How to suppress a child's cough at night. How to relieve a coughing attack in children and adults

Coughing is common in children. In the youngest it has physiological reasons and allows you to clean your nose and larynx. In older children, the immune system is not yet able to quickly cope with an infection that has entered the body, and the thermoregulation system is imperfect. Therefore, colds and acute respiratory infections are constant children's companions, which most mothers treat calmly. But when a child coughs at night, it exhausts not only the baby, but also his parents, depriving everyone of the opportunity good rest. And measures to eliminate it must be taken immediately.

TEST: Why do you have a cough?

How long have you been coughing?

Is your cough combined with a runny nose and is most noticeable in the morning (after sleep) and in the evening (after bed)?

The cough can be described as:

You characterize the cough as:

Can you tell that the cough is deep (to understand this, take more air into your lungs and cough)?

During a coughing attack, do you feel pain in the abdomen and/or chest (pain in the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles)?

Do you smoke?

Pay attention to the nature of the mucus that is released during a cough (it doesn’t matter how much it is: a little or a lot). She:

Do you feel dull pain in the chest, which does not depend on movements and is of an “internal” nature (as if the center of pain is in the lung itself)?

Do shortness of breath bother you (during physical activity Do you quickly become out of breath and get tired, your breathing becomes faster, followed by a lack of air)?

Coughing is a reflex act of the body with which it reacts to external or internal irritants, as well as a mechanism by which it is released from excess mucus. Depending on the baby’s health condition, this may be periodic coughing (15-20 times a day is normal) or a paroxysmal cough in the child.

It is quite natural that coughing attacks occur more often at night. During the day, the child moves a lot, his head and body are in an upright position, and mucus is cleared on its own - it is swallowed or flows out through the nostrils. When the baby is in horizontal position, mucus accumulates in the nose and throat, causing night cough The child has.

The main reasons why a cough appears at night are not always associated with respiratory diseases. It can be:

There is no time or point in finding out the reasons for coughing at night. All the mother can do is relieve the attack as quickly as possible and wait for the morning. Then, based on the child’s condition, you need to make a decision on how to treat further - on your own or with the help of a doctor.

How to relieve an attack

This must be done correctly, and not all procedures that help older children are allowed for infants. They should not rub their chest with warming ointments and do steam inhalations when a child has a strong wet cough. After these procedures, the mucus swells, blocks the narrow larynx and nasal passages and can cause an attack of suffocation.

An approximate diagram to help you stop quickly coughing in a child at night, it looks like this:

Usually it is possible to stop a severe coughing attack with these measures in 10-15 minutes. After this, the baby calms down and falls asleep again.

It is very important that during a child’s nighttime coughing attack, the mother does not panic. She must be calm and confident in her actions, and then her condition will be passed on to the baby, and he will obediently carry out all the manipulations.

See a doctor immediately

But there are situations when urgent medical assistance and even a few minutes of delay can have serious consequences for the child. You should call an ambulance if the following symptoms are present during a night attack:

high body temperature, which cannot be brought down for a long time;
signs oxygen starvation(cold extremities, blue lips, etc.);
when coughing, frothy white or pinkish sputum is produced;
there is scarlet blood in the coughed up sputum;
the child constantly cries and complains of chest pain;
swallowing is difficult, the baby cannot even drink normally;
attacks of severe coughing cannot be stopped or they recur at short intervals.

These symptoms may indicate the presence of serious and life-threatening diseases such as pneumonia, whooping cough, measles, diphtheria, etc. After examining the child, the doctor will decide whether hospitalization is necessary or whether treatment can be started in outpatient setting, and will also give directions for tests that will help establish an accurate diagnosis.

Diagnosis and treatment

A diagnostic examination allows you to find out the reasons why a child has a wet or dry cough at night. It begins with blood and sputum tests, which can be used to determine whether there are active inflammatory processes and which microorganisms are the causative agents of the disease, as well as determine their sensitivity to certain groups of drugs.

If bronchitis or pneumonia is suspected, an x-ray must be taken chest. It can also show serious heart defects, which can cause heart failure, causing nighttime barking cough. The image shows signs of tuberculosis, neoplasms and lung abscess, so this type of examination is very informative.

If necessary, appointed additional methods diagnostics: spirometry, bronchoscopy, lung biopsy, CT scan. Sometimes highly specialized specialists are involved in the examination: otolaryngologist, pulmonologist, allergist, oncologist, infectious disease specialist. And only after receiving all the results, the doctor prescribes the most effective course of treatment.

Treatment of nighttime dry cough of a non-infectious nature is symptomatic. In most cases, it is enough to remove the irritants and exposure to the allergen, and the problem disappears and does not return. But you will have to constantly monitor the cleanliness of the house, the absence of dust and irritating odors.

If your nighttime cough is a symptom of one of the following: chronic diseases, treatment is aimed at relieving its exacerbation and prolonging the remission stage. Important here proper care looking after the child, gentle diet, competently organized regime day, which allows you to avoid severe overwork. With the doctor's permission, you can begin hardening procedures or take immunomodulators.

Infectious diseases require properly selected complex treatment which includes: drug therapy, folk remedies, physiotherapeutic procedures, and, if necessary, diet.

Only alternative medicine cannot cope with them; it can only remove cough as a symptom and temporarily alleviate the condition. Therefore, in order to avoid the progression of the disease to chronic form and complications appear, do not try to treat serious illnesses on one's own. After all we're talking about about health and normality active life your baby.

06 09.2016

The child coughs heavily at night. What to do?

06. 09.2016

Catherine's blog
Bogdanova

Greetings, dear and permanent readers of my blog! This time I would like to talk about what worries all parents. Namely, about children's health. Now it’s autumn outside, and that means it’s time for acute respiratory infections. viral infections. So, at this time my child coughs a lot at night. The coughing attack comes to the point of vomiting - and I don’t know how to help him and what to do to ease his suffering.

What causes night cough?

Undoubtedly, the most common causes lie in respiratory problems. However, you should not think that cough occurs only due to acute respiratory infections, there are many others, no less serious problems which can cause coughing at night.

The most important reasons can be listed as follows:

Complications of a cold - inflammatory processes in the paranasal sinuses;
adenoids;
bronchial asthma;
whooping cough;
leakage of contents from the esophagus;
helminthiasis

The reasons are very diverse, in each case there are clinical features of the cough.

What are the features of night cough in various diseases?

Most often, coughing attacks occur due to colds. The secret accumulates in accessory cavities and at night flows into the clearing bronchial tree. Adenoids, especially with inflammation, do not allow the child to breathe through the nose, which leads to breathing through the mouth with drying of the secretion in the pharynx and larynx.

Pathological discharge, especially dried and crusty discharge, irritates the mucous membrane of the trachea and bronchi at night. This causes attacks of wet cough when there is a large accumulation of secretions. But it can also exist if there are only dried crusts in the lumen.

Clinical features for colds are as follows:

Clear connection with infection;
does not last long;
usually accompanied by a runny nose and manifestations of intoxication;
goes away quickly after expectoration.

The cold process is favorable, and with appropriate therapy it goes away quickly.

The prognosis is worse if the child develops asthma. In this version there is a cord that is difficult to move away during an attack. Single or multiple nocturnal attacks of suffocation are typical, in which the child has severe difficulty in breathing.

After the sputum is discharged, the attack passes and the baby falls asleep. Such manifestations often occur in the morning, and the force of the cough leads to vomiting. The disease lasts a long time, coughing tremors with suffocation are repeated at night, urgent bronchodilator specific treatment is necessary.

Severe attacks at night are typical of whooping cough. Despite the fact that the disease is acute, with inadequate treatment the process can drag on for several months.

The most characteristic features of the disease are as follows:

Sudden night attack of suffocation;
the child coughs and turns blue;
exhalation is severely difficult;
the child is wet and sweats a lot;
wheezing is typical;
wet cough, after sputum is discharged, the blueness stops;
perhaps several episodes in one night.

Extremely dangerous condition! For small children this can result in death! Independent thinking about how to help a child is unacceptable. You need to call a specialist immediately.

Not only pulmonary diseases may cause coughing. This problem occurs with stomach pathology. Why is this happening? The fact is that due to insufficient work of the esophagogastric opening, the contents flow back into the esophagus.

And at night during sleep it can get into Airways. This causes sharp coughing, and a burning sensation may be felt in the throat due to the acidic gastric contents. The situation repeats itself regularly over a long period.

One more common problem represent helminths, especially roundworms. Their life cycle associated with entry into the bronchopulmonary system with blood. It's causing the locals allergic processes, which is accompanied by a strong dry cough. In this case, attacks occur against the background full health, unexpectedly, without any cold symptoms.

How to treat night cough

It should be noted right away that it is not enough to just treat the symptom; it is necessary to eliminate the disease together with a specialist. This may require antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, and sometimes specific medications.

The symptom itself can be affected by three groups of drugs:

Expectorants;
mucolytics;
antitussives.

Of course, you shouldn’t take medications just before bed. They need to be used several times a day. However, for a severe dry cough that is accompanied by pain and does not allow the child to sleep, you can use antitussives at night or before going to bed.

These drugs act on the cough centers of the brain and block reflex impulses. The symptom will be completely suppressed. Unacceptable long-term use such means, since accumulating phlegm can clog bronchial tract. Examples of these drugs are glaucine, codeine, butamirate.

Expectorants are usually herbal and safe. They can be used in children from the very beginning. early age. They help mucus come out of the bronchi. There is no point in using them when wet cough, since the secret goes away well anyway.

Expectorant drugs include: syrup from licorice roots, marshmallow herb in the form of decoctions or syrup, breast elixir and many others.

Mucolytics are often used in combination with expectorants. They help thin mucus so that it moves more easily through the respiratory tract. It is too safe medicines, they are used from infancy. Examples are ambroxol, lazolvan, bromhexine. It's better to apply liquid forms, since many children do not like pills.

To successfully combat cough in asthma, these medications are not enough. It is necessary to constantly use bronchodilators, as well as special inhalers to relieve inflammation.

If helminths are present, they must be radically removed using modern anthelmintics. To treat stomach pathology, various prokinetics are used, for example, motilium, which prevent contents from entering the esophagus and flowing into the respiratory tract at night.

A child’s severe cough at night prevents everyone in the household from sleeping. Worried parents immediately begin to be tormented by the question of how to calm their child’s cough at night? Variety of traditional and alternative medicine, allows you to effectively combat the manifestations of night cough. Let's try to thoroughly understand this issue.

Causes of coughing at night

The problem can be caused by many factors. Some of them can be attributed to the following points:

The appearance of various allergic reactions.
Presence of helminthiasis.
Presence in medical history bronchial asthma .
Presence stressful situations, to which children are exposed just like adults. Sometimes a cough can be caused by excessive emotional excitability of the child..
Reflux esophagitis, in which there is a reflux of gastric contents, which have an acidic environment, into the esophagus.
Excessive dust and contamination chemicals air environment, in which the child is located.
Cardiovascular pathology.
Entry into the upper respiratory tract foreign body.
Insufficient air humidity in the room.
Addition of chlamydia.
Various infectious pathologies.

These are just some of the reasons why a child may develop a cough. In fact, there may be much more. Of course, caring parents are haunted by the question of how to stop a child’s coughing attack at night? The most proactive mothers immediately rush to and get out of it everything that is there. Such an initiative will not bring any benefit, but it may cause harm.

Such a state does not tolerate fuss. It would be more rational to call a pediatrician at home. He, as a specialist, will determine the causes of the cough and prescribe an adequate correction. Without this, it is useless to fight any cough. It will not disappear until its true cause is eliminated.

An air humidifier makes breathing easier and combats dry rooms

An important point in establishing the causes is complete walkthrough examinations with relevant tests. When the cause is established, all efforts will be aimed at eliminating it. And the cough, as a symptom, will disappear on its own.

What to do if you have a severe night cough

Before resorting to taking medications, it is necessary to take a number of measures that will help reduce coughing. They come down to simple but extremely important points:

Before the child goes to bed, the room should be well ventilated. This will help not only normalize sleep, but also reduce night cough. It has been noted that any person coughs much more intensely in a stuffy, dry room (we recommend reading about optimal).
Regular hygienic cleaning indoors in a wet way. It is necessary not only to remove dust with a rag, but also to wash the floors and wet wipe the objects surrounding the child.
If you have a humidifier, it should not sit idle in a corner, but should be used constantly.
A situation in which the child drinks frequently and generously will help reduce coughing. For this you can use fruit drinks, berry jelly, vitamin juices.
Before going to bed, the child’s nostrils can be rinsed with a solution sea salt. But do not overdo it, the solution should be of low concentration.

Never resort to measures to eliminate cough using antibiotics or antihistamines. If there is a need for this, then they are prescribed only by a doctor.

Medications

All medications are used only as prescribed by a doctor. Do not self-medicate, it can only harm. The following medications can be prescribed and are very effective in combating cough syndrome:

For wet cough you can use:

Dr. MOM;
Pectusin;
Thermopsis;
Solutan.

Dry cough can be eliminated with the following medications:

Sinecode;
Glauvent;
Bronchoitin.

It should be said that in fact there are cough medications a large number of. Just a few of them are listed here. In addition, agents are used that reduce the viscosity of sputum and improve its discharge from the bronchi.

ethnoscience

Methods and methods alternative treatment cough, they use a fairly large number of means in their arsenal to combat this unpleasant phenomenon. All of them are well known and have long been used to treat cough. But we should never forget that they should not replace the main treatment, but are only an addition to it.

Using a Herbal Blend to Combat Coughs at Night

The following herbal mixture will help stop a coughing attack at night in a child:

Plantain, marshmallow in the form of a root, linden flowers and mallow are mixed in equal volumes.
This mixture in the volume of one tablespoon is poured into a glass of boiling water.
The composition is infused for 5 minutes.
After this, it is filtered and cooled.

The child is given this infusion twice a day. Children are reluctant to drink this mixture because it tastes unpleasant.. To correct the taste, you can add a spoonful of honey to the composition. But before using it, you need to consult a pediatrician, since allergic reactions may occur.

Potato cake

This remedy has been used for quite a long time and is very effective in its action. It's easy to prepare. To do this you need to boil a couple of potatoes.. They cook until they begin to fall apart. Then the finished potatoes must be crushed and wrapped in a clean cloth. It can be applied to the back and chest.

The cough may disappear for a while. If it does appear at night, you can give the child honey in the amount of one teaspoon. The product is effective, but it can only be used in the absence of fever.

Without fever, you can apply a non-hot warming compress to your chest or back

Onion syrup

Important! It is not used in children under one year of age.

Finely chop one onion, add a small amount of honey and a liter of water. All this is stewed over low heat for a quarter of an hour. The composition is infused for 4 hours.

For children under 6 years of age, a single dose should not exceed one tablespoon. For older children, the dose can be increased slightly and brought to 1.5 spoons. The result will be noticeable within a few days from the start of use.

Fighting a wet cough

Inhalations with eucalyptus are very useful in this regard. They are very effective in combating wet cough. For those who don’t want to do “grandmother’s inhalations,” see how to choose a modern inhaler.

You can put it under your child's pillow:

thyme;
tea tree leaf;
peppermint herb.

Ginger

Ginger root for cough

It can effectively eliminate coughing at night. The root has a mild analgesic effect. In addition, being an excellent immunomodulator, it helps, and this is also very important in the fight against cough.

2-3 cm is cut from the root and cut into small cubes.
It is first peeled.
It must be filled with water and boiled for a short time.
Then the composition is filtered.

The child should drink it several times a day. Younger children are given ginger tea instead..

Eating ginger promotes better mucus removal, and at the same time, coughing decreases.

Radish for making syrup in 5 steps

A special feature is that this product is allowed to be given to children up to one year old.. To prepare it:

You need to take one large radish.
The top is cut off.
The internal contents are carefully scraped out with a spoon.
The resulting cavity is filled with honey and sugar.
Then the whole thing is covered with the cut off top and placed in the refrigerator.

Radish syrup with honey

Children drink a teaspoon of this syrup 3-4 times a day.. They usually do it with pleasure.

conclusions

Cough, basically, is a reflex in nature, and is a response to the action of an irritating agent. This role can be played by a foreign body that has entered the upper respiratory tract or sputum that has accumulated in the bronchi. In this way, the body reacts to this and tries to get rid of these factors.

It happens that a child coughs all day, and at night these phenomena intensify. This is understandable. After all, during sleep the baby is not connected with physical activity. Nothing prevents sputum from accumulating in the bronchi; it is sufficiently large quantities. All activities related to the treatment of coughing attacks must be carried out under the supervision and with the permission of a doctor.

In this video from Dr. Komarovsky, you will find additional methods to combat cough:

Cough accompanies many childhood illnesses. With the help of this symptom, the child can get rid of the respiratory irritant.

If cough did not occur, any infection would lead to serious damage to the lower or upper respiratory tract. It’s good when the cough is productive and wet, and the child can easily get rid of accumulated mucus.

It’s worse if it becomes intrusive and dry, causing considerable discomfort to the baby and his parents not only during the day, but also during sleep. When a child has a severe cough at night, it is worth thinking about at least contact your pediatrician for help. After all, parents are not always able to independently determine the cause of this symptom.

A child's severe cough at night may be a natural defensive reaction or a manifestation of pathology.

In the latter case, they usually appear additional signs, by which an attentive parent can determine that the child is unwell. Depending on what is causing this symptom, the doctor will select a comprehensive and effective treatment for the child.

Do not forget that any cough is divided into two types:

damp or wet (with it you can hear a distinct bubbling in the bronchi, and mucus is easily coughed up);
dry (spasmodic, annoying, painful, in which coughing does not bring any effect).

Allergic reaction

If you notice that your child has a strong cough at night, but the baby does not cough during the day, this may indicate an allergy.

Every parent should be wary of the fact that the attack begins the moment the baby’s head touches the pillow. The absence of catarrhal manifestations (sputum production) adds confidence that the cough is caused by an allergy.

Check what your child's bedding is made of. Often an allergic reaction occurs to sheepskin and feathers. Have you recently changed your baby's pajamas? Check its composition as well.

Allergies can manifest themselves not only to fillers, but also be a reaction to powder or fabric softener. Eliminate any allergens for a while.

Perhaps the cough will disappear along with them.

Viral infection

A child may cough at night due to common cold. Often a viral infection is accompanied by mucus in the nose and throat. Sputum drains into the larynx as soon as the child assumes a horizontal position.

As a result of this irritation, a cough begins. In most cases, this symptom is productive, but with large volumes of sputum, it is difficult for the baby to cough it up. As soon as the baby gets better, the night cough will go away on its own.

Bacterial pathologies of the lower parts of the respiratory system

Diseases such as laryngitis, bronchitis, whooping cough, pneumonia (caused by bacteria) provoke attacks of night cough in children.

They are often accompanied by vomiting, as the child gets into trouble and simply cannot stop.

If a child has a dry cough repeatedly at night, you should show the baby to a doctor as soon as possible.

Assign effective drugs Only a doctor can eliminate this symptom.

But do not forget that in case of bacterial infections of the respiratory tract, the baby will need complex therapy, and not just symptomatic remedies.

Other reasons

Bronchial asthma and cystic fibrosis can cause nighttime coughing attacks in children. Accumulation of dry air and poor ventilation also provokes this symptom.

Gastro-food reflux is accompanied by a night cough, while during the day the child looks completely healthy. It is almost impossible to determine the cause of this anxiety on your own.

First aid: how to relieve a coughing attack?

Home methods, including inhalations and herbal decoctions, will help relieve a child’s cough at night, and drug therapy will help completely cure its cause.

If your child has a disturbing symptom that prevents him from sleeping, then you should resort to effective methods, which will help you survive these few hours.

Even if these rules help you, don’t be too lazy to go to the pediatrician the next morning.

Drink plenty of warm drinks.

Any herbal decoctions, fruit drinks based on vitamin C, juice, baby milk, as well as plain water will help calm a child’s cough at night. Place a bottle or glass next to the crib, and if a cough appears, give the baby a little drink.

The liquid will soothe an irritated throat, wash away remaining mucus from the larynx, and moisturize dry mucous membranes. Giving your child more to drink is the first thing that should come to your mind.

Do not forget that herbal infusions should not be given to children under 6 months of age, as they can cause allergies.

Setting the right conditions.

If your baby starts coughing, pay attention to the environment. Is it very warm at home? Lower the temperature! Is dry air predominant? Hydrate it! You can almost immediately stop your child’s cough at night.

Washing mucous membranes.

If you see that the baby’s nose is not breathing, then the use of saline solutions and vasoconstrictor nasal agents will help normalize the little patient’s condition. To survive until the morning, or rather to sleep peacefully, rinse your nasal passages by special means for children:

Aqualor,
Aquamaris,
Rinostop,
Dolphin.

And drop the drops:

Nazivin,
Snoop,
Otrivin.

You can use those products that have already been tested by your baby and are in your home medicine cabinet. Do not forget that the use of vasoconstrictor medications for the nose should not last more than three days in a row.

Inhalation procedures

Doctors unanimously say that inhalations for both dry and wet coughs are extremely effective.

Their action is almost immediate, and contraindications are either absent or minimal.

But many parents make the main mistake: they perform steam inhalations. This should not be done if you have allergies, laryngitis or fever.

It is worth refraining from such self-medication and resorting to the cold method. The procedure is carried out using a special device: a nebulizer.

Let the baby breathe saline solution or regular mineral water. The mucous membranes of the irritated respiratory tract will be moistened, and this will calm a strong cough at night, and the little patient will be able to sleep peacefully until the morning.

Rubbing

Warming ointments such as Doctor Mom, Badger, Vicks and others.

They will have an irritating and distracting effect, ease breathing, and also warm inflamed organs.

Please note that many similar drugs prohibited for use in children under 2-3 years of age.

Rubbing can be carried out only if the child’s cough occurs without fever.

Effective treatments

What to do if a child’s severe cough at night is regular?

First of all, you need to consult a doctor and take into account individual characteristics The small patient and the nature of the disease are prescribed, he will prescribe effective medications.

Antibiotics.

You should take such medications only after examination. Never give antibacterial drugs child on his own.

For pharyngitis, tonsillitis, sinusitis, bronchitis, penicillins are usually prescribed: Amoxiclav, Augmentin, Flemoxin.
If bacterial disease occurs in a sluggish form and is not accompanied high temperature, then macrolides can be used: Sumamed, Azitrus.
Cephalosporins are prescribed acute bronchitis and others serious pathologies lower sections respiratory system.
Antiviral drugs and immunomodulators.

Such drugs will help speed up the treatment of cough caused by a viral infection. To a strong child with good immunity You can completely do without them, but doctors like to prescribe at least something.

Full list antiviral drugs by age you will find in.

Syrups

Any treatment for cough comes down to the use of anti-inflammatory drugs that normalize the functioning of the lower respiratory system.

Askoril, Erespal, Siresp– syrups for children younger age. The listed agents and others like them also have an antispasmodic effect. You should not expect an immediate effect from them.

Cough is a defense mechanism of the body aimed at eliminating an obstacle or irritant from bronchopulmonary system. A wet cough removes mucus from the respiratory tract, making breathing easier.

However, the cough can be debilitating, hacking, dry and paroxysmal. This situation is especially unpleasant when children are ill. Information on how to stop a coughing attack in a child is useful to alleviate the baby’s condition.

Causes of coughing attacks and its types

Cough, including paroxysmal cough, is due to the following reasons:

Residual effects after the experience infectious disease bronchopulmonary system.
Allergic reaction.
Psychogenic reaction.
Bacterial or viral infection.
Presence of a foreign body in the respiratory tract.
Reflux of stomach contents into the esophageal canal (reflux).
Bronchial asthma.

There are the following types of cough:

Dry (unproductive or unproductive), without mucus separation from the respiratory tract. Characteristic of viral infections, allergic reactions, diseases of the pleura or lower respiratory system, whooping cough and parawhooping cough. A foreign body entering the respiratory tract is also often accompanied by a dry cough.
Moist (or wet, productive), accompanied by sputum production. It accompanies bacterial infections of the respiratory tract. At the same time, sputum initial stage treatment, clears throat with difficulty.

The doctor’s task for dry cough accompanying bacterial infections, includes the transformation of an unproductive cough into a wet one. This is necessary in order to facilitate the removal of mucus from the bronchi.

Note! Bronchial asthma may be accompanied by paroxysmal unproductive cough combined with shortness of breath and weakness, especially at night. At the end of the attack, viscous glassy sputum is released.

Night coughing attacks are most often caused by swelling of the mucous membrane of the larynx and lower respiratory tract, as well as the accumulation of mucus in them. This occurs under the following conditions:

bronchitis;
laryngitis;
tracheitis;
pneumonia;
cystic fibrosis;
asthmatic bronchitis.

Sometimes a clear connection between coughing attacks and putting the child to bed is due to an allergy to the components of the pillow filling - feathers and down. Replacing feather filler with synthetic material can improve the situation.

How to stop a dry cough in a child

Sudden dry cough in almost healthy child may occur if there is presence in the respiratory tract foreign body. It could be a small piece of a construction set, a toy, a bread crumb that has already penetrated deep, and on our own The item cannot be removed. It is urgent to seek the help of doctors to perform a bronchoscopy in a hospital setting to remove the object.

If the baby is often sick, parents wonder what to do if the child coughs, how to stop coughing attacks.

The following actions will help ease a coughing attack:

You need to take the child in your arms and give him body vertical position. Often, when lying down, the contents of the nasopharynx flowing into the larynx irritate the mucous membrane, causing a cough.
Rinse the child's nose saline solution, remove discharge from the nose (if any). If a baby's cough is caused by a dry nasal mucosa, treat the nasal cavity with a cotton swab dipped in peach oil.
In case of swelling of the nasal mucosa, drip a vasoconstrictor (children's Naphthyzin, Vibrocil) into the nasal passages.
Give the child a warm liquid to drink - herbal decoction(chamomile), alkaline mineral or regular water.

On a note! In infants, bringing the head of the bed into exalted position sometimes it also helps to cope with a cough caused by the flow of excessively secreted saliva during teething or the flow of nasal contents into the throat.

In the room where the sick child is located, the following measures must be taken:

Humidify the air in the room to a level of 50-70% using a special device (humidifier), containers with water, or hanging wet diapers on heating radiators.
Ventilate the room.
Normalize the air temperature in the room, which should be within +18...+25°C.

If the attack is caused allergic component, you need to give it to the child antihistamine. The drug Fenistil is approved for use in children from 1 year of age, other drugs can be recommended for older ages (for example, Zyrtec, Cetrin).

How to stop a child's night cough?

If a child coughs at night, the sequence of actions should be approximately the same as in daytime. The child needs to be woken up, picked up, calmed down, and then warm drink the baby can walk. If there is a cough accompanied by vomiting, before the doctor arrives, slightly tilt the child forward so that he does not choke on the vomit, then you need to rinse his mouth and wash his face. You can do express inhalation: go into the bathroom with your baby, turn on hot water, stand over the clouds of steam for 10-15 minutes. Sometimes these actions are enough to stop the attack.

Inhalation procedure

If you have a prolonged coughing attack, you can perform steam inhalation. The temperature of the solution for children under 2 years of age should not exceed +37°C. As components of the inhalation solution, you can use a decoction of chamomile and wild rosemary. For older children, you can add a few drops of Zvezdochka balm to the water. Easy to use and more effective than conventional steam inhalations, nebulizer - ultrasonic or compressor inhaler. The smallest particles of the solution will moisten the child’s airways, including the most distant ones. For young patients, a nebulizer is the most comfortable device.

Massage

Chest massage is recognized as an effective way to eliminate a coughing attack.

It is carried out with light, stroking movements as follows:

Circular movements of the hands over the skin of the chest in one direction and the other.
Up and down movements.
Light tapping and pinching on the skin.

Massage during a cough will have a distracting effect and will also facilitate the removal of sputum during a wet cough.

Medicines to relieve a cough attack

To alleviate a child’s cough, the doctor may recommend some medications in the form of syrups or tablets:

Overslept.
Lazolvan.
Bromhexine.
Ambrobene.
Mukaltin.

These drugs thin the mucus and improve its discharge. Some have an anti-inflammatory and enveloping effect on the bronchial mucosa.

Note! When using these products, you must read the instructions, since some medications can only be used from 2 years of age.

Sometimes a cough can be calmed by giving your baby a lozenge (for example, Doctor Mom). But during an attack synthetic drugs more effective than plant-based products.

If the cough is caused by an attack of bronchial asthma, Salbutamol and Berotec inhalers are usually used.

Antitussives central action(affecting the brain) can only be prescribed by a doctor. These include Glaucine, Libexin.

Folk remedies

When answering the question of how to stop an attack of wet cough in a child, it is important to note the importance of methods traditional medicine. Among unconventional means compresses based on boiled potatoes, honey, vegetable oil or cottage cheese, mustard plasters, rubbing the chest with juice black radish.

The following oral medications have a good effect:

infusion of figs with warm milk;
infusion of chopped aloe leaves, honey and butter;
infusion of sage leaves and hot milk;
infusion of black radish juice and a small amount of honey (sugar);
decoction onions, honey and sugar;
mashed warmed bananas with sugar;
fresh cabbage juice with honey;
infusion of plantain leaves;
decoction of thyme leaves;
lemon juice with glycerin and honey;
warm milk with butter;
syrup from fresh onion juice with sugar.