Today, antihistamines are actively used by pediatricians to treat allergy in adults and children. When coughing, "Suprastin" has a direct effect on the cough center and peripheral nervous system. He is quite effectively struggling with such an unpleasant symptom.
Many people wonder if Suprastin can be used to treat young children. It turns out that this drug can be used to eliminate cough in babies from birth, but only according to strict indications, in a specific dosage and course. And you can not deviate from the doctor's prescriptions under any circumstances.
Can this drug harm the children's body, and in what specific cases is it prescribed for infants? Let's understand the features of the medicine and find out how to use Suprastin when coughing in children.
A little description
"Suprastin" is an antihistamine drug that is recommended for the treatment of various manifestations of allergies and to prevent its development during seasonal exacerbations. The peculiarity of this medicine lies in its ability to act on the cough center and suppress H-receptors, as well as on the entire peripheral nervous system when coughing in children.
"Suprastin" helps to alleviate asthma attacks, seasonal allergies to flowering and eliminate choking that occurs against the background of its severe complications. Of course, completely different dosages of the drug are used to treat adults and young children. You can get rid of an allergic cough with the help of tablets and Suprastin injections.
In what cases is prescribed
Most often, the drug is recommended for children in case of allergic reactions of various nature, for example, due to some products, insect bites, taking medications, urticaria, contact dermatitis, allergic rhinitis or conjunctivitis. In addition, Suprastin is used for systemic treatment of angioedema and anaphylactic shock in infants.
In addition, the drug has an antiemetic effect, which makes it possible to use it for poisoning and coughing attacks, accompanied by nausea. This property is especially important for small patients who cannot control the urging.
When coughing in children, Suprastin is used to eliminate seizures caused by various allergens, such as animal hair, plant pollen, and dust. Many pediatricians recommend this medicine as a comprehensive treatment for colds, which is accompanied by a strong unproductive cough, which has a suffocating, debilitating character. Often, the drug is used in combination with No-Shpa, as it helps to prevent the development of bronchospasm.
Features
"Suprastin" is equally effective in case of severe cold, when mucus moves along the back of the throat and thereby provokes the appearance of a dry, incessant cough. This condition can be caused not only by allergic, but also by viral factors.
But the drug is not prescribed for a wet productive cough during colds, flu and SARS, because it does not have mucolytic properties, but only stops the manifestations of allergies.
Recommended dosage "Suprastin" for coughing in children
The drug is produced in two forms: in the form of tablets and a solution for injection. The peculiarity of the medicine is that it is allowed to be used to treat the smallest children. But there is no special form of drug release intended for babies, so pediatricians prescribe a drug with a concentration of the active substance of 25 mg in tablets for small patients. The dosage of "Suprastin" for coughing for children is selected taking into account age:
- From a month to a year, babies are given a quarter of the tablet, which is ground into powder and added to drink or food, the child needs to take medicine 2-3 times a day.
- From a year to 2 years, children can be given a quarter of a tablet 3 times a day or a third twice a day - it all depends on the intensity of the cough.
- From 2 to 6 years. If the child is 2 years old, the dosage of "Suprastin" during cough should not exceed twice the dose of half a tablet per day.
- At 6-14 years old, the child should be given half a tablet 2-3 times throughout the day, depending on the severity of the symptoms of the pathology.
- Adolescents over 14 years old can drink a tablet 2-3 times a day.
Suprastin injections are used extremely rarely, especially for the treatment of young children. Typically, injections of the drug are done only in a hospital setting if emergency assistance is needed. Such a measure may be required for complicated manifestations of allergies.
Recommended Dosage
The solution is a clear liquid without a specific odor. Its infusion should be very slow. When coughing in children, the dosage of "Suprastin" in the form of injections may be as follows:
- adolescents over 14 years old can receive 1-2 ampoules during the day, depending on the severity of the condition;
- at 6-14 years, the dose should be 0.5-1 ampoule per day;
- from a year to 6 years, children can enter half the ampoule of the drug;
- infants older than two months should receive no more than a quarter of the ampoule.
Of course, the given dosages are not universal, they only approximately describe the recommendations of doctors. The specific amount of medication can only be determined by a doctor.
Contraindications and adverse reactions
It’s worth mentioning right away that the occurrence of side effects in children on the background of taking Suprastin is not uncommon. As a side reaction in babies, drowsiness, nausea, apathy, slight dizziness, and loss of appetite appear.
Doctors warn parents about the existence of absolute contraindications for the use of the drug, in the presence of which it is impossible to give the baby a tool under any circumstances. These include:
- glaucoma;
- acute asthma attacks;
- enlarged prostate gland.
With extreme caution, the drug is prescribed for children with:
- pathologies of the kidneys and liver;
- urinary retention;
- defects of the cardiovascular system.
Application features
It is possible to give the child "Suprastin" when coughing, starting with small dosages. If there are no side effects, it is allowed to gradually increase the volume of the drug. But in no case should you exceed the dosage prescribed by the doctor.
The course of treatment should not last more than a week. With a strong cough in a child, "Suprastin" is recommended to be given within 5 days. You can repeat the therapeutic course only after a month and only on the recommendation of a doctor.
Tablets should be taken with food without chewing. They should be washed down with a large amount of liquid, for example, pure still water, fruit juice, compote or fruit drink. For very young children, tablets should be given in powdered form.
If the doctor prescribed the baby intramuscular injections of Suprastin, then only the nurse should entrust these procedures. Keep in mind that self-administration of the drug in the form of injections can lead to irreparable consequences. So you should not risk the health of the baby, if this is not necessary.
Early use of the drug
Infants up to a month "Suprastin" is not assigned. This is especially true for premature babies.
From a month of age to six months, the use of the drug is also undesirable. But in critical cases, the doctor may prescribe the Suprastin solution to the infant. With barking cough in children at this age, injections are most often prescribed. The drug is administered only intramuscularly. The first injection is always given to the child only under the supervision of a doctor.
As for the tablets, the doctors have no consensus. Some doctors boldly prescribe a quarter of Suprastin with a dry cough. At an early age, tablets are given only in a crushed state with food or drink.
But other doctors believe that giving babies a drug in the form of tablets up to two years is impossible. But parental reviews confirm the high effectiveness of the drug for coughing in a child.
The maximum amount of the drug should not exceed 2 mg per kilogram of the weight of the child. Otherwise, the risk of overdose may be too high. In addition, you can not give "Suprastin" to a child in parallel with sedative, hypnotics and painkillers, since it enhances their effect several times.
Overdose
Significant excess of the recommended dosage can lead to the development of negative symptoms in the child. In this case, the baby may appear:
- involuntary muscle contraction;
- whims - laughter flowing into crying;
- lack of coordination;
- urinary retention;
- pupil enlargement;
- intense thirst;
- redness of the skin;
- fever, fever;
- rapid pulse.
First aid for overdose
If you notice signs of an overdose in your child, you must immediately call an ambulance. Gastric lavage can help the baby if it is performed within 12 hours after taking the medicine in large doses. For this, the child needs to be given at least one and a half liters of warm water or a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Then it is necessary to provoke gagging by pressing a finger on the base of the tongue.
You can make your baby feel better with activated carbon. You need to give medicine to the child at the rate of 1 tablet for every 10 kg of weight. Activated carbon can be replaced with enterosorbents. Children are allowed to give Lactofiltrum, Polysorb, Enterosgel and their analogues.
In order to avoid overdose, it is recommended to give the child "Suprastin" at night. This drug helps cough even with a single use. At least if the symptom is not of a viral, but of an allergic nature. Moreover, it is at night that children often develop attacks with suffocation.
Analogues of the drug
Medicines with identical properties can come to the rescue in case of individual intolerance by the child's body of any Suprastin ingredients. Of course, the pediatrician is much better aware of how the drug can be replaced. But there are several analogues of Suprastin, which are prescribed most often:
- "Fenkalor" - tablets that are contraindicated for children under three years of age;
- "Measured" - tablets and pills that are forbidden to use up to two years;
- "Zirtek" - tablets and drops, are prescribed for children from six months, have fewer side effects than "Suprastin";
- "Clarisens" - tablets and syrup, can not be given to children under two years old;
- "Lomilan" - tablets and suspension, can be prescribed for children from 3 years;
- "Loratadine" - the most affordable antihistamine, not recommended for infants up to two years;
- "Claritin" - syrup and tablets, are contraindicated for up to three years;
- Tavegil
- "Zodak";
- "Diazolin";
- Cetrin
- Fenistil.
Almost all of these drugs do not harm the children's body, do not have many side effects, unlike Suprastin. But at the same time, they do not have the same efficiency. They are prescribed only with a slight cough of an allergic nature.
Reviews about "Suprastin"
When coughing in children, this drug is not used as often as with other manifestations of allergies. But those parents who gave this medicine to their babies note its high effectiveness and safety. According to users, "Suprastin" is an effective tool that pretty quickly copes with a problem such as cough. It can be safely given even to the smallest patients from the first month of life.
The minimum number of contraindications and side effects make this drug one of the most popular means for treating cough and other manifestations of allergies. But, despite the fame of "Suprastin", in no case can you independently assign it to the baby and determine the necessary dosage. Only a pediatrician can prescribe the amount of medicine and the duration of the course of treatment.