[Pat the back] Can you pat the phlegm out?
It is difficult to free up phlegm from the trachea just by the vibration caused by slapping.
For common respiratory diseases such as pneumonia and bronchiolitis, there is no definite benefit, which can neither improve respiratory conditions nor shorten hospitalization time. Domestic and foreign guidelines related to children’s pneumonia also believe that it is not necessary to adopt them routinely.
Although tapping the back may not have a good sputum excretion effect, it will not have what side effects, at least it can give anxious parents a psychological comfort. Therefore, there is no objection to giving children appropriate sputum, the bottom line is not to make children too uncomfortable.
It’s useless to pat phlegm. What about expectorant and cough medicine?
- At present, there is no [expectorant] that what can directly remove phlegm and change it into non-existent.
There are only [expectorants] in medicine, whose main function is to dilute thick sputum and make it easier to cough up. However, another problem that arises from this is that if the sputum is diluted, it also means that the amount of sputum will increase and more cough is needed to cough up the increased sputum.
- [Cough Medicine] Not Recommended
Cough is actually a very instinctive action. Cough can remove secretions (sputum) from respiratory tract, which is beneficial to human body, can ensure smooth respiratory tract and avoid blockage and secondary infection.
What if the baby has phlegm?
For example, water, breast milk, milk powder, big babies can also drink porridge, soup, etc.