The child sneezes and coughs than to treat. Why does a baby cough during sleep or after feeding?

03.09.2016 26051

Responsible parents always carefully monitor how he breathes, how he sleeps and how he eats. At an early stage of the baby’s development, changes in the child’s condition are possible, the appearance of various symptoms that cause concern and even panic in inexperienced parents.

I would like to note right away that if the parents do not have experience in raising them first, then it is better not to guess about the reasons and not to rack their brains, but to immediately consult a doctor if the child’s condition worries you in some way.

Causes of coughing and sneezing in a child

The pediatrician is contacted by young parents who notice that their newborn is coughing and sneezing. The first thing that comes to their mind is that the child has caught a cold. But these symptoms do not always indicate the presence of a disease. Let's consider possible options for the appearance of a cough in a baby. Firstly, it depends on the type of cough. It happens:

physiological,
pathological.

Physiological in nature, a baby coughs in the following cases:

dust or other irritant has entered the respiratory tract, the child is coughing because a foreign body is bothering him,
the baby has a strong secretion of saliva, it enters the larynx in large quantities and causes the baby to cough,
an excess of mucus in the nose, causing the child to cough and try to get rid of it by coughing.

If the reason that the baby is coughing is due to illness, then the following options are considered here:

infectious diseases (tonsillitis),
viral diseases (bronchitis, pharyngitis),
allergic reaction,
helminthiasis,
a chronic disease that has nothing to do with the lungs (heart disease),
asthma.

To determine exactly why the infant is coughing, you need to take the baby to the hospital for examination by a pediatrician.

It is unacceptable to let the course of the disease take its course or self-medicate. This will lead to serious consequences for the baby's health.

There is an option when the baby coughs and sneezes after the little one has been fed. This is a normal process. Pediatricians explain this by saying that the tube connecting the nasopharynx to the ear is still poorly formed, and the sucking process causes irritation in the nasal cavity. As a result, the baby sneezes. Therefore, if you notice that your baby is coughing and sneezing during feeding, do not panic or worry, this will soon pass.

What else can cause sneezing and coughing in a newborn? In general, these two symptoms are so closely related in a baby because he has not yet learned to control his organs correctly. If something tickles his nose, the baby sneezes, trying to get rid of the unpleasant sensation.

Consider all possible sneezing options. After all, this is a completely normal process and has nothing to do with infection or virus. Also important. If this is a cough in a child, then do not worry and watch him. If the cough is barking or choking, you should immediately consult a doctor.

What does sneezing indicate?

If you focus on sneezing, then in addition to the fact that this symptom, together with a runny nose, indicates an incipient cold, there are other reasons. Your baby may sneeze:

if in the room where the baby is there is very dry air, unusual for him, the child sniffles, sneezes, rubs his nose, indicating that something is bothering him,
when dust or invisible pollen enters the nasal cavity and irritates the nasal mucosa,
in bright sunlight, which can also cause sneezing, because not only children, but also adults have this feature,
when there is a change in ambient temperature to which the baby has not yet learned to react,
when crusts form in the nose, which also irritates the little one and makes him sneeze in an attempt to remove the body that is bothering him.
when a cold begins, and here you can’t do without consulting a doctor.

Treatment

When you contact a doctor for help, you will need to describe all the symptoms that your baby has and tell the nature of each symptom. Much in prescribing treatment depends on the parents, how correctly you described the baby’s condition and behavior. If your newborn coughs very rarely, you will be prescribed only medications. If a child constantly coughs, this means that the disease is progressing and drastic treatment is necessary, which means that the medications will be different.

Be responsible when visiting your doctor. Don't throw all the responsibility onto him. First of all, it lies with you.

ventilate the room where the baby lives,
wash floors at least twice a day,
drinking plenty of fluids will help you cope with the disease much faster,
Regular medication use, which is supervised by parents.

After examining and listening to the baby, the doctor will make a prescription, which depends on the type of cough. These will be either drugs that soften mucus accumulated in the lungs or drugs that help get rid of a reflex cough.

Help from traditional medicine

Some parents are so unaccustomed to visiting the clinic themselves that when a small child appears in the family, they forget about responsibility and begin to self-medicate. Most often this concerns the use of traditional medicine. Nature gives us many ways to combat illnesses, but along with the benefits they also bring danger. It is strictly not recommended to use folk remedies without consulting a doctor. By choosing the wrong herb or syrup, you risk aggravating the situation, and this will lead to complications or the disease becoming chronic.

The state of health when a baby coughs and sneezes gives rise to concern among parents, because in the majority of cases there is no temperature and it is much more difficult to determine the root cause. Before starting therapy for your baby, you need to make sure that the symptoms that arise are not related to the disease, because a newborn baby sneezes and coughs for various reasons and you need to initially find out the cause, and only then decide what to do.

Causes of cough in infants

The baby coughs and sneezes not only for physiological reasons, but due to a certain illness. The cough reflex is a method of eliminating obstacles that interfere with normal air circulation. There are times when a baby coughs and sneezes, but there are no signs of illness. Why does a newborn cough and sneeze?

The cough reflex has the following causes or may be a factor in a specific disease:

Infection in the respiratory system. It has been established that the baby’s body is more often exposed to the influence of microbes, therefore, when bacteria enter the newborn, the newborn sneezes and coughs. For this reason, experts recommend that father and mother in the first weeks of the baby’s life beware of contact with strangers so as not to infect him with infection. When such signs as sneezing and coughing are caused by a cold, increased body temperature, rhinitis, and lethargy of the body can be observed.
Huge amount of sputum. When an infant coughs and sneezes, this indicates an accumulation of mucus, which irritates the nasopharynx and settles in the respiratory tract, that is, a condition in which the infant coughs.
Dry air in the room is one of the causes of coughing and sneezing. When airing, the air in the room becomes fresher and the environment in the room changes.
A possible cause of cough is an allergy. Children are more likely to experience allergic reactions than adults. This reaction occurs due to dust formation, animals, their fur, plants, cigarette smoke, and chemicals. So, when the father and mother have discovered that the baby is coughing and sneezing, it is necessary to eliminate all of the listed factors.

The conditions that trigger coughing and sneezing in an infant will disappear if parents follow these recommendations every day. However, as pediatric doctors say, today children are born with pneumonia, a sign of which is a continuous wet cough.

When the parents saw that at the age of 1 month the baby began to fidget frequently, cry for no reason, refuse to eat, and this continues for the first few days, then it is necessary to exclude the presence of a cold. When an infectious disease occurs in children, there is a high fever, sore throat and other symptoms.

If coughing does not stop for more than 3 days, you should call a doctor. When a baby sneezes, this may indicate a disease, for example:

Acute respiratory diseases, when a child coughs and sneezes, as the infection spreads to the respiratory system.

Bronchial asthma does not appear by itself, but as a result of prolonged bronchitis and untreated allergies.

Croup often occurs in babies between 3 months and three years of age; the baby coughs and sneezes, but there is no fever.

With whooping cough, a spasmodic cough can be observed until vomiting occurs. The disease is especially dangerous for children under one year of age, as it causes convulsions, after which the baby may stop breathing.

Diseases of the pharynx, ear, nose and larynx. A chest cough can indicate inflammation if the diagnosis is bronchitis or pneumonia.

If an infant is coughing and sneezing, but there is no fever, other symptoms must be ruled out. In the first days, the disease does not show any severe symptoms, so a visit to the doctor is required.

How to treat a cough in an infant

The best decision for parents when treating babies under 1 year of age is to consult a doctor. Especially when the conversation is about a coughing child or children 2 months old. It is strictly forbidden to choose medications yourself, because this can cause even greater harm to the child. In any case, for a quick recovery, the child needs to drink a lot of liquid (milk in this case is not a liquid, but the baby’s food). Toxic substances are removed from the tiny patient’s body along with the fluid. Give purified water, herbal decoctions, natural juices, compotes at room temperature. During sneezing, blockage of the nasal cavity may occur. Therefore, it is necessary to clean the nasal passages of the baby using a solution with salt. The drug is sold at the pharmacy kiosk, and you can also make it yourself (a pinch of salt per 250 ml of water). Such solutions should be used when a 2-month-old child coughs and sneezes for more than 3 days. At the pharmacy you can buy a substance for cleansing the nasopharynx Aquamaris, No-salt.

Methods for treating dry cough in an infant

There are times when an infant coughs, sneezes, but there is no temperature, this means the presence of an infection. Cough occurs in the morning and evening, which may indicate the likelihood of inflammation of the larynx and vocal cords or a symptom of whooping cough. When there is no pneumonia, treatment of dry cough should be aimed at removing mucus.

For a dry cough, the infant is given milk with honey, and inhalation is carried out with a two percent soda substance.

Methods for treating wet cough in an infant

Sputum that is formed during a wet cough must be removed from the respiratory tract. When a newborn coughs, sneezes, or has no fever, expectoration agents are used. Inhalations are also useful, and infants are prescribed topical syrups, for example, Pectusin, Doctor Mom.

The drugs must be used exclusively as prescribed by the doctor, since if there is excess sputum, the child cannot independently cope with the discharge of mucus.

It is also prohibited to use pharmaceutical herbs independently to treat infants, but only under the guidance of a doctor, so as not to cause allergies.

Adhering to an infant's cough regimen

When a baby sneezes or coughs, the doctor is obliged to conduct a full examination, and only after determining the diagnosis, prescribe treatment. When parents discover that the baby is coughing, the mother at home is obliged to do the following:

Constantly ventilate the child's room. The temperature does not have to exceed 22 degrees. Certain diseases, for example, croup and whooping cough, are treated by ventilating the room.
When the disease occurs without fever, you should take walks in the fresh air more often.
When a baby coughs or sneezes without developing a fever, you need to start restoring breathing. To begin with, a special device, a bulb, is useful for clearing the mucus of the nasal cavity.
Moisten the room with damp towels and place containers with water.
Adhere to the drinking regime so that the baby’s body does not become dehydrated.
When coughing with sputum that is difficult to clear, you can perform a drainage massage.

Drug therapy Medicines

When visiting a doctor, parents are required to inform the medical professional about the baby’s behavior and suspicious symptoms. After all, the diagnosis depends on this information.

When the available methods do not work, you need to purchase drugs to remove mucus. There are herbal preparations in pharmacies, for example, Mucaltin, Bromhexine.

When the cough is allergic in nature, the doctor prescribes antihistamines, for example, Suprastin, Tavegil, Fenistil.

For a viral infection, local remedies will help. When a child is 3 months old, Grippferon, Interferon is prescribed.

At the age of 3 months, babies can cough for various reasons, so when the baby coughs or sneezes, you need to be examined by a doctor. After all, the cause may also be the entry of an object into the respiratory tract.

During the treatment period, it is necessary to support the baby’s immunity with vitamins.

When coughing with fever, antipyretic drugs are prescribed, for example, Diclofenac, Nurofen.

Traditional methods of treating cough in an infant

Some parents themselves do not go to the doctor and, after the birth of the baby, if there are any symptoms or a deterioration in his health, they try to cope themselves and treat the cough at home. This is one of the huge mistakes of parents, because in this way they only make the situation worse. Nature provides a large number of methods to combat diseases, but together with goodness it can cause harm to the body. It is strictly not recommended to use folk remedies without a doctor. After consultation with a pediatrician, you can perform subsequent operations; when the baby coughs, sneezes, but there is no temperature, you need to clear the airways and eliminate the cough. Drainage massage is carried out even for children aged six months. The massage is performed as follows: the baby is placed on the knee so that the stomach is directed down and the head is located below the horizontal. Make knocking movements with your fingers from the lower back to the occipital region.

Cough compress for babies

The child's chest, back, and feet are rubbed with badger fat. The procedure is performed before bedtime to wrap the child warmly. Any ointments are contraindicated at this age.

Inhalations for an infant

When your baby is sick with respiratory diseases, consider buying an inhaler or nebulizer. With the help of inhalations, the respiratory system is treated for various diseases. You can use a regular sodium chloride solution (used in the clinic) and the result will be noticeable immediately.

Conclusion

Coughing and sneezing are normal physiological processes that are typical for a child of any age, and are not always associated with respiratory diseases. In medical practice, it is not uncommon for children to be taken to intensive care due to the fault of parents, their increased initiative in terms of independent treatment, and sometimes even die. Therefore, if any suspicious symptom or change in the child’s behavior appears, it is better to immediately contact the clinic for examination.

4 reasons for coughs and runny noses that are “native” to our children are viruses, allergies, bacteria, and colds. There is no treatment for acute respiratory infections. ARI is just a term... There is such a microorganism as a virus, which is almost impossible to influence. There is no medicine that kills the virus! 99% of all children's "coughs, snot, fevers" are acute respiratory viral infections. Respiratory means associated with the respiratory tract. When we started sneezing, coughing, our voice was hoarse and snot started running - this means that an inflammatory process has occurred. Most often, this inflammatory process is caused by viruses, less often by bacteria: staphylococci, streptococci, E. coli. So, these bacteria can also cause a runny nose and cough, but a bacterial infection already has advantages - it can be treated with antibiotics. There are 4 different reasons why a cough and runny nose may appear - viruses, allergies, bacteria, colds. Very often, when a child starts coughing or sniffling, you and I don’t know: “which of the four” is to blame? To do this, you need a doctor who will make a diagnosis. And for these situations the abbreviation “ORZ” was invented. When we “treat” acute respiratory infections, we must understand that acute respiratory infections cannot be treated. For the simple reason that this is not a disease, not a diagnosis, but a term that we use until we know what exactly has hit us. 99% of all acute respiratory infections are viral infections. The virus will kill the Spartans! However, we must know that 99% of all acute respiratory infections are viral infections. Viruses circulate in the air and are transmitted from one person to another through airborne droplets. And here lies one of the most interesting rules, which underlies the epidemiology of viral infections. The essence of this rule is that viral particles retain their activity for hours in dry, warm and still air and instantly, in a split second, they lose it in cold, humid and moving air. That is, in the summer the acute respiratory infections season ends not because the viruses go somewhere, but because we finally open the windows. As soon as air movement appears, the active number of infections decreases many times over. If the room is warm, dry and never ventilated, then it is impossible to prevent the spread of infection. If we have a kindergarten in which 20 snotty children crawl on one carpet, where it is +26 degrees, and no one knows what humidity is. And it’s -2 outside and it turns out that the weather is terrible and you can’t go for a walk. The children in this kindergarten will never stop getting sick. I would love to visit a kindergarten where there are thermometers and hydrometers, where in the bedrooms it is + 18-19 degrees, by the way, in Germany the required temperature in such institutions is + 16. Where children will eat when they want, and not when they should. Where they will walk barefoot, where educational games will be only in the air, where there will be no dust accumulations. Acute respiratory viral infection does not require medication treatment. Mom’s psyche needs them... Why do children often get viral infections? They find where to get them - that's it. Second. Children are not immune to them, but adults are. Therefore, whether we want it or not, the child will regularly snot. Now there is a very interesting statistic: American insurance companies believe that a normal child cannot, but... must suffer from acute respiratory infections from 6 to 12 times a year. In this case, the mother is freely paid for sick leave if she is insured, but treatment is not paid for. For! According to most pediatricians, if it is an acute respiratory viral infection, then it does not need treatment with drugs. It is extremely difficult for us in the post-Soviet space to come to terms with this. A dad with snot can walk for years, can work with a temperature of 38 and nothing! But if a child has “snot and cough”, then the principle is “something needs to be done!” becomes dominant. Moreover, I especially draw your attention to the fact that very often “snot and cough” are less dangerous for a child than medications that are used to treat cough and snot. The big problem is that a viral infection can cause complications. Complications from a common viral runny nose can include purulent otitis media and pneumonia. These complications are caused by bacteria, which are treated with antibiotics. There is a sad popular misconception that if we do not prescribe an antibiotic in time for a viral infection, we will have pneumonia. However, medical science has long given an answer to this question. About 30 years ago... And everything became clear to everyone - antibiotics do not have a preventive effect against viral infections! Antibiotics are used prophylactically during surgical operations and during plague epidemics, for example. But when your child has snot, giving him an antibiotic is wrong. A lot of notes from the audience on the topic that antibiotics are still prescribed for acute respiratory infections. Yes, they prescribe it, because there is no doctor who didn’t listen to a lecture on how bad he is and didn’t prescribe antibiotics on time. You must clearly understand why complications arise. What determines how a viral infection will proceed? Gate that kills infection The main thing is the following. When an inflammatory process occurs in the nose, throat, or bronchi, how does the body react? It produces mucus: snot, phlegm. It contains huge amounts of substances that kill viruses. This is called local immunity. In general, the child will get sick often and it doesn’t really depend on this. Every day, billions of billions of viruses enter our noses, but we do not get sick, because these viruses come into contact with the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract and die on the spot. This is the local immune system. If the virus was able to pass through the viral immune system, then the body begins to react, and changes in the general condition of the whole organism and clinical blood tests occur. At the core of local immunity, mucus is the gateway that kills infection. And here is the main rule - mucus can kill an infection only when it is liquid. Liquid snot kills the infection, dry snot is the environment where the infection multiplies. Now let's see what happens to our children when they just live and don't even get sick. Dry air is the norm in the environment. Children run around with stuffy noses, scream, and their mouths dry out. It’s warm and dry in kindergarten, and the same at home. Conclusion? Do it yourself. How to globally reduce the incidence? Do not raise the supposedly impaired immunity, but do everything to ensure that there is no factor damaging this immunity. And if dust, car exhaust, household chemicals, carpets, animals are added to the dry air, then the poor child can no longer withstand all this. Dry air is a real problem that really needs to be dealt with. Globally, morbidity can be reduced by paying attention to what is happening in children's groups. Ensure that kindergartens and schools are humidified and ventilated. So that humidity and temperature are controlled. So that when the bell rings, all children are kicked out of the classroom for recess and the room is ventilated. And you can do all this. But something still needs to be done. Don't feed. Give it something to drink. Ventilate... However, when your child starts running snot, something still needs to be done. Fever and runny nose are the body’s ways of fighting, but all this makes life very difficult. Liver! This is the main organ of the immune system. The main organ that synthesizes proteins. The same immunoglobulins that protect the body from infection. But! Attention! The greater the load on the liver with food, the less its ability to synthesize immunoglobulin. The main rule for treating a child with an acute respiratory infection is not to feed him until he screams: “Mom, I will eat you.” This is very difficult to understand! Because when a child gets sick, whole round dances of grandmothers and mothers walk around him asking him to eat at least a spoonful. If you feed, the food should be easily digestible, no meat, no fatty broths. Food. Now drinking plenty of fluids is the second most important rule of treatment. What kind of mucus will it be: liquid or thick? This depends on two factors: what the temperature and humidity in the room will be and how much he will drink. All destroyed bacteria, viruses, and toxins are excreted in the urine. The third is the air that the child breathes. Warm and dry, which means there will be a lot of complications. So, there are three main rules in the treatment of acute respiratory infections - a minimum of food, a maximum of drink, clean, cool, moist air. What if he doesn't drink? Here the question is tough: either you give him something to drink, or you go on a drip - there are no options! What often happens? The doctor comes home and sees a child with a temperature of 38, in a dry, hot room, and he already knows that this child will be in the hospital tonight. He also knows that if he gives the child something to drink, checks the room where he is and humidifies it, everything will be fine. But the doctor is very doubtful: do you have enough understanding that this is exactly what needs to be done? It’s easier for him to immediately send you to the hospital so as not to be guilty. Half of the referrals to the hospital are due to the fact that the doctor and mother cannot agree: the doctor does not know your abilities, and you do not know what to do. So I want you to understand. When a child gets sick, it’s not important to send dad to the pharmacy. The main thing is to start treating the child immediately. Only treatment is not pills, you need to immediately dress him warmly, turn on the humidifier, close the radiator, because it’s good for a healthy person to sleep at + 20 degrees, but with ODS it’s better to + 18. Of course, under no circumstances should the child freeze. What else? Make a bucket of compote. Have tea, mineral water, whatever you want. As long as he drinks what he agrees to drink. How to get someone to drink who is, in principle, difficult to persuade and motivate (if he is 5 months old, for example). A disposable syringe is taken: one holds the child, the other pours, but not directly, but onto the inner side surface of the cheek. The child screams and spits, and you pour it out. And exactly 5 minutes later he realizes that swallowing is easier than spitting. But you must clearly understand: yes, we commit violence, but for the benefit of the child. Yes, this is the basis of pedagogy: we forbid them, we force them, but we have nowhere to go. Or sit and cry with a five-month-old child with a temperature of 40 and wait until he begins to have convulsions from fever and dehydration... But you will be democratic... When a child gets sick, believe us, there is something to do: wash, ventilate, cook, give water, wash again, water, ventilate. But! For some reason, it is mentally believed that this is not a treatment! Treatment is when dad rushed to the pharmacy and brought something unusual red in color and it says that it is for immunity and against everything... And when you give your child this, you feel like full-fledged mothers. And if the doctor came and said: so! don’t feed, water, moisturize, ventilate - he turned around and left - then this is not a doctor! “Give me,” the mother will say, “a doctor who will refer you for a consultation, force you to take 150 tests, cry “oh-oh-oh, something is wrong here,” and let them listen to you in the hospital.” This is the doctor! The cause of pneumonia. Actually, it's you, mom... When a child has pneumonia, the last person to blame is the person who came to you to listen to him. Inflammation of the lungs arose from the fact that you did not drink, did not moisturize, did not ventilate, and did not replenish fluid loss. For the cause of pneumonia is when a lump of mucus dries in the lungs, which blocks the bronchus and normal air ventilation stops. Microbes settle there and inflammation begins. When mucus has dried in the sinuses. What will it be? Sinusitis! When mucus has dried in the pipe between the ear and nose. Otitis. When mucus has dried in the larynx. Croup! When in the bronchi. Bronchitis! When the mucus blocks the bronchus, this will be pneumonia. What causes mucus to dry out? We already know how to help a child. The mucus has dried in the lungs and the child is coughing. What's this? Bronchitis. What causes bronchitis? Viruses! That is, 98% of bronchitis are viruses. But I'm talking about childhood bronchitis. Therefore, 98% of bronchitis should not be treated with any antibiotics. If mucus has dried in the lungs and the patency of the bronchi is impaired, this is called obstructive bronchitis. Which means this baby has a sensitive airway and has excess mucus. Excess! Children tend to have a lot of mucus. And very often children are treated with expectorants that increase the amount of mucus. If a child coughs dryly, what needs to be done in order for him to start coughing wetly? Moisturize, ventilate, give water, and do not give a lazolvan tablet. And therefore, the main thing I would like to emphasize in eliminating “snot and cough” is that a mother can sometimes do much more than a doctor. A normal, adequate mother...

Good afternoon, dear parents. If the baby coughs and sneezes, parents begin to panic. The “season” for colds in our country lasts a long time - from autumn to late spring. What to do if a child is sneezing and coughing and does not have a fever?

We must be prepared for the fact that our preschooler returns from kindergarten with a sore throat or runny nose. How to help your son or daughter with a cold?

Young children are known to very often, especially in the months from October to April, have a sore throat, runny nose, as well as sneezing and coughing. These symptoms indicate viral infections of the upper respiratory tract, which in the initial period we treat simply with proper care and diet.

Here are the rules of behavior with a cold baby that will help our “patient” return to normal well-being and health, without the need to visit a doctor.

The main condition for the baby’s recovery is to limit the possibility of contact with other patients suffering from respiratory tract infections.
On cold winter days, leave your preschooler at home. At other times of the year, under favorable weather conditions, if the baby has a normal temperature and his condition improves, you can take him for a walk. Make sure you wear suitable clothing to keep your baby's hands and feet warm.
Limit excessive physical activity of the fidget. The baby should not get tired and sweat a lot. Therefore, it is better to avoid too active games and long walks.
Increase the humidity in dry rooms using a special device (humidifier) or, if you don’t have one, wet towels hung near radiators can help. The recommended air humidity is 60-70%, and in the room for babies with allergies it is about 50%.
Give your child plenty of fluids. Water, diluted juices, and fruit teas will reduce the density of secretions in the respiratory tract and facilitate their passage. Limit cow's milk for a few days, especially to children who have had or are experiencing allergy symptoms.
Try to feed a sick toddler more often, but in smaller portions, preferably with light broths or soups. Avoid heavy, fatty foods and legumes to avoid further strain on your child's digestive system.
A child who is already one year old can put a pillow under the mattress so that when lying down his head is higher than his body. This will improve the drainage of nasal secretions and make it easier for the one-year-old to breathe.
Systematically remove thick mucus from the nostrils. You can use drops of saline solution with a temperature of about 35 degrees, a weak solution of sea salt (sold in a pharmacy) to thin thick mucus. Then remove any remaining mucus using an aspirator or syringe.
Apply baby cream to the outer parts of the nose (especially the wings) (you can use the same one you use for a diaper). This will prevent maceration and skin cracks.
In cases of dry cough, you need to dress the baby warmly and lower the temperature in the room to 17-18 ° C. When a painful, paroxysmal cough appears with the problem of gaining air (usually this happens at night), it is necessary for the baby to breathe cold air (wear a hat, jacket and open the window or go for a walk).
When the cough is wet, it is advisable to get rid of the remaining secretions in the bronchi. This will speed up your recovery.
Massage your back frequently to make it easier to cough up secretions. While coughing, place the baby on your stomach, on your lap, so that the head is slightly lower than the rest of the body.
If your child is sneezing and coughing, encourage him to do deep breathing exercises. Several times during the day and especially before meals and bedtime, try to provoke a cough - preferably through deep breathing and exhalation with resistance (let the preschooler inflate a balloon, or blow into a tube, the other end of which is in water). Deep breathing can be triggered by controlled effort, such as bouncing.
Don't send someone with a cold to kindergarten, because it will get worse. The immune system, weakened by a viral infection, is sensitive to all types of pathogens, and nothing can guarantee that another infection will not join the existing cold.

The child is sneezing and coughing and has a fever

In case of a slight fever, it is enough to dress the child in light clothes (do not wrap him in a warm blanket!) and give a drug based on ibuprofen or paracetamol (if the temperature is above 38).

The dose of the drug can be repeated no more often than every 4 hours, up to a maximum of 5 times a day. The use of aspirin in children under 12 years of age without a doctor’s recommendation is contraindicated - remember this.

If the effect of the drugs is not fully effective, the following methods can be used:

Five-minute bathing in water at a temperature corresponding to normal body temperature.
Rubbing the body with a damp sponge at a temperature approximately 1 degree lower than the child’s temperature.
Cold compresses on the forehead, groin and armpits.

When to see a doctor?

An urgent visit to the doctor is necessary when a child experiences the following symptoms:

He is all on fire - up to the age of 6 months of life.
Symptoms of shortness of breath appeared.
Prolonged crying and screaming when touched and moved, increased sensitivity to light and loud conversations.
Spotted rash and fever.
Loss of neck flexibility.
Chest pain and severe, hacking cough, despite the use of these recommendations.

Remember, that…

During an infection or immediately after it, the child’s body is very sensitive, so the disease can return or move, for example, from the throat to the bronchi.
If a child sneezes and coughs, the disease may have complications - the most common are inflammation of the bronchi and ears.
A sick baby can infect other children, parents, and, above all, younger brothers and sisters, who will be sick longer and with a greater risk of complications.
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An infant is a defenseless and tender creature. Even minor illnesses on his part plunge adults into panic. So why does a baby cough, and what to do if such a nuisance happens in your family, we will tell you further.

Why does my baby cough?

Coughing is a normal, protective reaction of the body.

Until the age of two months, the child coughs because his respiratory system adapts to the new environment. The baby’s behavior does not change, he eats actively and sleeps enough. Over time, such coughing disappears.

Baby teething as a test of endurance

The appearance of denticles is a painful process. The baby reacts to it with an increase in temperature, sleep disturbances, refusal to eat, and secretion of a large amount of saliva, which he coughs out (wet cough) or spits.

This phenomenon can be mistakenly mistaken for ARVI. But swollen and reddened gums in the beginnings of baby teeth inform frightened parents that the child is growing up.

Otitis

Otitis media inflammation of the middle ear. The cough is associated with irritation of the nerve, which innervates the oropharynx and ear cavity with its branches. Therefore, the impulse reflexively passes from the damaged organ to the healthy one, and symptoms of both otitis and pharyngitis (inflammation of the pharynx) appear.

Low air humidity

Parents try to create a warm, cozy environment for their child, even in the summer, and can overdo it. The child is bothered by a dry, hacking cough. And all because of the too dry indoor climate. Dry air irritates the mucous membrane of the back of the throat.

Advice! Parents, remember that maintaining sufficient air humidity is necessary for both adults and children. After all, water is life. And it is also needed for the functioning of the respiratory system. Be careful!

Contaminated air

Air has a detrimental effect on a small family member. Therefore, stop smoking at least around your child. If a baby coughs in a yard where there is industrial smoke or the result of burning autumn leaves, then it is better to choose a more suitable place for a walk.

Intrauterine infection - infection of the baby before birth

The child faces congenital pneumonia, which is difficult to treat. This happens when a mother suffers from infectious diseases during pregnancy and does not receive adequate treatment.

The baby is sneezing and coughing

Often these are symptoms of a common cold or ARVI. As a rule, the disease is accompanied by fever and copious mucous discharge from the nasal cavity. The same secretions provoke a wet cough when they fall on the back wall of the throat (the sensitive cough zone of the upper respiratory tract), and sneezing.

If a baby wheezes and coughs, this is an alarm for parents. These may be symptoms of acute laryngotracheitis or, as it is popularly called, false croup, which is accompanied by shortness of breath, a specific barking cough (see), noisy breathing and, if assistance is not provided in a timely manner, can end sadly.

In this case, it is also necessary to humidify the air. Hot steam from a working kettle or a bath with plenty of water (sauna effect), distraction therapy in the form of a back massage or patting the buttocks will help.

Congenital heart disease is accompanied by a dry, frequent cough, shortness of breath, paleness, and blue discoloration of the skin. The baby is restless, the intercostal spaces and fontanelles are intensely retracted when the baby cries.

Advice! Suspicion of a pathology of heart development is a reason to contact a pediatric cardiologist. It is also important to know that infants have a normal heart rate of 130-140 beats/min at rest, and, for comparison, adults have 60-90.

What to do if your baby coughs in the morning?

Morning is the time for the reign of the vagus. In other words, physiological activation of the vagus nerve, which causes the bronchi to narrow.

Shortness of breath combined with wheezing are symptoms of acute obstructive bronchitis or bronchial asthma. The latter disease is hereditary, associated with allergies (see) and requires particularly careful examination and treatment. Children whose mothers are accustomed to smoking cigarettes are at risk for developing bronchitis.

Cough after feeding

Occurs for several reasons:

Inappropriate position for breastfeeding
A large amount of milk in the mother's breast
Increased pressure inside the stomach.

Advice! To better regurgitate excess milk, the mother should lift the baby and gently press her to her, put a warm diaper on the tummy, in a word, relax the intestinal muscles. This way you can also stop an attack of intestinal colic, which is manifested by the child’s agitation when he cries after feeding due to bloating and gas not passing.

Treatment of cough in infants

You need to contact a specialist. A doctor who examines and treats newborns is a neonatologist. A pediatrician cares for babies older than one month.

Actions for a runny nose during ARVI

In this case, the baby’s nose should be washed with an antiseptic solution. The best option is drops. Then, using a rubber bulb, the contents of each nasal cavity are removed in turn.

Advice! During this unpleasant procedure, it is necessary to close the entrance to the baby’s ear with your finger to prevent mucus from entering the ear cavity behind the pressure gradient. In this way, you will prevent the development of otitis media.

If the air in the room is dry

Simple ways to increase air humidity in your home:

If it is cool outside, it is enough to open the window in the room for a short time.
Place a bowl of water near the hot radiator. You can make a simple device from a plastic bottle and secure it in a warm place. The water will evaporate and the climate in the room will improve significantly.
Shake the wet towel several times.
Hang wet bedding around the perimeter of the room.

When the cause of cough is confirmed bronchial asthma or bronchitis, the doctor prescribes inhalation of saline solution, bronchodilators (bronchodilators) through a nebulizer - a modern device for converting liquid into fine particles that easily enter even the most distant and narrow branches of the bronchial tree.

Instructions for pulmicort:

The active substance is budesonide.
Group of drugs: hormonal bronchodilator.

The effect occurs 1 hour after administration, but lasts a long time.
Release form: suspension for inhalation, 0.25 ml/kg.
Indication: bronchial asthma.
Price: about 400 UAH.

Mode of application:

for babies under 6 months, with caution and according to strict indications - 0.25 mg/kg/day, diluted with 0.9% saline before use;
children over 6 months – 0.25-0.5 mg/kg/day.

Advice! The solution for inhalation must be prepared strictly according to the instructions and used within 30 minutes.

If there is no nebulizer at home, use inhalation (see) over a bowl of steaming tea made from rose hips, sage herb or chamomile flowers. The method is cheap but effective. Dried plants cost pennies in pharmacies, and do not cause side effects when used in moderation.

Mucolytics - medications that reduce the viscosity of sputum - help turn a dry cough into a wet one.

Mucolytics allowed in infancy

Drug name	Release form	Daily dose
Bronchicum	Drops, bottle, 30 ml	Children from 6 to 12 months. ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) 2 times a day
Althea	Syrup	½-1 tsp, pre-dilute in ¼ glass of warm water, 2-4 times a day
Althea	Ampoules 10% 2 ml	10 -15 mg/kg 2 times a day
overslept	Drops, bottle, 25, 50, 100 ml	Up to 1 year – 10 drops (2.5 ml)
Sinupret	Drops	With caution, children under 1 year – 1 tsp. 3 times a day
Eucabal balsam C	Syrup, fl. 100 ml	From 6 months up to 6 years - 1 tsp. (5 ml)

To prevent coughing attacks, traditional medicine advises placing sage leaves in the corners of the nursery.

If it is determined that the baby’s cough is associated with the appearance of teeth, then you can alleviate his suffering with the following techniques:

use special toys for biting, which must first be cooled; they relax the gums well and relieve pain due to their distracting effect;
grandmother's method - lubricating the gums with a thin layer of honey, but provided that there is no allergy;
Dentol 7.5% is an anesthetic ointment approved for children over 4 months of age.

The video in this article will introduce parents to the basic information about physiological coughs and those that indicate illness.

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