For a long time, the cough of a child Komarovsky does not go away. How to treat a dry cough in a child: Komarovsky and other views on the problem The child coughs what to do Komarovsky

A persistent cough is common problem in pediatrics.

Therapy of such an ailment in most cases differs in duration and the need for a multi-stage examination of the child.

Causes of a persistent cough in a child may not be associated with pathological processes of the respiratory system, but be a symptom of diseases of other vital systems of the body. Finding out the factors that provoke regular attacks is necessary.

General concept

Protracted in medical practice is called a cough, which lasts for two or three weeks.

The intensity of attacks can be different.

What diseases can cause?

In most cases, persistent cough in children is a consequence of improper or inadequate treatment of acute respiratory infections, acute respiratory viral infections, influenza and other diseases of this type. In this case, there is a risk of developing chronic bronchitis.

However, this factor is not the only cause of a prolonged cough.

Some diseases are distinguished by a similar symptom due to their specificity and significant damage to the respiratory system.

Restoration of the condition of the mucous membranes occurs at a slow pace, due to which attacks can persist not only for several weeks, but also for months.

The following can provoke a prolonged cough in a child: diseases:

gastroesophageal reflux;
intestinal infections;
otitis;
pharyngitis;
laryngitis;
tuberculosis;
tracheitis;
sinusitis;

What can he talk about?

A form of persistent cough not always able to diagnose an existing disease in a child without conducting special studies in a medical institution.

However, by the type of seizures, one can draw conclusions about the presence of deviations in a certain system of the baby's body and determine the necessary course of treatment.

All medications for treatment coughs are divided into several categories (for dry, wet, allergic type).

Causes of a prolonged cough of various forms:

Dry cough (coughing attacks without signs of sputum separation can be symptoms of relapse or progression of an existing disease, such a symptom is accompanied by pathologies of the cardiovascular system, digestive tract, foreign objects entering the respiratory system or an allergic reaction to certain irritants).
Wet cough in most cases indicates the process of recovery of the child after the illness, but if his attacks persist for a long time, there is a risk of bronchial asthma or diseases associated with inflammation of the sinuses or respiratory organs (sinusitis, sinusitis, bronchitis, adenoid hypertrophy, etc.). ).
A persistent cough may be accompanied temperature or occur without such a symptom (an increase in body temperature in a child always indicates the presence of an inflammatory process in the body, a prolonged cough in combination with such a symptom in most cases is a sign of a complication of acute respiratory infections, acute respiratory viral infections, infectious diseases, the absence of temperature may indicate a negative impact of external factors, bronchial asthma, chronic respiratory diseases).

Diagnostics

Finding out the causes of a prolonged cough in children is carried out in several stages. First, the specialist must collect anamnesis and determine the general health of the child (visual examination and laboratory tests).

Then carried out a thorough examination of the respiratory system. Additionally, consultations with specialized specialists and the implementation of procedures for identifying pathologies of the digestive or cardiovascular system can be scheduled.

consultation with a pediatrician, gastroenterologist, ENT doctor and allergist;
laboratory examination of sputum;
allergy tests;
bronchoscopy;
general analysis of blood and urine;
CT and MRI of the chest;
biochemical analysis of blood and urine;
chest x-ray.

How to help the baby?

Bouts of prolonged coughing can be accompanied by significant discomfort for the child and remind bronchospasm.

If the baby has difficulty breathing and cannot cough up, then it is necessary not only to consult a doctor, but also to provide first aid to the child to alleviate his condition.

The baby should be allowed to drink water or other liquid only after the attack has been eliminated. Otherwise, he may choke.

For persistent cough the following measures must be taken:

During an attack, it is necessary to provide a flow of fresh air (the child's room should be regularly ventilated).
You can eliminate the cough by lightly tapping the child's chest area or pressing (the technique helps to speed up the process of sputum discharge).
Between bouts of coughing, the child should be given as much liquid as possible (water and all drinks should be warm).

Is it worth it to see a doctor?

Protracted cough in a child in any case can't be ignored.

Without special treatment, its symptoms cannot disappear on their own.

If therapy is carried out incorrectly or completely excluded, then the risk of complications increases several times.

A visit to the doctor should not be postponed if the cough persists for more than two weeks. Experts identify several factors, in the presence of which it is necessary to conduct an examination of the child as soon as possible.

Be sure to see a doctor necessary in the following cases:

attacks of dry cough cause vomiting in a child or provoke a change in the color of his face;
cough occurs predominantly and largely disrupts the child's sleep;
the child's body temperature rises;
dark shade of urine and violation of the process of urination;
there is excessive dryness of the skin and mucous membranes;
coughing attacks are accompanied by signs of lack of oxygen.

Treatment

How to treat the disease? Therapy of a prolonged cough directly depends on its form. The doctor should select drugs and prescribe additional procedures based on the results of the survey little patient.

If you change medicines on your own and use the wrong options, then the child's condition can only worsen.

All antitussive medicines have certain properties and are used in the treatment of specific forms of cough(dry, wet, bronchospasm, etc.).

Preparations for children from 0 years

When choosing drugs for the treatment of prolonged cough, the age of the child plays an important role.

Some medicines are allowed to be used for the treatment of children since birth others after reaching a certain age.

antitussive drugs (Sinekod, Panatus);
expectorants (Prospan, Gedelix);
mucolytics (Ambroxol, Bromhexine, Ambrobene, ACC);
drugs to block the cough reflex (Robitussin);
antiviral drugs (Viferon);
antipyretics if necessary (Ibuprofen, Nurofen, Paracetamol);
nasal drops to eliminate the accumulation of mucus that provokes a cough (Aquamaris, Nazol baby);
drugs intended for the treatment of prolonged cough (Pertussin, Pectussin).

Inhalations

Inhalations in the treatment of prolonged cough in children can be carried out in several ways. The simplest and most effective method is to visit special procedures in a medical facility.

A good alternative to this method is the purchase of a nebulizer for home use.

If it is not possible to use such methods, inhalations can be carried out. using the construction of a saucepan and a towel(the child should inhale the steam of the decoction).

For inhalation against lingering cough in children you can use the following formulas:

decoctions of sage, St. John's wort, coltsfoot, calendula, chamomile or linden;
medications (Ambrobene, Sinupret, Lazolvan);
essential oil of pine or eucalyptus;
medicinal mineral waters.

Folk remedies

How to cure a prolonged cough in a child with folk remedies? Alternative medicine recipes have proven to be effective means against persistent cough in children.

Some of them have the ability act quickly on the mucous membranes of the respiratory system and prevent seizures.

Supplementing the main therapy with such methods will speed up the child's recovery process and have a beneficial effect on the state of his immune system.

Examples of folk remedies for the treatment of prolonged cough in children:

Honey, sugar and onions(to prepare the remedy, you will need the most chopped onions, all the ingredients must be mixed in equal proportions, the child should take the resulting mixture several times a day in a teaspoon, it is allowed to drink it with a small amount of water).
Chamomile decoction(Pour a teaspoon of dry raw materials with a glass of boiling water and insist for twenty minutes, give the remedy to the child in small portions throughout the day).
Raisin infusion(a tablespoon of raisins should be poured with a glass of boiling water, insisted for fifteen minutes and given to the child during the day).
banana puree(mash the banana pulp, add a small amount of hot water, the consistency of the workpiece should resemble mashed potatoes, it is recommended to take the product several times a day in small portions).

Dr. Komarovsky insists on the mandatory identification of the causes of a prolonged cough in a child and therapy under the supervision of specialists.

Self-medication can significantly worsen the health of the child and cause complications.

In addition, parents should create for their children as much as possible favorable conditions for accelerating the healing process.

The reason for the baby's tendency to relapse respiratory diseases can be poor immunity, so special attention should be paid to strengthening the protective functions of the child's body.

Based on the advice of Dr. Komarovsky, the following conclusions can be drawn:

To speed up the process of recovery of the child in his room, you need to create favorable conditions(regular dry and wet cleaning, air humidification, room ventilation).
The child must be provided drinking regimen(the liquid helps to eliminate the viscosity of sputum and speed up the process of its removal from the respiratory system).
Good efficacy in the treatment of persistent cough in children have inhalation(procedures can be carried out in a medical facility or using a nebulizer; special solutions, medicines, essential oils or herbal decoctions that have the ability to treat cough are used for inhalation).

A prolonged cough in a child is always an alarming symptom. If the examination of the respiratory system did not reveal pathologies, it is necessary to conduct additional diagnostics.

The cause of regular bouts of coughing can be intestinal infections, allergies or bronchial asthma. The progression of these diseases can endanger the life of a small patient.

It is possible to identify some pathologies only through a comprehensive examination of the entire body of the child.

O causes and treatment prolonged cough in children will be told by a pediatric pulmonologist in this video:

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Most of all, doctors know how and what, and the experience of the famous children's doctor Komarovsky for young parents is a real encyclopedia that they have to read every day.

The main cause of cough in children, Dr. Komarovsky calls parents' excessive concern for the well-being of the baby. The desire to protect from cool air, to wrap the baby warmer when the temperature drops by several degrees, weakens the child's own defenses.

If we carefully consider all the causes that cause coughing in children, then we should not forget about house dust, which, according to Dr. Komarovsky, can provoke a constant cough.

Diseases that are accompanied by a cough in children include:

allergic reactions manifested;
respiratory infections -,;
whooping cough;
tumor processes in the lungs.

The most common cause of these is a respiratory infection, which is necessarily accompanied by a runny nose. With a runny nose, mucus flows into the airways along the back wall of the nasopharynx. Cough shocks in this case occur reflexively, as an attempt to clear the airways of sputum.

Treatment

The basic principles of cough treatment, according to Dr. Komarovsky, can be described in his own concise, concise words.

To cure a cough in a child, you need:

Moisturize air.
ventilate room.
get drunk child.

In this case, mucus will not accumulate and dry out in the bronchi, and the baby will not have to suffer from bouts of dry, unproductive coughing, trying to cough up viscous sputum.

One of the most basic provisions of the popular pediatrician is that you do not need to fight seizures, on the contrary, you should help the child clear his throat.

Also, it is impossible to treat a cough in a child, as Komarovsky believes, without knowing what caused it. Finding the cause of seizures is the main task that ensures the success of treatment.

If we separately consider such a phenomenon as a cough, then we can say about it that this is only a symptom, behind which, in the opinion of Dr. Komarovsky, a serious illness can be hidden in children. And parents should find the reason why coughing fits occur, and not try to drown them out with pills and.

About how to act, how to treat a strong cough in a child without a runny nose and fever, Dr. Komarovsky talks in a video that separately emphasizes the harm of self-medication, the use of drugs without a doctor's prescription.

Features of the treatment of cough in childhood

It is especially harmful in childhood to use for treatment in combination with. Expectorant drugs increase the volume of sputum, and the baby's weak respiratory muscles are not able to cope with the increased amount of mucus.

Which leads to "flooding of the lungs", to a tragedy when, instead of a night's rest, the child is urgently hospitalized with an asthma attack in a hospital.

Treatment of children with antitussive drugs, according to Dr. Komarovsky, cannot affect the real cause that caused a wet cough, which makes the use of these drugs ineffective.

And with a dry cough, when a small amount of viscous mucus accumulates in the bronchi, which the patient cannot cough up, antitussive drugs, according to Dr. Komarovsky, only additionally prevent the removal of sputum.

Exceptions are rare. These include, for example, such a disease as whooping cough, in which bouts of dry, unproductive cough shocks only torment and irritate the throat.

It is impossible to treat either wet or dry cough in a child with expectorant drugs, since the weak respiratory muscles of children, according to Dr. Komarovsky, do not allow him to easily cope with coughing up sputum.

What means, according to Komarovsky, can be used to treat a strong, prolonged cough in a child if the attacks do not go away for a long time, up to several months?

Most often, it is necessary not to suppress the cough, but to help the child cough up the resulting sputum, for which it should be thinned. For these purposes, drugs with mucolytic, sputum-thinning properties are used, but not all drugs are suitable for children.

Safe drugs for the treatment of wet and dry cough in a child, which can safely treat children as early as 2 years old, and as described in the video with Dr. Komarovsky's recommendations, are drugs such as Ambroxol.

Dr. Komarovsky repeatedly emphasizes that the dosage of the drug depends on age, that before treating a child with a cough, especially if he is under 5 years old, you need to visit a doctor and get an appointment.

So, a long, protracted cough that occurs in a child without fever can be worn, and Komarovsky emphasizes that in this case, mucolytics can only increase the frequency of attacks.

The doctor categorically rejects homeopathic preparations and does not even consider the possibility of their use. The well-known pediatrician is also wary of phytopreparations.

Phytopreparations, according to a well-known pediatrician, are safe, but not effective. You should also not give the child herbal infusions of her own choice.

How to treat a wet cough

The mucus in the bronchi should be thinned by increasing the daily fluid intake and increasing the humidity of the air. The process of treating both dry and wet cough in children should, as Komarovsky advises, begin with offering the kids plenty of fluids. It can be compotes, juices, fruit drinks, but in a warm form, without gas.

With a wet residual cough, Dr. Komarovsky recommends treating seizures without the use of expectorant and antitussive drugs, and pay attention to factors such as air humidity in the house.

If parents still decide to use expectorants, then reflex coughing may increase, as the volume of sputum will increase.

Taking an expectorant tablet or syrup at night will lead to the fact that the process of sputum production will intensify, and the baby will suffer all night from incessant attempts to cough up.

It is more correct, according to Komarovsky, to use mucolytics, which dilute sputum, in the daytime. Moreover, all drugs should be prescribed by a pediatrician.

How is dry cough treated?

Sometimes, with severe bouts of unproductive reflex attempts to cough up, the doctor may prescribe antitussive drugs.

Such debilitating attacks can occur with pleurisy, whooping cough, irritating allergens, dust. Drugs to suppress the cough reflex cannot be chosen independently.

Firstly, because among them there are drugs containing narcotic compounds that act on the cough center in the brain, for example, with codeine. These drugs can become habit-forming.
And secondly, it is dangerous to suppress both dry and wet cough in children, especially if they are under 5 years old.

To mitigate dry cough, a well-known pediatrician advises additionally giving children drink:

warm milk with honey;
milk with soda added at the tip of a knife to 1 cup;
warm milk with figs boiled in it;
banana puree diluted with warm boiled water ();
decoction of viburnum flowers;
weak tea with raspberry jam.

Treatment of infants

Infants have poorly developed respiratory muscles, which makes it difficult to cough up. As a result, sputum in a one-year-old child when coughing, according to Dr. Komarovsky, is excreted much worse than even in babies of 2-3 years old, and treating babies on their own with medicines is a serious mistake of parents.

If an infant has a cough in the morning, parents do not need to immediately sound the alarm, since, according to Komarovsky, if this process occurs without a rise in temperature, then it is a physiological norm for infants up to a year old.

But how to treat a cough in a child under 1 year old, what does Komarovsky offer?

If the child does not have a fever, then a cough may mean reflux disease. In this disease, reflex cough shocks occur in response to irritation of the throat mucosa during the reverse reflux of food from the stomach.

Reflux disease is not associated with damage to the respiratory tract, and expectorants, and even more so, antitussives, can only harm the baby.

Dry cough is a typical phenomenon for the initial stage of a number of respiratory diseases. It usually lasts only a few days, after which it transforms into wet (productive). But there are times when a cough does not go away for a long time, while remaining unproductive. This condition is especially painful for children under one year old.

As Dr. Komarovsky explains, coughing at any age is a natural reaction aimed at clearing the airways.

Respiratory diseases should be accompanied by a cough, and you should not rush to suppress it. But if it becomes protracted and does not bring relief, you need to figure out the reasons and take action.

Possible duration and causes of dry cough

acute - lasts for several days, then is replaced by wet;
- does not last longer than 3 weeks, but does not bother more than 3 months;
chronic, lasting more than 3 months, renewing throughout the year.

The latter variety is more typical for adults, and in young children (up to a year and older), an acute and prolonged cough is more often observed.

Cough in a child or adult is not a disease that needs to be treated, but a symptom designed to draw attention to the problem. This is constantly emphasized by E.O. Komarovsky. This symptom is characteristic of about fifty different diseases and conditions. Its nature is not always infectious, often a dry cough is a manifestation. It can torment a person for a long time if contact with the allergen is not eliminated.

The causes of a prolonged dry cough in an adult, a schoolchild, a baby in the first year of life are different. In adulthood, it is more often caused by the costs of the profession (harmful working conditions), taking certain medications, heart failure, and oncological problems. In children, the cause is most often diseases of the ENT organs and the respiratory system of a viral nature, but bacterial infection is also possible, and at school age - an atypical infection.

No matter how painful coughing fits are, they do not pose a threat to life (unless accompanied by suffocation). Therefore, the pediatrician Komarovsky urges not to treat the child on his own "for cough", but to sign up for a consultation at the clinic or wait for the local pediatrician to arrive.

In order to get advice from a qualified pediatrician, use the convenient service to find a doctor in your city. We do not advertise medical services, we offer a convenient tool. He will help you choose a doctor who correctly diagnoses the causes of your child's cough and prescribes effective treatment. Choose a doctor in your city based on reviews and cost of services and make an appointment at a convenient time for you.
The specialist must establish the reason why the baby coughs for a long time. It can be:

ARVI, influenza occurring against the background of weakened immunity and provoking external factors (passive smoking, dry air in the room);
accession of a secondary infection and the development of respiratory diseases of bacterial etiology - pharyngitis, tracheitis, bronchitis;
pneumonia, pleurisy;

atypical forms of pneumonia and bronchitis caused by chlamydia or mycoplasmas and occurring with relapses;
whooping cough, measles, false croup (from the 4th year of life, children rarely get sick with it, it is more often observed up to 3 years);
tuberculosis of the respiratory system, which in recent years has increasingly affected children.

Causes of a cough that are not related to the respiratory system

In one of his programs, he described a case: a child had a cough for six months, they preferred to treat him with expectorant syrups, but the cause of the problem was never found out. This is fundamentally wrong, symptomatic treatment is ineffective, and etiotropic treatment is different for each disease. Not always the cause of a prolonged cough lies in diseases of the respiratory system. It can be caused by such diseases and factors:

- a serious disease of the body as a whole, and not just the bronchi. It can develop in a child as early as 2 years old, especially if before that he had recurrent bronchitis;

allergic reaction, hay fever;
reaction to household toxic substances;
migration of worm larvae in ascariasis;
some diseases and pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract.

Protracted cough in children is rarely associated with tumors, heart failure, pathology of the auditory nerve, but this possibility cannot be ruled out.

Another likely cause of a cough that does not go away for a long time: a small foreign object has entered the bronchi and constantly has an irritating effect. In such cases, the cough is dry, debilitating, and there are no symptoms of the inflammatory process.

What to do with a prolonged dry cough

First of all, as already mentioned, consult a doctor, undergo an examination, diagnose the disease and treat it.

And to relieve cough, use the remedies recommended by a specialist in accordance with the age of the child and the nature of the underlying disease. Evgeny Olegovich Komarovsky names 2 universal measures that are indicated for coughing of any nature, especially if it is dry:

humidification of the air, prevention of drying of the mucous membrane;
drinking plenty of fluids helps loosen phlegm.

Also, Dr. Komarovsky recommends regularly monitoring the position of the body of a child who is prescribed bed rest. He should sit up in bed more often, and not lie in the same position for a long time. With coughing fits that develop mainly at night, it is necessary to place the pillow at a different angle (higher than usual).

If there is no indication for bed rest, physical activity should be moderate. Sweating, the child loses fluid, and this leads to thickening of sputum and the development of an unproductive cough. Scream, laughter, crying put an additional burden on the mucous membrane and can also provoke another attack.

The following factors also play an important role:

minimal use of substances with a pungent odor;
installation of climate technology, temperature and humidity control in the children's room, regular airing and wet cleaning, elimination of "dust collectors";
the use of hypoallergenic detergents, underwear and bedding should be made of natural fabric without dyes;
daily, if there is no acute inflammatory process;
sparing diet during the period of illness. It is not necessary to force even a healthy child to eat, and especially a sick one. This will be confirmed by any specialist, in particular, Dr. Komarovsky. Food should be hypoallergenic, the use of hot spices, exotic products is unacceptable.

Cough medicines

Dry and wet cough require different treatment, the second should in no case be suppressed. But with an unproductive cough, especially when it does not go away in any way, it interferes with proper sleep and food intake, the use of antitussive drugs may be indicated. Pediatrician Komarovsky claims that the only disease in which drugs that depress the cough center (Libeksin, Sinekod) should be taken is whooping cough. In this case, the nature of the cough is such that expectorants and mucolytics cannot alleviate it.

It is possible to treat children up to a year with antitussive drugs only on the recommendation of a pediatrician, and it is necessary to coordinate the dosage with him.

It is also justified to take these drugs at night so that the child can sleep normally. In other cases, mucolytics will also be safer and more effective. They help not only with a wet cough, but also increase the likelihood of an early transition from unproductive to productive. However, Dr. Komarovsky claims that expectorant syrups are intended mainly for the complacency of parents. In foreign pediatrics, such drugs are not used, and a similar effect is achieved with the help of heavy drinking.

You can also resort to: warm water or milk with honey (in the absence of allergies), milk with the addition of butter, soda mixed with slightly alkaline mineral water, chicken broth. Such funds can be taken for a long period without fear of side effects. Therefore, with a cough that does not go away for weeks and months, this is a good adjuvant therapy. But it is auxiliary, we must not forget about the treatment of the underlying disease.

Treating the Cause of a Cough

In diseases caused by bacteria, the cough is often productive, it can be dry in the first days after the addition of a secondary infection. Regardless of the nature of the cough, antibiotic therapy is indicated. E.O Komarovsky emphasizes that it is impossible to treat bronchitis, pneumonia and other diseases of a bacterial nature with folk remedies, without antibiotics. They are also required for whooping cough. For atypical forms, a specific one is required, to which mycoplasmas and chlamydia are sensitive.

If tuberculosis is detected in a child, it is necessary to carefully calculate the dosage of the anti-tuberculosis drug, taking into account the patient's weight. Ascariasis requires taking antihelminthic drugs, hay fever and other allergic reactions - antihistamines. With bronchial asthma, you can not do without bronchodilators. Particular attention should also be paid to the elimination of provoking factors and the prevention of exacerbations.

The appearance of a cough in a child worries not only the baby himself, but also his parents. They immediately begin to search for means of how to alleviate the condition of their child, rid him of an unpleasant symptom. Someone prefers to be treated with folk remedies, someone with medicines from a pharmacy. In this case, it is worth listening to what the popular doctor Komarovsky thinks about a cough in a child.

Cough as a symptom of a concomitant disease

Do not forget that a prolonged cough is only a symptom of a disease. For example, ARVI or ARI. Therefore, first of all, you need to cure the cause and simultaneously remove the symptoms. In addition, coughing begins when the immune system is actively working. This is a kind of protective reaction of the body and in many cases it is not required to suppress it.

Yevgeny Komarovsky believes that a cough in a child without fever does not need to be eliminated. On the contrary, its effectiveness should be improved. To do this, it is necessary to influence the quantity and quality of sputum by frequent heavy drinking and the appearance of moist cool air.

Relief of symptoms

The treatment of cough should be approached comprehensively. In addition to eliminating the cause itself, coughing should be achieved, which will significantly alleviate the condition of the child as a whole. This becomes especially relevant when the cough does not go away for a long time and is accompanied by high fever.

Humidification of the air in the room

A dry cough brings a child much more discomfort than a wet one. That is why, before starting treatment, it is necessary to provide the baby with cool and slightly moist air. In addition, it must be clean. This is due to the fact that the child's need for breathing with purified air increases many times.

When such conditions are created, the body stops wasting energy on self-cleansing and heating the air. The activity of immunity will increase markedly, and the disease will immediately begin to recede.

Frequent and severe coughing increases the load on the respiratory tract. It is for this reason that it is worth limiting the baby's access to irritant factors. Dr. Komarovsky, speaking about coughing in children, advises to adhere to the following at home:

prevent your child from coming into contact with various foreign odors and substances. For example, try not to use an air freshener in the room where the baby is lying, wash the floors with a product that has a strong smell, etc.;
limit your child's exposure to tobacco smoke if there are smokers in the family;
reduce the amount of things that can accumulate dust. This includes toys, books, various interior items;
periodically carry out wet cleaning in the room. Vacuuming with a child is not worth it again for the previously indicated reason. You can take him to another room for a while;
keep constant humidity. For this purpose, you can use a special humidifier, but in case of its absence, wet sheets or containers with ordinary water will do;
keep the temperature in the room within 18-20 degrees.

The most important thing is to follow the indicated recommendations at night. When the child sleeps, the mucous membranes dry up due to being in a lying position, provoking a long cough. If you follow the advice of the school of Dr. Komarovsky, then this will be an excellent prevention for the baby of night and lingering cough during illness.

Providing the child with plenty of fluids

Everyone knows that to prevent dehydration during illness, you should saturate the body with plenty of fluids. Treatment according to Komarovsky involves the constant intake by the child of a liquid heated to approximately body temperature. This is due to the fact that such a drink will be quickly absorbed in the stomach and enter the blood, diluting it.

The list of allowed drinks includes:

dried fruits compote;
green or black weak tea. You can add some sugar and fruits or berries;
juices;
fruit drinks;
compote from fresh berries and fruits, to which the child is not allergic;
ordinary water without gases and any flavoring additives;
Regidron.

The latter option is most preferable, but if the temperature is not more than 38 degrees, then you can limit yourself to what the child asks for. In addition to these drinks, you can give your baby watermelon, which, as you know, is a natural source of a large amount of moisture.

Babies need extra water. Mother's milk is not able to fully compensate for the lack of fluid. For such children, a rehydration solution, children's teas and plain water without gases and flavors are suitable.

In addition, you should actively water the baby if a one-year-old child has, in addition to coughing, the following list of symptoms:

dry skin and mucous membranes;
heat;
dyspnea;
strong dry cough;
infrequent urination, in which the urine takes on an unnatural dark color.

How to treat a cough in a child

Prescribing medications is the prerogative of doctors, according to Komarovsky. In particular, he is against the independent choice of drugs by parents. The exception is whooping cough, in which the cough can last several months, oncological processes in the respiratory tract and pleurisy.

In children as young as 2 years of age, negative effects on the respiratory system begin as a result of the use of cough medicines. Therefore, taking medication must be agreed with the pediatrician after examining the child.

Preparations for expectoration

There are 2 groups of drugs that can facilitate expectoration of sputum: these are mucolytics and resorptive-reflex drugs. The principle of their operation is similar to each other. The first group dilutes sputum, and the second acts on the nerve endings of the bronchi, stimulating the release of mucus accumulated in them.

According to Dr. Komarovsky, resorptive and reflex drugs are safer for children, and mucolytics can not even be used if the child has a mild ARVI and residual wet cough. Otherwise, the drug can even harm, and the treatment will become unproductive.

The use of folk remedies

The famous pediatrician also offers the treatment of cough in children with folk remedies. Different methods will be used to treat dry and wet cough after SARS. So, for example, with a dry and incessant type, compresses are best suited. Treatment is based on increasing blood flow to the site where they are applied. They can also reduce pain and inflammation.

Please note that compresses cannot be used if there are scratches, cuts and other bleeding wounds on the skin.

So, for the treatment of dry cough in a child, you can use compresses with potatoes. To do this, you will need to do the following:

Boil a couple of potatoes.
Grind them into a puree.
Add half a glass of vodka and mix thoroughly.
While the potatoes are still warm, shape them into a flat cake.
Then wrap in cloth and lay the child on his back, in the area between the shoulder blades.
Dress your baby and wrap him in a blanket.
After 40 minutes, the compress can be removed. The procedure can be carried out no more than 2-3 times per day.

If you want to carry out the treatment as quickly as possible, then oil compresses are suitable for this purpose:

Heat a small amount of vegetable oil in a water bath.
Soak a towel in it.
Place it on top of your child's back.
Cover with parchment paper or a plastic bag, then wrap with a warm handkerchief.
The kid should spend at least 2-3 hours with a compress. During this time, the bronchi will warm up enough, and the cough will recede for a short time.

When a strong barking cough appears, rinses can be used. This is done several times a day, one hour before or one hour after meals. Solutions can relieve inflammation, relieve pain, and sufficiently moisten the airways, eliminating a dry cough. You can use the following recipes:

a glass of warm water is mixed with ½ teaspoon of soda;
a decoction is made from calendula, eucalyptus and sage. To do this, you need to take a couple of glasses of water and a teaspoon of each of the listed plants;
a couple of teaspoons of pharmaceutical chamomile is mixed with a glass of boiling water and infused for 10-15 minutes.

Keep in mind that an effective remedy must be selected individually, taking into account the characteristics of the child's body. It is strongly recommended to consult a pediatrician before treatment.

Use of mustard plasters

Among cough medicines there is a method familiar to many since childhood. In addition to improving blood flow, mustard plasters help warm up the bronchi. The use of mustard plasters is acceptable for children from 3 months. You can make them yourself, or you can buy ready-made mustard plasters in a pharmacy.

So, to carry out wrapping, you need to do the following:

Mix ½ tablespoon of mustard powder and half a liter of boiling water.
Stir the mixture thoroughly and let it cool to a warm state so as not to burn the baby's skin.
Soak a towel in the liquid, wring it out and place it on the child's back for a few minutes. The duration will depend on the age of the baby: for babies - 2 minutes; if it is already 3 years old, then the duration increases to 5 minutes; older than 7 years - up to 15 minutes.
Remove the towel and wash the remaining mustard from the skin.

Please note that this method is not used if there are various wounds, abrasions, acne and other abnormalities on the skin.

If the cough persists for 5 days or more, be sure to consult a doctor for qualified medical assistance and do not get carried away with self-medication.

Preventive measures

It is much easier to prevent the onset of a disease than to get rid of the consequences caused by it. Try to pay more attention to your child. Especially during the onset of cold weather. Children's immunity is more vulnerable than an adult's, and it needs constant support.

In order to avoid the appearance of a cough caused by various diseases of the respiratory system, stimulate the baby's immune system: give vitamins, make sure that the child leads an active lifestyle, and most importantly, add as many vegetables and fruits as possible to the daily diet. As everyone knows, they are natural sources of nutrients for the body, the lack of which is very acutely felt during the off-season.

Cough in children occurs when it appears something, what causes it. This may not be the wisest thought, but it is completely obvious and which many people completely forget about when the child begins to scare the parents with heart-rending barking and emotions crowd out everything wise, important and obvious from the head. Another simple and obvious truth that is usually forgotten when hearing sounds from the nursery is “cough is not a disease, but only a symptom of some kind of disease.”

And you need to fight not with a cough, but with a disease, the result of which is cough in children. If the cause of irritation of the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract and excitation of cough receptors is eliminated,. There are even special people who look for this cause and ways to eliminate it, they are called doctors. The simple duty of the parents is only to present the coughing child to the doctor.

Origin of cough in children

So, a chain of first actions is built when a child coughs: knowing that cough is a symptom of the disease, we make a diagnosis with the help of a doctor, we treat the disease together, the doctor commands everything.

The body, from the accumulated mucus. Mucus cleanses the bronchi and neutralizes viruses and bacteria. The body removes the accumulated used mucus on its own, using a mechanism such as coughing. To prevent the sputum from drying out, which is desperately needed in the process of self-healing of the body, cool fresh air and drink are used. The same, by the way, applies to the sibling of a cough - a runny nose. But giving cough suppressants (glaucine, libexin) without a doctor's instructions is categorically unacceptable.

Cough in children? This is how Dr. Komarovsky teaches

These medicines are permissible only with a popular childhood infection - whooping cough, all under the same vigilant medical supervision. Without whooping cough, but when the cough has already brought everyone to utter despondency, drugs are used that act on sputum, making it less thick, and increase the contraction of the bronchi. Cough in children, says Komarovsky, - not an electric shock, or a fracture of the base of the skull, aggravated by a third-degree burn and potassium cyanide poisoning, it still allows you to wait for the local pediatrician and accept his recommendations.

There are quite harmless and effective remedies - mukaltin, ammonia-anise drops, potassium iodide, bromhexine, acetylcysteine, lazolvan. They should always be present in the home first aid kit, but the need for their use and, most importantly, the doses are determined not by compassionate casual interlocutors, but only by a doctor, in accordance with a specific case.

Fighting a symptom, in this case, a cough, is not only senseless and hopeless, but also a dangerous hobby. Juggling drugs and changing drugs that did not help immediately, with a huge multiplicity of causes of coughing, these are completely unreasonable actions. Maybe we should just close the batteries, or move flowers from the bedroom, determine if the child is allergic to a woolen blanket. Maybe you should just give your child a breath of fresh air. When coughing is the result of the body's attempts to get rid of dry residues of mucus in the nasopharynx, find out the cause. The treatment of a pure cough is a cosmetic repair, a “smearing over”, which will still fall off tomorrow.