to be separated, and the body temperature rises. It is even possible that asthma will occur.

Allergic patients may develop bronchitis without fever as a result of contact with an irritant. Diagnosing this disease is very simple: the patient has a severe cough and watery eyes after contact with the allergen.

If there is no cough

Such a phenomenon as a hard cough in a child is not always pathological. For example, it may depend on the physiological properties of the baby’s respiratory system. Moreover, the younger the child, the stronger his breathing. In the first months of a child’s life, the phenomenon can be caused by poor development of muscle fibers and alveoli. This anomaly is observed in children from birth to 10 years of age. However, it usually goes away in the future.

Do not neglect the help of a doctor

Sometimes hard breathing is observed with bronchitis or a more complex disease - bronchopneumonia. It is imperative to consult a pediatrician, especially if there is an increase in exhalation noise and a rough timbre of the voice. A conversation with a specialist is also necessary if the exhalation becomes too noisy. The doctor will tell you how to treat hard breathing.

Inhalation is an active process, but exhalation does not require intensity and must occur reflexively. The sonority of exhalation also changes in a state when there is an inflammatory process in the body affecting the bronchi. In this situation, exhalation and inhalation are equally audible. You should also visit a doctor and get an x-ray if you have difficulty breathing, wheezing, severe coughing, or shortness of breath.

If your baby has a cough

For the most part, the baby gets a cold due to hypothermia. As a result, immunity decreases, and the infection quickly spreads throughout the weak body. Often the inflammatory process begins in the mucous membranes of the bronchi. It is accompanied by an increase in sputum production.

At this time, the pediatrician, when listening, determines the child’s hard breathing and cough. In addition, there are also wheezing associated with increased sputum secretion. At the initial stage of the illness, the cough is usually dry, and then, as it increases, it becomes wet. A cough with sharp breathing may indicate a recent acute respiratory viral infection (not all the secretions have left the bronchi).

Hard breathing: causes

Parents should understand that children have rather weakened immune systems. From the moment of birth, it only begins to be produced, and therefore the baby is significantly susceptible to various diseases. There are several provoking factors that cause childhood diseases, namely:

  • persistent respiratory tract infections;
  • strong temperature changes (alternating cold and hot air);
  • presence of allergens;
  • the presence of chemical pathogens (usually they enter the body simultaneously with inhaled air).

If an irritant gets on the mucous membranes of the bronchi, then the inflammatory process begins, swelling appears, and the secretion of bronchial mucus increases.

Little children have a hard time with almost all ailments. Thus, with bronchitis, similar processes can initiate the rapid formation of obstruction (clogging) of the bronchi, resulting in acute respiratory failure.

In very rare cases, hard breathing and cough can be provoked by a disease such as diphtheria: the baby’s temperature rises and fatigue with anxiety appears. And here you can’t do without consulting a pediatrician. As soon as there is any suspicion of this disease, you should urgently contact a specialist.

What does heavy breathing mean?

Often this phenomenon is detected as a result of a previous cold. If the baby feels well, there is no wheezing when listening, and the body temperature is normal, then there is nothing to worry about. However, if there is at least one indicator from the above, then you can suspect the presence of some ailments. Here are the signs of the most common diseases.


What can treatment do?

In order to prescribe the correct therapy for hard breathing, it is worth making an appointment with a specialist who will provide information on all its methods and prescribe effective and appropriate treatment in a short time. How to treat hard breathing in a child? Many people are probably concerned about this question. But more on that a little later. First you need to find out what this therapy gives:

  • increased immunity (immunomodulation);
  • protection against infection (the bronchi and ENT organs are being healed);
  • increase in the energy of the human body to normal;
  • improving the functioning of the vascular-lymphatic system and gastrointestinal tract.


On a note

If the formation of noise when breathing in a child is only the initial stage of the disease, then there is no need to buy him medications yet. The child should be given more warm liquids to soften the mucus remaining after the illness. It is also recommended to humidify the air in the room as often as possible, especially in the children's room. In addition, hard breathing, as well as coughing, may occur due to an allergic reaction. If parents suspect such an illness, then it is necessary to determine its nature and eliminate contact with the irritating substance as much as possible.

Therapy of heavy breathing with folk and medicinal preparations

There are a variety of ways to treat this phenomenon.

  1. If there is a cough, children from 1 to 10 years old are allowed to give extracts of medicinal plants (chamomile flowers, plantain and calendula leaves). Take 1 tbsp. l. each type, pour 3 cups of boiling water and leave for about 20 minutes. Strain and drink 0.5 cups of infusion three times a day for 15-20 minutes. before the meal.
  2. This paste will help soften a strong cough and hard breathing: take 2 egg yolks, 2 tbsp. l. butter (butter), 2 tsp. any honey and 1 tsp. regular flour. All this is mixed and consumed 1 dl. 3-4 times a day for 20 minutes. before meals.
  3. If wheezing with phlegm occurs, you can use the following recipe: take 2 tbsp. l. dried figs, boil them in 1 glass of milk or water. Drink half a glass 2-3 times a day to eliminate hard breathing.
  4. Treatment for dry cough can also be carried out using expectorants (bronchodilators - Beroduala, Salbutamol, Beroteka, Atroventa and mucolytics - Ambroxol, Bromhexine, Tiloxanol, Acetylcysteine).
  5. If a bacterial infection is present, then antibiotics are prescribed (Ampicillin, Cephalexin, Sulbactam, Cefaclor, Rulid, Macropen).

Diagnosis

It is not difficult to identify bronchitis in a child. The diagnosis is made if there are certain complaints, as well as serious symptoms of the disease. Additionally, the pediatrician listens to heavy breathing. Wheezing can be either wet or dry, and often depends on the degree of development of the disease.

From this article, many have probably already learned what hard breathing means and how to deal with it. Of course, no one is immune from various ailments, but you can always find ways to protect your body from all kinds of infections and inflammations.

Barking cough in a child - treatment and causes

A barking cough in a child can be caused by colds, infectious diseases, viruses, or allergic reactions. Diseases that cause dry barking cough in children:

  • Laryngitis, pharyngitis - inflammation of the mucous membrane of the larynx, pharynx.
  • Acute stenosing laryngotracheitis (OSLT), also known as false croup, is a disease in which an infection or virus provokes the development of swelling of the larynx and vocal cords in children
  • Influenza, ARVI, parainfluenza, adenoviruses, respiratory syncytial infections in children prone to allergies.
  • True croup (diphtheria)
  • Whooping cough

Thanks to vaccinations, both diphtheria and whooping cough are now rare diseases. Therefore, let’s consider other causes of a barking cough in a child, the treatment of which should be immediate, since with such a cough the child suffocates. Barking cough occurs in both babies from 4 months and older children; most often it affects children under five years of age.

In the occurrence of OSLT, the leading role usually belongs to adenoviruses, parainfluenza, and respiratory syncytial viruses. A few days after the onset of these diseases, the virus causes inflammation, severe swelling and an increase in mucous discharge in the area of ​​the vocal cords and trachea. Less often, the first manifestation of a virus or cold can be swelling of the larynx and a barking cough.

In children under 5 years of age, the larynx is much narrower than in older children, so viruses can cause significant swelling of the laryngeal mucosa. In this case, the lumen of the larynx is almost completely blocked, air does not enter the lungs and the child can suffocate.

If your child has the following symptoms that are dangerous:

  • Dry, painful cough, barking in nature
  • Temperature increase
  • Periodic loss of voice, hoarseness
  • Sometimes a rough cough, silent
  • Wheezing on inspiration
  • Dyspnea
  • Pale complexion
  • Night cough with attacks of suffocation, from which the child wakes up,

You must immediately consult a doctor or call an ambulance. False croup usually goes away on its own, but 5-8% of children will require hospitalization. Self-medication is very dangerous, especially if the child is prone to allergic manifestations. Under no circumstances should you start such a cough. The pediatrician must be informed about the child’s temperature, when and how the disease began. The doctor should examine the child’s throat, listen to the lungs and bronchi, refer for a blood test, and possibly an X-ray of the lungs.

If the doctor recommends hospitalization, you should not refuse; after diagnosis in a hospital, the acute period has ended, and the condition has normalized, you can now easily refuse hospital services. If a child has a barking cough, treatment with medicinal herbs until an accurate diagnosis and test results are established is not recommended, since they can provoke an allergy and only worsen the child’s condition.

Treatment of barking cough in children

What to do if a child has a strong barking cough? Here are some tips on what to do in such cases.

  • Calm yourself and calm your child

When excited, the child begins to cough even more, as the muscles of the larynx contract during excitement, making it harder for the child to breathe. Take the baby in your arms, calm him down, sing a song, tell him a fairy tale, or give him a bright toy; you can turn on a cartoon for an older child.

  • Steam inhalations

Steam inhalations are very helpful in relieving swelling of the larynx. To make inhalation for laryngitis, bronchitis over steam, take a saucepan with boiling water, (if you are not allergic, add sage or chamomile) soda and sunflower oil. Once it boils, remove from the heat and sit the baby next to the pan. If the child is very small, then close the door to the kitchen and leave the pan to boil, and keep the child near the stove. Let the child breathe in the beneficial fumes. It is also effective to periodically bring a small child into a preheated bathroom (running boiling water) for 10-15 minutes. The moist, warm air will soften the cough and make it easier for the child to breathe.

  • Inhalations with mineral water

This is one of the main, important means in the fight against barking cough. If you have an inhaler, inhalations with mineral water help very well. If a strong barking cough is caused by pharyngitis, and the child is not prone to allergies, then inhalations with eucalyptus can also be done.

  • Antihistamines

It is necessary to give the child an antihistamine, allergy tablets, a wide variety of them: Suprastin (chloropyramine), Clemastine (tavegil), Claritin (loratidine), Zyrtec, Cetrin (cetirizine), Kestin (ebastine) - in dosages for children according to the instructions. If the child is under 3 years old, it is better to give the medicine in syrup form or crush the tablet and give it in a tablespoon along with water.

  • Free your child from restrictive clothing

Clothes should not restrict the child's chest; unbutton all the buttons on the collar of the shirt.

  • Drink plenty of warm drinks

It is worth giving your child any warm drinks. It is better to give natural freshly squeezed diluted juices than milk. A sick child always loses a lot of fluid, so it is important to give him water on time. Frequently drinking plenty of fluids thins mucus and prevents dehydration (signs).

  • The air in the room should be humid

It is important what kind of air is in the room where the child is. It should be fresh, moist and warm. It is optimal if there is a humidifier in the house, this makes it much easier to create the tropical air that the baby needs so much now. If you don’t have one, you can use wet diapers, battery-powered fabrics, and also place containers of water in all rooms.

  • Antipyretic

If you have a high temperature, give your child an antipyretic in a dose appropriate for their age.

  • Warming procedures

If there is no high body temperature, then you can warm the calves of the legs with mustard plasters or warming creams, take a warm bath - this will increase the flow of blood to the legs and distract from the larynx, therefore preventing the swelling from getting worse. Parents should be warned against using warming ointments on the child's chest and back. Such ointments contain essential oils (for example, Doctor Mom), to which many children under 3 years of age may have an allergic reaction and develop bronchospasm and bronchial obstruction.

  • If a child is choking, do not use asthma aerosols yourself.

When a child has difficulty breathing and the child does not suffer from bronchial asthma, do not use asthma sprays yourself. Of course, the signs of false croup will decrease, but aerosol medications for asthma contain potent substances, hormonal drugs, which only a doctor can prescribe and dose. If the child has a very noisy inhalation or retraction of the jugular fossa occurs, call an ambulance and continue steam inhalation. The doctor, if he deems it necessary, will replace such inhalation with Pulmicort or Benacort.

  • Expectorants or antitussives

Medicines and herbs to improve sputum discharge - Gedelix, Lazolvan, Ambrobene, Doctor Mom herbal syrup, Herbion for dry and wet coughs, Mucaltin, Alteyka, etc. or antitussive drugs for dry coughs, which can only be used as prescribed by a doctor. If a barking cough is provoked by acute laryngotracheitis, it is desirable that the dry cough quickly becomes wet, since a wet cough removes bacteria from the body. After a wet cough appears, expectorants are needed. Remember that when taken for a long time, expectorants themselves can provoke a cough, so their use should not be long. You can supplement the treatment with chest massage, rubbing the baby's chest and back.

  • General care

Of course, parents must provide their child with proper care - wet cleaning as often as possible, providing a varied diet with enough fruits and vegetables. Everything you need to support children's immunity.

Residual cough in a child - how to treat it. Quick relief from residual cough in a child

Treatment for a cold is behind you, but you still can’t get rid of your cough? The mucous membrane of the respiratory tract in a child recovers slowly after an acute respiratory viral infection and, along with a weakened immune system, an unpleasant residual cough appears. How dangerous is this to health and how to cure a child’s cough?

Why does residual cough occur in children?

Curing a viral infection, bronchitis, pneumonia is only the first step on the path to recovery. A child’s body, weakened by illness, especially after taking antibiotics, needs time to recover. And all this time, the sensitive bronchi use the most common protective mechanism - coughing, which prevents the airways from becoming clogged with phlegm, mucus or pus. Therefore, parents need to know the causes, symptoms and how to properly treat residual cough in a child.

Causes

A persistent cough in a child after suffering from a respiratory tract disease is more likely to be normal rather than a rare occurrence. It takes the baby’s body some time to recover and develop immunity. The viruses remaining after the illness are no longer so strong, but still continue to irritate the bronchi and trachea, causing a residual cough, which with proper therapy should go away in two to three weeks. Among other reasons when a child has a severe cough without fever:

  • relapse of an inflammatory or infectious disease;
  • reaction of the respiratory tract to contact with cold air, excessive physical activity;
  • allergies to dust, pet hair, cigarette smoke;
  • foreign body;
  • stress, nervousness;
  • A rare stomach disease is gastroesophageal reflux.

Symptoms

A situation when there is a feeling that the cold is not going to go away and the child does not stop coughing for a long time should alert parents. At this moment, using some signs, you need to be able to determine where the new disease began, and where the baby has stopped getting sick and is only susceptible to residual effects. The most common symptoms of a persistent cough:

  • periodic manifestation of a residual phenomenon, when the cough itself is shallow, there is no sputum, more often appears in the morning;
  • there is no fever, snot, intoxication or other signs of a cold;
  • within three weeks after completing the course of therapy, the cough becomes less intense and rare;
  • The baby’s immune system, recovering, weakens the cough and copes with it, even without treatment.

When is a child’s cough dangerous after an illness?

A situation that should cause concern is when a child has a loud cough that does not go away for a month, a fever develops, or the child complains of pain. You must be able to distinguish any of these symptoms from residual effects and, if you suspect it, contact your pediatrician so that your baby can undergo additional examination. What is the danger of a prolonged or incessant cough in children? This may hide the development of chronic bronchitis, whooping cough, pneumonia, or a chest injury that makes inhalation and exhalation painful, and tuberculosis may begin. In these cases, serious medical attention is required.

How to treat residual cough

If you are sure that these are residual effects after suffering from an acute respiratory viral infection or some other viral infection, then drug treatment may not be needed. After a few weeks, the functioning of the respiratory system will normalize, the mucous membranes will clear and the residual cough will go away if you frequently ventilate the room, do wet cleaning, and use an ultrasonic humidifier. Then how to treat residual cough in a child? I can quickly get rid of an obsessive cough using folk remedies, inhalations, and in special cases, taking medications.

Drug treatment

In order for the baby's airways to quickly clear the phlegm or mucus that accumulates during a cold, a therapy program to eliminate residual effects may include taking medications. Based on the nature of the cough and the general assessment of the child’s body condition, the pediatrician will prescribe thinning (dry cough) or expectorant (wet cough) agents or drugs with spasmodic or enveloping properties. The following help reduce irritation of the mucous membrane and cope with residual effects:


Folk remedies

If a child coughs a lot, then the conspiracy is unlikely to help influence the process. Among folk remedies, there are other useful recipes that help relieve a child’s dry, frequent cough using decoctions, foods prepared in a special way, and compresses. How to cure residual cough in a child using traditional methods:

  • A warm drink made with milk, and this product is combined with honey, soda, butter, figs, goat fat, and mineral water. For one glass of heated liquid, take a tablespoon of another ingredient, and dilute the milk with mineral water in a 1:1 ratio. This treatment of cough in children using folk remedies is considered the most popular, and if you give a warm drink to your baby at night, it helps improve sleep, remove a barking cough, and cure a throat.
  • Yolks (chicken, quail) ground with sugar are the well-known eggnog. If a child coughs to the point of vomiting and a whistle is heard, then this folk remedy will not help, but such a sweet treatment can soften a hard cough. To make the taste even more pleasant, honey, cocoa, and citrus juice are added to the mashed yolks, but provided that the baby is not allergic to these products. To prepare a serving, you need to take one yolk and a tablespoon of granulated sugar, thoroughly grind it to a fluffy white mass, and then add any of the additional ingredients up to a teaspoon.
  • Herbal infusions are prepared in the evening; a thermos is used for this, and the proportions are simple: take 1 tbsp per glass of boiling water. l. vegetable raw materials. To make the treatment of cough in children faster, chamomile, linden blossom, St. John's wort, sage, and green cones are taken for infusion.
  • Instead of mustard plasters and ready-made pharmaceutical ointments, it is better to rub at night, if the child has a wet cough, with pork, goat, badger, and bear fat, and then wrap the baby well.
  • Compresses are another good folk remedy if a child’s dry cough persists for a long time, and boiled and mashed potatoes, bread crumbs, cabbage leaves with honey are suitable for the procedure.

Inhalations for dry cough without fever

The search for an effective method to cure dry cough in children, if the process is a residual phenomenon, leads to inhalation treatment. To soften is the main goal of this type of therapy, and steam is ideal for this. The baby will have to breathe over hot vapors, and the liquid will still gurgle, so parents must be very careful and monitor the baby. Inhalation is well suited for those who suffer from chronic cough, and the procedure takes no more than a quarter of an hour.

In the absence of allergic reactions, essential oils are suitable, for example, pine, juniper, eucalyptus. Dr. Komarovsky advises doing inhalations with medicinal herbs (chain, wild rosemary, coltsfoot), and during the procedure using either inhalers or a nebulizer. An effective and simple folk method is to breathe over a saucepan of potatoes, covering your head with a towel on top.

Video: how to relieve residual cough in a child

Hello, doctor. My 6-month-old baby has been coughing for a month now. There was viscous sputum, we drank it, we moistened it, we ventilated it, we walked as you said. It got better. But now, for a week now, it has worsened again, the pediatrician said that he had hard breathing and beginning inflammation, he needs treatment. The child only has coughs, hard breathing. and pain in the ears. We were prescribed a mandatory course of antibiotics Oxamp. 7 days Bifidum Vifiron suppositories Multi Tabs Prospan. Is it possible to somehow do without antibiotics. Thanks a lot

07/09/2014 19:45

Russia, Kumertau

We are often told to breathe hard. And now... There is snot, there was a rare dry cough, usually into the horizon. position The doctor prescribed Omnitus, the child refused to drink. At the follow-up appointment, she said - since she doesn’t drink syrup, give her antibiotic tablets, her breathing is terrible. After taking it, we started drinking Omnitus. Now I have a constant, exhausting dry cough, the phlegm hardly comes out + poor sleep at night because of this cough... My head is spinning, it seems like the doctor was educated, she should know better, but on the other hand, I read something completely different from you... But in the end bad for a child of adults. Help me figure it out, please.

27/05/2014 21:27

Elena Russia, Moscow

Hello! Please help me figure it out. When examined by a therapist, I was told that I had hard breathing. I didn’t complain about a cough and overall felt good. The only thing that bothered me was a feeling of congestion in the throat, I constantly want to swallow well and a very rare cough (no coughing, a little mucus coughing up). Before this, I had a sore throat in April, I couldn’t go to the hospital, I treated myself with folk remedies and gelomerton. Now at the hospital they told me that this is a residual phenomenon after April and prescribed Klacid SR 1 time/day, 5 days. I started drinking, today is the second day, but I have strong doubts whether I made the right decision to take the antibiotic? I feel good, they told me about hard breathing before. And I get sick often, so I take antibiotics often. It’s very harmful. Should I continue drinking for another 3 days? And is it possible to interrupt their intake like this?

28/10/2012 15:06

Belarus, Molodechno

We (2.3 of us were in the hospital with acute tracheobranchitis, (injections - Cefazolin and Ambrovix syrup) After discharge, we were treated at home with antibiotics too, at home we did inhalations with Borjomi, massage. Everything seemed to be fine, but two weeks later the cough again, the doctor said - hard breathing , red throat. I prescribed Mucoltin, Tonsilgon drops, and it seems like we are getting sick again, but the child feels great. I just don’t know how we can get rid of these mucus.

22/11/2011 22:31

Ukraine, Uzhgorod

We only have whistling or wheezing, cough without runny nose. Putting the cob asmi Likuvannya changes one thing and the result does not work. Obstructive bronchitis has been treated for a long time. We cannot test for allergies because we are taking medications. (ketitofen, bronchoril; mucolvan, ibuprofen, erius, ACC, ventolin. I know how to treat the whole thing. Before I say it, we ventilate it gradually, and the child has had quite a few allergies and diabetes before.

21/07/2011 11:44

Russia, Naberezhnye Chelny

My son started coughing. No fever, no snot, just coughing - well, it’s a bit windy. We went to the pediatrician and prescribed cough syrups, gargles, etc. The cough does not go away. We took tests - everything was normal. A couple of days later we went to a doctor we knew - he also couldn’t determine anything, but just in case he sent me for an X-ray. It turned out to be left-sided pneumonia. I have been on treatment for almost a month now, but the cough still does not go away, although it has become significantly less.

27/12/2010 11:03

1. Warm the upper respiratory tract (insulate the chest and neck, i.e. the entire neck).
2. If you are afraid to use aeroion therapy (any low-power air ionizer) - placing the ionizer next to the child 3-4 times a day for 10 minutes - in a ventilated (!) room - then pray to God that the weather outside will improve (an anticyclone will set in, i.e. .dry, frosty and clear weather - and - march outside!

Barking, dry or wet - all these are types of cough that can occur in a child of any age and last for weeks. In desperation, parents rush to extremes, giving the baby another dose of pills and listening to the opinion of those “in the know.” How to treat a child’s cough effectively and safely, and how long will the recovery take? It all depends on the reason that provoked the cough.

Cough is a protective reaction of the body that occurs in response to obstruction of the airways. This is not an independent disease, but only a symptom accompanying many diseases. In childhood, cough is not always associated with an inflammatory process in the respiratory tract, but can be caused by other reasons, for example, certain diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. In most cases, only a specialist can find the true cause of cough.

Why does it occur

Most often, a child’s cough appears at the stage of recovery from a cold or as one of its manifestations. A viral infection first enters the respiratory tract, where it multiplies and from there enters the body. The response of the epithelium and secretory glands of the respiratory tract provokes a cough. Therefore, most often it appears for the following reasons.

  • Tracheitis. Inflammation of the trachea is often combined with bronchitis. The cough is dry, with pain behind the sternum, “wrenching.”
  • Laryngitis. Inflammation of the mucous membrane in the larynx and, especially, in the vocal cords area can cause a reflex cough with a characteristic sound, the so-called “barking” cough, and swelling of the ligaments can lead to the development of false croup.
  • Bronchitis. Inflammation of the bronchi is accompanied by a dry or wet cough, often painful, loud, and “chest-like.” Coughing attacks can provoke vomiting.
  • Sinusitis and rhinitis. Mucus, which is intensively produced in the nasal passages and oropharynx, flowing down the back wall of the pharynx, irritates the sensitive reflexogenic zones in the epiglottis, causing a reflex cough. Very often in such cases, children are mistakenly treated for acute bronchitis, and all that needs to be done is to get rid of inflammation in the oropharynx and paranasal sinuses.

The cough is usually most pronounced in the morning, immediately after the child gets out of bed, when the body tries to evacuate the mucus accumulated during the night and clear the airways.

Only a specialist can understand the true cause of the problem, so if complaints arise, you should not self-medicate, which may be ineffective and lead to the progression of the disease. If a child has a persistent cough, diseases other than bronchitis or tracheitis should be excluded.

What happens

There are various characteristics of a cough that help determine which pathology it belongs to.

  • By intensity. You can identify a constant or paroxysmal intense cough and coughing. The latter condition often accompanies sinusitis and rhinitis, but it can also occur with more serious diseases, for example, at the beginning of the development of pneumonia, which may not manifest itself as a cough at the initial stage.
  • By time of occurrence. Coughing attacks most often occur at night or in the morning. This is due to the fact that the child sleeps in a horizontal position and takes positions that are uncomfortable for the discharge of sputum. All this irritates the mucous membranes, phlegm accumulates, which is manifested by an intense cough. A horizontal position can also provoke coughing attacks caused by mucus flowing down the back wall of the throat (postnasal drip syndrome). In order to make breathing easier, the air in the room should be cool and not very dry. It is very important to maintain sufficient drinking regime, since increased fluid intake is enough to dilute mucus and ensure its speedy evacuation from the respiratory tract.
  • By duration. There is an acute period of cough (up to a week) and a subacute period (up to a month). There is no need to worry if your baby has been coughing for two or more weeks after illness, if there is a clear positive trend in his well-being. It all depends on the speed of recovery of the body and the cause of the cough. In cases where a child’s cough does not go away for a long time, it is necessary to exclude other diseases (for example, helminthic infestations, bronchial hyperreactivity, psychogenic cough).
  • By the nature of the discharge. At the beginning of the disease, the cough is most often dry. As the disease recovers or further develops, it becomes moist - with the release of sputum of a different nature with each attack.

How dangerous

Even a normal cough in a child can be dangerous, especially for young children under three years of age. Physiologically, young children have narrow respiratory passages, and against the background of illness and swelling of the mucous membrane, they have a greater tendency to develop bronchial obstruction - blocking the lumen of the bronchi with thick secretions of the respiratory tract.

Very often in young children, due to their structural characteristics, inflammation of the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract affects the area of ​​the larynx and vocal cords, which is manifested by a characteristic barking cough and a hoarse voice or even its absence. At the height of these manifestations, a reflex spasm of the muscles of the vocal cords may be observed, causing difficulty breathing or a complete spasm in especially severe cases. These are manifestations of false croup. Fortunately, most often false croup is mild and bouts of barking cough gradually subside within two to three days.

Hot, moist air containing steam helps relieve an attack. If the attacks are not relieved by steam and cause serious difficulty breathing in the child, emergency hospitalization is necessary. The parents' actions in this case should be immediate - it is necessary to take the child to the hospital as soon as possible or call an ambulance.

You should also consult a doctor if your child's cough is accompanied by the following:

  • heat- hectic fever 39-40°C and above, not reduced by conventional antipyretics (Paracetamol, Ibuprofen);
  • if your child has a cough- has a constant, painful and debilitating nature;
  • if you have difficulty breathing- shortness of breath, wheezing;
  • if the child is not active- lethargic, does not play, refuses any food.

For young children, bronchitis is especially dangerous due to the development of pneumonia and generalization of infection. Therefore, the younger the child is, the more careful his parents should be.

Survey

In order to establish the cause of the cough, it is necessary to undergo a series of diagnostic procedures. The main examinations include the following:

  • general blood analysis- signs of inflammation;
  • auscultation (listening to the lungs)- the doctor can determine the nature of the cough and its cause by the nature of wheezing;
  • radiography - a “picture of the lungs”, used when pneumonia is suspected or in unclear cases;
  • sputum culture - for wet cough for precise selection of antibacterial treatment;
  • examination by an ENT doctor- to exclude reflex cough with sinusitis and tonsillitis;
  • examination by a gastroenterologist- if the cough, according to the doctor, is associated with reflux of stomach contents into the esophagus.

If a specific disease is suspected, the complex of examinations can be expanded. For example, allergy tests are carried out (for bronchial asthma), stool tests for helminth eggs (for unclear infiltrates in the lungs), and immunological (enzyme-linked immunosorbent) blood tests for specific infections.

How to make cough treatment in a child effective

In each specific case, treatment for cough should be individual and primarily based on the cause that caused it. To speed up your recovery, it is useful to follow the following recommendations.

  • Air humidity. In the room where the child is, dry air will slow down recovery. Optimal humidity is 70% and above. During the heating season in apartment buildings, this figure usually does not exceed 40-50%, so it is necessary to additionally use air humidifiers. If this is not possible, you can simply hang a large wet towel in the room and change it as it dries.
  • Air temperature. It is equally important to monitor the temperature in the room. The optimal temperature is no higher than 21-23°C. It is necessary to regularly ventilate the room.
  • Drinking regime. During illness, a child should drink enough fluids. Ideally, it will be pure still water, but if the baby refuses it, you can offer juices, milk or tea.
  • Use a nebulizer. This is a special device for inhalation that helps deliver the drug even to the small bronchi. Ultrasound transforms the medicinal substance into fine vapor, which the child inhales through a special nozzle.
  • Supplement with folk remedies. Excessive drug load should be avoided whenever possible. You can use physical methods or traditional medicine - rubbing, heating, mustard plasters.

Drug therapy

Treatment of cough in children involves the use of drugs aimed at thinning mucus (if it is thick), improving its evacuation and relieving inflammation.

Centrally acting antitussives

They affect the cough center in the brain and reduce its sensitivity. On the one hand, such therapy is indicated, for example, to stop a child’s severe dry cough at night or during the day, since the baby becomes very tired with such constant attacks. On the other hand, their use when there is a large amount of sputum can slow down its evacuation and cause complications (for example, pneumonia).

Examples of drugs:

  • “Sinekod” - from two months;
  • “Tusupress” - from two years;
  • "Sedotussin" - for children from 12 months.

To thin mucus

Mucolytics are drugs that convert thick sputum into a more liquid one, thereby improving its evacuation from the respiratory tract. Examples of drugs:

  • "Ambroxol" ("Lazolvan", "Ambrosan")- used in children only from six years of age;
  • "Bromhexine" - from the age of two;
  • "Acetylcysteine", "Carbocysteine" ("ACC", "Fluifort")- from one year.

Improving secretion removal

In cases where a lot of sputum is produced or for other reasons it stagnates in the respiratory tract, it is necessary to use medications that improve its elimination. These are mainly herbal preparations, including licorice root, marshmallow, thyme and ivy.

  • ivy leaf extract;
  • thyme herb extract.

The medicine is sold in syrup form. The syrup is allowed for use in children from three months. Depending on the age and body weight of the child, the dosage will be different. The exact doses of the medicine are determined according to the table indicated in the attached instructions for use.

It has a complex effect and can replace several drugs - it thins mucus and promotes its removal, relaxes the bronchi during their spasm, and also has an anti-inflammatory effect. The drug can be used from the first day of illness and for any type of cough - dry or wet. Its long-term use is safe, which is important for residual cough in a child.

Local distractions

In addition to various cough syrups, warming therapy can be used using various ointments. When a child coughs, you can rub the back, chest, and also apply the ointment to the wings of the nose, neck, and temple areas. These drugs include menthol, camphor, thymol, eucalyptus, turpentine and nutmeg oil. They should be used with caution, as their strong odor can itself cause respiratory irritation in sensitive children.

Antibiotics

Tracheitis and bronchitis most often occur against the background of a viral infection. In this case, antibacterial drugs are prescribed only when a secondary bacterial infection occurs or during a long course of the disease. This is characterized by the following:

  • sputum becomes yellowish, greenish, sometimes streaked with blood;
  • there is no positive dynamics in treatment or deterioration occurs;
  • a temperature above 38.0°C lasts more than five to seven days.

Immunomodulators

The use of various immunomodulators is indicated only for children with reduced immunity. They can also be prescribed to a group of frequently and long-term ill children with particularly frequent recurrences of colds. Interferon-based drugs are used, which have long been known to pediatricians. It is also possible to use immunostimulants (“Broncho-Vaxom” or “IRS-19”).

The need for certain medications can only be determined by a doctor based on the clinical picture and the suspected cause. You should not try to give your child all known medications for a cough, as this can only harm the baby and aggravate the course of the disease.

Physiotherapy

In order to cure a child’s cough even faster, the main treatment can be supplemented with drainage or postural massage and physiotherapy performed at home.

  • Postural massage. To improve sputum discharge, you can do the following: 1) first, you need to lay the child on his stomach and place a thick pillow under the pelvis; 2) then, using the pads of your fingers or the edge of your palm, perform several rounds of medium intensity tapping in the area between the ribs and shoulder blades in the direction from bottom to top and ask the child to clear his throat.
  • Distraction procedures. Hot foot baths, mustard plasters, compresses (from warm boiled potatoes, honey) due to local surface heating help to reflexively reduce blood flow to the bronchi, thereby relieving swelling. This improves sputum discharge. Such actions should not be carried out at high temperatures, or if there are lesions or rashes on the skin.
  • Inhalation with solutions. For this purpose, it is recommended to use nebulizers. Breathing over steam with a decoction of potatoes, oats, medicinal herbs (eucalyptus, chamomile, breast tea) is less effective, but also useful.

Traditional methods

Various folk recipes are effective and useful. They are especially recommended for children with reduced immunity who are prone to frequent colds, since it takes a long time to treat a child’s cough in such cases. If you are not allergic to honey, then products containing it can be useful in treating cough:

  • Honey with radish. You should take a medium root vegetable and make a hole in it. Put honey inside and let stand for three to four hours. During this time, juice is formed, which must be taken two to three tablespoons two to three times a day.
  • Milk with honey . You need to take a pinch of cinnamon, the same amount of chopped ginger, turmeric and mix with honey. Then dissolve in hot milk and drink immediately.

Children's coughs and colds always cause concern for parents. Therefore, it is most effective to prevent colds. To do this, the child should be hardened and accustomed to sports. If complaints arise, you should not risk the baby’s health; it is better to consult a doctor immediately, even if the child has a cough without fever. After all, only a specialist can understand its true causes and prescribe the most effective treatment.

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