How to get rid of cough in infants
Dear reader, if your baby is suffering from a cough, then surely you are now feeling very worried about him. And because we know how concerned you are about your child’s health, we have come to you in this article to talk about the causes of infant coughing, and How to get rid of cough in infants
What are the causes of coughing in a child?
A child’s cough is a response to the body’s desire to get rid of mucus that causes health problems, and it is also a reaction to irritation caused by swelling of the airways and throat. There are several causes of coughing in children, but the most common cause is a cold or the flu. In the following points, we will mention those reasons:
- A cold, which affects a child with a runny or stuffy nose accompanied by watery eyes, sore throat, and fever.
- Flu, which is similar to the common cold, but the cough due to the flu is dry, which means your child will have less mucus when they cough.
- Croup, a condition in which the airways swell when coughing, with shortness of breath, so that the child finds it difficult to breathe.
- Whooping cough, in which a child coughs up a lot of mucus and makes a whooping sound while breathing in air. It is usually a bacterial infection.
- Asthma, in which a child suffers from tightness in his chest and wheezing while breathing.
- Tuberculosis: A persistent cough for about two weeks that refuses to go away can be a sign of tuberculosis.
- Viral infections, such as bronchitis and pneumonia.
- Choking, if you notice that the child is suddenly coughing with wheezing, it may be due to the inhalation of a foreign body, which has led to a blockage in the nose or throat.
How to get rid of cough in infants
There is more than one home method that you can safely follow to try to help your child get rid of a cough, and we will mention some of those methods for you:
Get rid of cough with a drop of saline solution
Saline nasal drops can thin the mucus in your child’s nose and shrink swollen airways. This drop can be used two or three times a day, according to the doctor’s instructions, but without excessive so as not to cause irritation to your child’s nose. After using the drops, you can try to suck the thinned mucus out of your child’s nose with a nasal aspirator, to help your child breathe and get rid of the cough.
Getting rid of cough in infants by increasing fluids
Drinking plenty of extra fluids like water, juice and warm liquids like chicken soup can soothe a sore throat and thin the mucus, so it’s not choking and when a child coughs, he can easily get rid of that mucus. Babies under 6 months of age should only drink breast milk or formula, not water or juice, to get rid of coughing up mucus.
How to get rid of cough in infants with honey
If your child is over a year old, honey can soothe a sore throat and ease his cough better than over-the-counter cough medicines. All you have to do is give him 1/2 teaspoon of honey before bed. It is better to make your child’s head in a slightly elevated position, so that he can breathe easily and not be exposed to suffocation due to mucus, but if the child is less than a year old, do not give him honey at all.
When should you contact the doctor?
You should contact a healthcare provider or talk to a doctor if your child has:
- Non-stop coughing.
- Difficulty breathing when the cough is gone or subsided.
- Skin retraction between ribs with each breath.
- wheezing when breathing
- The child’s lips or face turn bluish while coughing.
- The child feels severe chest pain.
- Coughing up blood.
- The child’s temperature rises to more than 40 degrees Celsius.
Dear reader, after you got to know us How to get rid of cough in infants For more inquiries, follow the rest of the articles related to child health with us.