Types of cough in children: description, causes and treatment

Cough, one of the most common problems in children. Sometimes he appears from nowhere. It seems that everything was fine with the child in the morning, and in the evening "the mouth does not close." In order to help the child, parents need to know what types of cough in children are.

General familiarity with the problem

Coughing is a protective reflex reaction of the body. It contributes to the release of the respiratory tract from:

• microorganisms;
• foreign objects;
• accumulated mucus.

General information about types of cough in children:

• Dry (unproductive) - no sputum.
• Wet (productive) - characterized by sputum discharge.

Depending on the duration:

• Acute - lasts no more than three weeks.
• Chronic (lingering) - lasts more than twenty-one days.

Depending on the frequency of occurrence of the problem:

• Periodic - may increase at a certain time of the day. Appears as a regular cough or seizure. It can be both dry and wet.
• Permanent - the cough does not stop at least for a long time. It can strengthen and weaken. This is the reason that the child does not sleep, eats poorly, is naughty.

Now about each of the species in more detail.

Dry cough

The reasons for the appearance of this type of cough in children include:

• Irritation of nerve receptors located in the trachea and bronchi. It causes a variety of infections or getting into the bodies of foreign bodies.
• The effects of viruses and germs on the upper respiratory tract.

If a dry cough appears in the morning or occasionally in the afternoon, is not paroxysmal, does not bother the baby more than five times a day, then you can not worry. Thus, the cleansing of the upper respiratory tract occurs. But still, the child is worth watching.

What is the symptom of a dry cough?

• Laryngitis - the disease is infectious. It is accompanied by a dry barking cough, hoarseness, intoxication and fever within 37-37.5 degrees more than a week.
• Whooping cough. It is characterized by a strong spasmodic cough with a deep whistling breath.

We continue the conversation about dry cough

In addition to the above, it is a symptom of diseases such as:

• Measles - at the beginning of the disease, the child develops a dry cough with fever.
• False croup, another name for it is laryngotracheobronchitis - a very dangerous disease. It is impossible to do without medical assistance. Swelling of the trachea occurs, shortness of breath appears, barking dry cough. The appearance of the latter is provoked by blockage of the lumen of the respiratory system. Before the doctor arrives, the child should be drunk with alkaline drink and brought into a room with moist air.
• Allergy - often accompanied by a dry cough, especially at the beginning of the problem. In addition to this symptom, the baby has a stuffy nose, severe lacrimation, rashes may appear on the skin.
• Pharyngitis and tracheitis - these ailments are also accompanied by frequent bouts of dry cough.
• Pleurisy is a dangerous respiratory disease, a symptom of which is also a dry cough. Painful sensations appear, intensifying on inspiration.
  

Dry cough treatment

First, we will talk about the basic principles of getting rid of the problem:

1. Compliance with sanitary and hygienic conditions in the room where the child is: elimination of allergens, wet cleaning twice a day, airing and humidification of the room.
2. Antihistamine therapy is performed to relieve inflammation in the upper respiratory tract. Used: "Suprastin", "Pipolfen", "Claritin", "Diazolin". The dosage of the drug should be strictly observed.
3. A child needs to drink at least one and a half liters of warm alkaline drink per day. This refers to milk, fruit drinks, compote, mineral water.
4. Antibiotics are prescribed only in exceptional cases (the presence of a bacterial infection).
5. To strengthen lung and bronchial tissue, bed rest and breathing exercises are required.

Get rid of the disease

The cause of the disease is clarified. After that, you can proceed to treatment. What can a child cough for?

With ARVI or ARI, the baby needs to moisten the mucous membrane of the throat. This procedure will reduce the cough reflex. It will help a plentiful drink in small sips, gargling.

All drugs for dry cough are divided into two groups:

1. Dilute sputum, remove it from the bronchi - these are mucolytic.
2. They act on the cough center, suppress the reflex - they are antitussive. From this group for children the best are: “Codelac”, “Sinecode”, “Robitussin”. These drugs come in the form of syrup and relieve a coughing fit.

With ARVI, you can eliminate the cough using Lizobakt. Its components block the harmful microflora, restore the mucous membrane of the larynx.

An excellent remedy for dry cough is "ACC", licorice syrup, "Lepexin", "Pertusin", "Gedelix". These drugs can be given to children at any age.

If the child has a dry cough with fever, then the treatment depends on the cause of the pathology.

Influenza - antiviral (Arbidol, Anaferon). Means for the transition of dry cough to wet ("ACC" and others). Antibiotics if a secondary infection has joined (Amoxicillin and others).

Whooping cough - intramuscular antibiotics ("Gentamicin", "Ampicillin"); expectorant ("Ambroxol"). Sedatives and anticonvulsants (Seduxen).

With bronchitis - antibiotics, antiviral, mucolytic ("Ambroxol", "Lazolvan").

Pneumonia - antibiotics, antihistamines, drugs to maintain immunity ("Arbidol"), mucolytics.

Treatment must be carried out under the supervision of a doctor.

Barking cough treatment

What to do, the child has a barking cough? The solution to this issue depends on the reasons that caused this ailment. If a foreign body is caught, then surgical intervention is indispensable.

In other cases, medication is used. Mucolytic, expectorant and antitussive drugs are most commonly prescribed. The latter apply only if the barking cough lasts a long time.

An effective treatment is warming up procedures. Most often used mustard plasters. Older children can steam their legs. If a barking cough is accompanied by asthma, then the child will suffocate. Aerosols are already suitable here, they significantly reduce the symptoms of the disease.

During the illness, the child should be given to drink plenty of fluids. Close clothes will also have to be abandoned.

Wet cough

A wet or wet cough is productive. The mucus leaves well from the bronchi. The body clears itself, but it is necessary to help it cope with the disease.

The main reason for the appearance of this type of cough in children is infection. The onset of recovery is characterized by the transition of dry to wet.

A wet, severe cough without fever can occur when it comes into contact with an allergen. At first, sputum does not come out. Gradually accumulates in the bronchi. In this case, the treatment is delayed. Prerequisites arise for the development of obstructive bronchitis or asthmatic attacks.

After a wet, prolonged cough, the child does not always have relief. This situation occurs if the following diseases are the cause of discomfort:

• sinusitis;
• whooping cough;
• bronchial obstruction;
• astroreflux reflux.

After the attack, heaviness in the chest remains. Sometimes a wet cough can go into vomiting.

A wet, mild cough in a child is not always a symptom of a serious illness. In infants, it appears with:

• the ingestion of mother’s milk or saliva “not at the address”;
• coughing can provoke excessive saliva formation during teething at night.

What you should know

The child begins to cough, what should I do? Before giving an answer to this question, a few recommendations to parents whose children have not yet reached the age of three. With a wet cough:

• Do not give sputum thinning and cough suppressants at the same time. This can provoke the settlement of mucus in the bronchi.
• Give preference to a combined herbal preparation in the form of a syrup.
• Give your baby plenty of drink (tea, water, juices).
• The air in the room should not be dry.
• At normal body temperature, from two years of age, a child can do hot foot baths, put mustard plasters, massage the chest, and rub with a balm with eucalyptus.

From five years before bedtime or after a walk, inhalations are attributed.

Self-medication is dangerous. Do not do it. If the child begins to cough, what to do let the pediatrician tell me.

Treatment

It is necessary to treat a wet cough. This will help ease sputum discharge. After all, in babies it is very viscous. Its long stay inside the child's body is harmful. This is a kind of focus of infection.

What can a child give from coughing in this case? Usually, mucolytic, expectorant, combined drugs are prescribed.

• Mucolytic - dilute sputum, contribute to its expectoration.
• Expectorant (resorptive) - dilute sputum and increase the amount of mucus. These include baking soda, ammonium chloride, potassium iodide and sodium.
• Expectorants with reflex action - activate the work of the cough and vomiting center. Contribute to the rapid discharge of sputum.

For these purposes, two types of drugs are used: synthetic and herbal. We will talk about the latter in more detail.

They are prescribed in the treatment of pneumonia, colds, bronchitis. These drugs are well absorbed by the body, have a good effect on the well-being of the baby, support immunity. Among the drugs I want to highlight "Herbion Ivy Syrup" and "Herbion Primrose Syrup." These funds contribute to the rapid transition of unproductive cough into productive, improve expectoration.

Allergic cough

It is caused by a negative reaction of the bronchi to one of the types of allergen.

The factors causing this response of the body should include:

• heredity;
• bad ecology;
• reduced immunity;
• helminth infection.

Most often, this type of discomfort in children appears between the ages of one and a half years and more. If symptoms of allergic cough in a child are detected, treatment should be carried out immediately and under the supervision of a doctor. Otherwise, the development of bronchial asthma can be provoked.

Signs of an ailment that will help distinguish a cold from an allergic cough:

• sudden onset of an attack;
• barking character;
• there is no sputum at all or is excreted in small quantities;
• duration - up to several weeks;
• the attack intensifies at night;
• the development of rhinitis;
• lack of temperature;
• no effect of taking antitussive drugs.

We remove the attack

Determined by symptoms, the child has an allergic cough. The primary treatment is to relieve the attack. Experts advise you to follow these rules:

• Break contact with everything that may be an allergen.
• To soften the mucous membrane, relieve perspiration - give the child more drink. This will help make coughing rare. Best used: alkaline water, chamomile broth, warm milk.
• Give your baby antihistamines. A good effect is given by: Diazolin, Tavigil, Suprastin. Their long-term use is prohibited.
• If the cause of the cough is the product, then give your child a drink of activated carbon, Polysorb, Filtrum.
• Inhalation through a nebulizer will help soften the throat. Mineral water or saline is suitable.

If the attack is accompanied by shortness of breath, suffocation, blue skin, wheezing appears, then immediately call an ambulance.

Chronic cough

If the child does not stop coughing for more than three weeks, then the disease can be called chronic. In turn, this pathology is divided into several types:

1. Depending on the nature:

• barking and rude;
• with a noisy exhale and loud;
• frequent and rare;
• morning and night.

2. According to the degree of manifestation:

• durable,
• easy,
• coughing.

3. By duration:

• constant,
• paroxysmal
• episodic.

The treatment for chronic cough is as follows:

• If inflammation is suspected, antibiotic therapy is prescribed.
• If cough is accompanied by postnasal syndrome, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic drugs are taken.
• In bronchial asthma - means expanding the bronchi.
• Chronic cough in a child without a runny nose can be caused by a psychogenic factor. It often appears during an upper respiratory tract infection and does not go away for a long time. You can prevent the development of the disease by the method of suggestion. Experts confirm this fact.
  

Conclusion

You already know not only what types of cough there are, but also how to help your baby in a particular situation. But I also want to touch on one topic - how to breed cough syrup for children. If you do something wrong, you can worsen the condition of the child.

• If the dry medicine is in the bottle, then add water to the mark applied to the container. After that, shake everything thoroughly.
• The tool in the bag. One dose is dissolved in fifteen milliliters of water.

Remember! The powder dissolves in boiled warm water.