[Children cough, cough is afraid of cough pneumonia! ]
This advertisement is so deeply rooted in the hearts of the people that many parents immediately give their children medicine when they hear their children cough. In fact, the logic of coughing up pneumonia is similar to that of fever burning out the brain, making a mistake about the causal relationship.
Cough does not cause pneumonia
Pneumonia may cause cough, but cough will not cause pneumonia.
Many parents say that their children get pneumonia after coughing for a few days, because the children already have lung infection when coughing. However, children with mycoplasma pneumonia may only have symptoms of cough.
Cough may be an early manifestation of pneumonia, but it cannot be said that cough coughs up pneumonia.
Causes of cough
The child coughs a few times occasionally, which may be that the respiratory tract is somewhat responsive to changes in the air, and there may not be what problems.
Childhood respiratory tract virus infection is very common. After infection, secretions and necrotic exfoliated tissues increase to form sputum. Sputum can be discharged through cough, which is conducive to the recovery of infection. When a cold is cured, cough is slowly cured.
The most common cause of cough in children is inflammatory stimulation, such as inflammatory reaction caused by microbial infection such as viruses, bacteria and mycoplasma.
In addition, common causes include: mechanical stimulation (such as choking water, tracheal foreign bodies, etc.), chemical stimulation (inhaling irritant gases such as smoke), and mixed stimulation (such as asthma, etc.).
Cough is a protective reaction
Cough itself is not a disease, but also has a protective effect on the human body. Blind cough relieving may make children lose this self-protection mechanism.
Through cough, the respiratory tract can discharge sputum and other secretions out of the body, which is a beneficial action to ensure the patency of the respiratory tract and avoid risks such as airway blockage and secondary infection.
Cough itself is not necessarily a bad thing. However, if the child coughs incessantly, it may indicate that the child’s respiratory system may be in condition or may be a sign of illness.
Children should use cough medicine with caution.
According to the current research, cough medicines commonly used by adults such as dextromethorphan and codeine have limited effects on children and may produce many side effects, such as addiction, respiratory depression, etc., which may even lead to death [1].
FDA in the United States recommends that children under the age of 4 should not use over-the-counter cough and cold medicines [2], while Britain, Canada and Australia recommend not under the age of 6.
How to deal with children’s cough at home?
If the child’s cough does not affect appetite, sleep and other daily activities, it can be observed mainly. In addition, please refer to the following points:
1. Encourage children to excrete phlegm
If the child can cough up phlegm, the child should be encouraged to cough to prevent phlegm from blocking the respiratory tract. Or pat your back with your empty palm to help your child excrete phlegm.
2. Keep the air fresh and moist
Cough has a lot to do with air. Too dirty or too dry air will aggravate cough.
- When the weather is good, more doors and windows should be opened for ventilation to keep the air in the house fresh. When the weather is bad, air purifier can be used to help improve indoor air. If the air is dry, the humidifier can be turned on to increase the indoor humidity and keep it at about 40% ~ 50%, but too much humidity is not enough, which is easy to breed mold in the room.
Step 3 Use the steam in the bathroom
Before going to bed, hot water can be put in the bathroom for a while. After the steam fills the bathroom, let the child go in and stay for a period of time, so that the respiratory tract can be moistened by the steam, which is also helpful to relieve cough.
Step 4 Stay away from the smoke
Don’t let children come into contact with cigarettes. Active and passive smoking may aggravate cough.
In addition, reference can also be made to the guidance of the American Academy of Pediatrics [4]:
- 3 months to 1 year old: feed 5 ~ 15 mL warm water or apple juice to the child when coughing, 4 times a day; Over 1 year old: you can drink 2 ~ 5 mL of honey (some studies believe that honey is better than cough water for cough at night, but children under 1 year old cannot eat it to avoid botulism.) Over 6 years old: cough syrup can be used, if not, hard candy can be used.
What should we pay attention to?
Once the following situations occur, you must take your child to see a doctor as soon as possible:
- Mental health is accompanied by hypoxia: dyspnea, blue lips, etc. Cough yellow, green phlegm accompanied by fever; Cough lasts for a long time or the symptoms continue to worsen: it may be caused by bacterial infection, allergy or cough variant asthma, or even tracheal foreign bodies.
Special attention: The younger the child, the greater the risk of severe pneumonia, hypoxia, etc. Therefore, children under 3 months old should see a doctor early when coughing.
There are many reasons for cough. It is difficult to list all the situations that need to be seen by a doctor. As long as parents are not sure, it is not wrong to see a doctor earlier.
If the child reaches the age of 4 and cough seriously affects sleep and school, and the doctor also agrees to use cough medicine, only one medicine containing dextromethorphan can be selected, because most over-the-counter cough medicine contains dextromethorphan, and taking multiple drugs may cause excessive amount of this ingredient.
Summary
Cough may indicate respiratory tract conditions in children, but it is also a protective reflex. Cough is also caused by viruses in many cases. Although the situation is not serious, attention should be paid to the general condition and accompanying symptoms of children.
The key to treating cough is to treat the etiology. If it is not the doctor’s advice, do not give cough medicine to children under 4 years old.
Author: Pei Honggang