When the child coughed, the whole family became anxious and scared:
Doctor, doctor, the child coughs old bad, is how to return a responsibility?
Doctor, doctor, is there any medicine for the child to cough?
In fact, it is not a bad thing for children to cough, but it may also be a good thing. On the contrary, blind cough relieving is prone to more serious problems.
We asked Wangxin, a child care doctor, to give everyone a good science popularization.
Cough is the body’s protective mechanism.
When pathogens and foreign bodies invade the respiratory tract, stimulation is generated, and the body’s protective reflex, cough, will open.
Babies’ nasal cavity has a special physiological structure and is more sensitive than adults’.
In addition to pathogen invasion, changes in temperature and humidity will also cause babies to cough:
- When children get up in the morning, they will cough twice gently, which is usually caused by inhaling cold air. When children eat, they sometimes cough twice gently, which is related to being choked by food and stimulating respiratory tract. In addition, with the arrival of spring, the high incidence of allergy will follow, and the existence of allergens in the air will also cause cough.
The baby coughed, instead of rushing to stop cough and seek superficial peace, it is better to investigate the reason first:
- Does the air suddenly get cold/dry/bad? Did the child just eat some stimulating food? Are there any allergens that have not been ruled out at home?
Cough is a symptom, the essence of which is a protective reflex caused by certain substances (which may be pathogens, or sudden changes in air, etc.) that stimulate our respiratory tract.
We can follow the cough to find the real cause.
Cough can help remove irritants from respiratory tract.
First of all, we need to know the mechanism of cough:
First, short, deep inhalation
Then the glottis closes
With the opening of the glottis, the diaphragm and intercostal muscles contract
Elevated pulmonary pressure
Under pressure
Sudden discharge of high-pressure air from the lungs
Cough–
Cough–
Two full-blown coughs were on the verge of coming out.
If the speed of tennis balls flying out is 80 kilometers per hour, then the air flow generated when we cough can reach 161 kilometers per hour.
Such high-speed air flow can help the human body remove foreign bodies, pathogens, allergens and mucus from the airway.
Giving children cough medicine is helping [the enemy]!
When a child coughs, the body is fighting against foreign bodies entering the respiratory tract.
But cough can also be controlled. This is also why cough medicine containing [dextromethorphan] and [codeine] can work.
However, relieving cough is not a good thing-
1. The respiratory tract will secrete sputum due to inflammation. Once taking antitussive drugs, children may suffer from the risk of asphyxia due to sputum deposition.
This is also why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not recommend children under 2 years old to use over-the-counter drugs for colds and coughs to treat coughs.
2. Foreign bodies or irritants entering the human body through respiratory tract may aggravate the child’s illness if they are not eliminated when coughing.
Using antitussive drugs to inhibit children’s cough reflex is like pouring cold water on soldiers who are taking the lead.
Children cough has been bad, also don’t need to take cough medicine?
Neither.
We often find that the children’s cold symptoms such as fever and runny nose are almost all right, only cough continues.
What’s going on here? Let’s look at it in two.
1. Most situations that do not need to be worried about
When most of the symptoms of the cold are relieved, it does not mean that the virus has been completely eliminated, and there are still some pathogens still lingering in our bodies and refusing to leave.
Our immune system will still launch follow-up attacks, making our throat itchy and causing cough reactions.
Even if the pathogen is eliminated, the respiratory tract, which is the main battlefield, is still in a highly sensitive state.
Respiratory tract epithelial cells that have been attacked by the virus may be damaged. A slight stimulation will easily cause cough reaction, which is just like when our wound is not healed, a slight touch will hurt.
If the child only coughs after catching a cold and is not accompanied by other special disease symptoms, parents need not worry, let alone take cough medicine.
2. Situations requiring attention
Cough after catching a cold may also be caused by [upper airway syndrome].
Of course, the cold here is not a common cold, but a chronic inflammation of the upper respiratory tract, such as chronic pharyngitis and rhinitis. The nasal mucus produced flows to the throat and even the trachea, which can also lead to cough.
At this time, rhinitis needs to be treated to reduce secretion production in order to improve and relieve cough.
If the child’s mental state is not good and cough affects his daily life and sleep, he also needs to seek medical treatment in time to eliminate laryngitis, lobar pneumonia, bronchial foreign bodies, bronchiolitis and other diseases.
In addition, if the child coughs for more than 30 days, it may be chronic cough and needs to go to the hospital in time to eliminate asthma, bronchial foreign bodies and other diseases.
If this is the case, blindly taking cough medicine and pressing it down will not be conducive to the recovery of the disease, but may also cover up the real cause of the child’s cough.