What to do with a strong cough in a child: how to relieve an attack?

Coughing is not an independent disease. This is a reflex reaction of the body to the problems encountered in the respiratory system, starting from a mote accidentally caught up to a serious illness. The doctor, using modern diagnostics, will find the cause of the disease and save the baby from troubles. And what should parents do with a strong cough in a child, and how to help before contacting a doctor? This is what will be discussed in the article.

Common causes of cough in children

The most common causes of cough are:

• Viruses - infection has a seasonal character at the peak of a rise in SARS. The cough is dry and wet with sputum of a transparent color. There is malaise, weakness, runny nose, a sharp increase in body temperature to 39 degrees. After a temporary improvement, deterioration may occur.
• Bacteria - the disease is accompanied by a very high temperature, lack of a runny nose, severe cough with the release of copious sputum, which has purulent inclusions. In this case, the child quickly becomes tired and becomes lethargic.
• Allergy - a cough starts suddenly, often worse at night. Constant sneezing and itching occurs.
• Foreign body - inquisitive babies sometimes take small objects into their mouths that enter the respiratory tract. The result is a sharp attack of dry cough.

What to do with a strong cough in a child in each case, after diagnosis, the doctor will tell you. But parents should be attentive to the condition of the baby and tell in detail how the disease started.

Types of Coughing in Children

There are several classifications of the disease: depending on the location of the inflammatory process, the intensity, nature of its manifestation. Most often, the following types of cough are found in children:

• Acute - occurs with various diseases of the respiratory tract, accompanied by inflammation of the pharynx, larynx, trachea and lungs. It starts as dry, without sputum production, with the appearance of poor health, temperature and a runny nose.
• Paroxysmal - appears spontaneously, intensifies at night. Severity depends on the location of the inflammation and the pathogen.
• Dry - constant, painful and intrusive without sputum production. It occurs in the initial stages of bronchitis, as well as during sudden changes in temperature and dry air in the room. Perfectly healthy children can cough. If a child has a dry and severe cough, what should I do? First of all, you need to moisten the air in the apartment and give a warm drink.
• Wet - often occurs with bronchitis and sinusitis, accompanied by a quiet sound and sputum separation.
• Pharyngeal - with the appearance of mucus on the walls of the larynx. It manifests itself in the form of coughing and is a sign of sinusitis or pharyngitis.
• Laryngeal - accompanies various inflammation of the larynx, including laryngitis. There is hoarseness and hoarseness of voice, coughing barking, spasm of the larynx and the occurrence of false croup are possible. With a laryngeal severe coughing attack in a child, what should I do? In this case, you need to urgently call an ambulance. The child may suffocate.
• Lingering - appears after bronchitis, tracheitis or with adenoids, lasts more than two weeks, accompanied by a large amount of sputum excreted.
• Prolonged - a symptom of bronchiectasis, malformations of the cartilage of the bronchi or the presence of papillomas in the larynx.
• Psychogenic - occurs against the background of frequent stressful situations and neurosis.

A special type of cough is sputum discharge with streaks of blood. This is a symptom of a serious illness: tuberculosis, pneumonia, or heart disease.

First aid for coughing attacks

If a child has a severe coughing fit, what should I do? To alleviate the condition of the baby, the following recommendations should be followed:

• Inspect the nose and throat carefully for foreign objects and mucus. If a foreign body is detected, call an ambulance.
• Raise the baby's head a little on the pillow, turn it to its side.
• Give a warm drink. Depending on the age of the child, use plain water, herbal or lemon tea with honey, compote, fruit drink, milk with added butter.
• Ventilate the room well.
• Humidify the air. To do this, use a special humidifier or hang wet towels on the heating battery.

Avoid panic in the child, be affectionate with him, talk more. With bouts of severe coughing and high fever, call for emergency help. For proper treatment, be sure to consult a doctor.

Coughing fit at night

It happens that a very strong night cough in a child begins. What to do in this situation? Such attacks in children cause particular fear, because they occur during sleep. In this case, you need to distract the baby and calm him down. You should carefully consider this situation and try to determine what caused it and whether there are any threatening symptoms to call an ambulance. If you are not alarmed, then the child should be given a drink of warm drink and given medications that were prescribed earlier by the doctor, provided that they can be taken at night.

Be sure to ventilate the room and humidify the air. Sometimes a gentle massage of the chest and inhalation with mineral water using a nebulizer helps. With the regular occurrence of attacks of night cough, be sure to consult a doctor.

What to do with a strong cough in a child at night before vomiting?

Often, coughing attacks cause vomiting when a foreign body enters the respiratory tract, whooping cough, neoplasms in the brain, and throwing stomach contents into the nasopharynx. And sometimes this situation occurs after stressful situations. Without consulting a doctor, only general measures are allowed to get out of the situation. Improper therapy can aggravate the condition. Categorically, you can not use independently drugs that suppress the cough reflex. What to do with a strong cough in a child before vomiting? All that parents can do in this situation is:

• reassure the baby, panic can cause a new attack.
• if possible, rinse the baby's mouth;
• give a drink of boiled water;
• wash or wipe your face with water.

Attention should be paid to vomit. The appearance of blood streaks in it or persistently incessant vomiting is the basis for calling an ambulance.

Allergic nature of cough

Any substance can act as an allergen: food, house dust, animal hair, plant pollen. An unproductive cough appears without sputum separation. Sometimes the attack lasts several hours, accompanied by sneezing, tearing and itching in the nose. Moreover, at night the condition worsens, compared with daytime. If an allergy occurs and a severe cough begins, what should the child do? The most basic thing is to get rid of the allergen. To do this, it is recommended:

• the child to leave the room;
• do wet cleaning;
• rinse baby's nose and mouth with warm boiled water.

If there is no effect, give an antihistamine. For children older than a month, Suprastin is suitable. "Tavegil" in the form of a syrup is used for those who are already a year old, after three years of age, "Loratadine" is allowed, which has a longer action than "Suprastin". To relieve bronchial spasm, inhale through the Berodual nebulizer. Use mucolytics to thin the sputum does not make sense. All drugs are only allowed after consultation with a doctor.

Aroma Oil Therapy

What to do with a strong cough in a child? Aromatherapy will help to cope with the situation. It has a beneficial effect on the respiratory system, strengthens the body's defenses, and has an antibacterial effect. Aromatic oils are used for inhalation, used for rubbing and sprayed around the apartment. The only contraindication is an allergic reaction to the components contained in the oil. To disinfect the room where the baby is constantly located, put a container of boiling water on the floor, drip a few drops of eucalyptus, lavender or chamomile oil there, close windows and doors tightly, and leave for 40 minutes. After that, make airing. As a result of the procedure, during which the child is absent in the room, the air becomes clean, without pathogenic microorganisms, which accelerates his recovery.

Cough in an eight-month-old baby

Coughing in infants causes a lot of inconvenience. It interferes with sleep, often leads to vomiting, the child eats poorly, is naughty. The reasons why it occurs are very diverse. To find out, you must always consult a doctor who, after the examination, will diagnose and prescribe the necessary therapy. The task of parents is not to eliminate the symptom, but to alleviate it. What to do with a strong cough in a child at 8 months? According to the recommendations of the famous pediatrician Komarovsky it is necessary:

• Follow a moderate diet - do not overfeed the baby.
• Provide a warm drink. It reduces the viscosity of sputum and removes pathogens.
• In the room, monitor the air temperature so that it does not exceed 20-22 degrees.
• Constantly moisten the air and ventilate the room.
• In the absence of temperature, it is recommended to take short walks in the fresh air.
• Watch out for nasal breathing. To do this, rinse your nose with saline and only in extreme cases use vasoconstrictor drops.

An eight-month-old baby is better off not giving mucolytics. After them, sputum liquefies and its volume increases. The baby cannot fully cough all the contents, so it accumulates in the airways and provokes bronchitis and pneumonia.

Cough rubbing

Severe cough in a child at 2 years old, what should I do? Rubbing will help cope with this condition of the baby. This method is allowed to be used after the child has completed six months. In this case, you should listen to the following recommendations:

• Do not use areas in the area of ​​the heart and nipples.
• Rubbing do light movements of the hands in a clockwise direction.
• The therapeutic effect of the procedure increases if it is performed before the child's night's sleep.
• Do not grind at elevated temperatures.
• After rubbing the baby, cover with a warm blanket.
• Before treating children under the age of three, consult a pediatrician.

For cough rubbing in the pharmacy network, there are many different means. They contribute to the warming of the bronchi, softening and easy withdrawal of sputum. Severe cough in a child, what should I do? To do this, often use:

• Bear fat - has a warming effect. Before use, the product is slightly warmed up in warm water, and applied to the baby’s skin, gently rubbing over the entire surface.
  
• Goose fat - in 120 g of the product add a teaspoon of vodka, mix thoroughly and easily rub, pay special attention to the back.

In addition, pork interior fat, propolis and vodka are suitable. After grinding the child, be sure to cover it with a warm blanket. Children are calm about this method of treatment and are not capricious.

Natural Remedies

What to do, the child is 4 years old, a strong cough? It is best to use natural remedies for this purpose. In the fight against this ailment will help:

• Banana-ginger milk. To prepare it, beat half the banana in a blender with a glass of warm milk and add a teaspoon of ginger root juice to it. The baby drinks the mixture in small sips throughout the day in unlimited quantities. It is allowed to consume until completely cured.
• Infusion of figs. It is noticed that this fruit has a strong expectorant effect. The medicine is prepared as follows: in 150 ml of hot milk or boiled water, for 50 minutes, infuse 50 g of finely chopped figs. The resulting portion is divided into several doses and given in a warm form during the day. The duration of treatment is three days. Fruit is allowed to eat fresh.
• Raw beets. A few slices of this root vegetable will help relieve sore throat and soften the cough. Beets can be grated or eaten in pieces.
• Inhalation with sea salt. It helps soften the throat and facilitate the discharge of sputum. The procedure is carried out using a nebulizer or improvised means.

All means significantly facilitate the condition of the baby, without suppressing the cough effect.

Severe suffocating cough in a child, what should I do?

Choking prolonged cough can be caused by several reasons:

• an allergic reaction to certain substances;
• bronchial asthma;
• laryngitis;
• whooping cough;
• measles;
• viral infection;
• tuberculosis
• diphtheria.

Such a cough can occur at any time of the day. In this case, it is necessary to provide assistance as soon as possible in order to prevent swelling of the larynx and suffocation. If the cause of the incident is known, then this becomes easier. If, for example, a child suffers from bronchial asthma, then he is immediately given an antihistamine, which was previously prescribed by a doctor. For an unknown cause of an attack of suffocating cough, emergency assistance is immediately called. Before her arrival, it is advisable to perform the following steps to alleviate the condition of the child:

• Open the window and provide fresh air.
• To collect hot water in the bathtub and bring the baby there so that he breathes in warm fumes.
• Give a small piece of butter or a little honey if there is no allergic reaction to it.
• Drink a warm liquid: water, tea, milk, herbal decoction, fruit drink, compote.

And most importantly, you need to reassure the baby so that he does not have fear, which increases the attack of suffocation. At the same time, no medicines are allowed to be used unless they have been recommended by a doctor before.

Conclusion

The article examined what to do with a strong cough in a child. The most important thing is not to harm. Give medicines only in extreme cases as directed by a doctor. With a dry cough, it is recommended: to water the baby, moisturize and ventilate the room, if possible walk. When wet - do the same as when dry, fixing the effect.