Causes of prolonged cough in children Komarovsky. Dry cough in a child without fever. What to do with a wet cough

The famous Kharkov pediatrician Komarovsky speaks quite often about coughing in children. This is one of the most common problems that babies face when they are sick. The doctor recommends that when the first symptoms appear, consult a doctor to determine the cause of the disorder and begin adequate treatment. He also gives parents valuable advice, which we will consider in detail.

Don't panic

Cough Komarovsky and most of his colleagues call an absolutely normal reflex. With the help of spasm, the bronchi are cleared of mucus and foreign bodies. The sputum itself contains special substances that protect the respiratory tract from viruses, fungi and bacteria. Even an absolutely healthy child can cough 20 times a day, and there is nothing wrong with that. Another thing is if the spasm becomes obsessive, prolonged or paroxysmal and does not bring relief. In this case, we can talk about the presence of diseases in the body.

Dr. Komarovsky warns that a barking cough, dry, wet, prolonged and episodic, is not an independent disease, but only symptoms. To eliminate them, you need to correctly diagnose, find the root cause and act directly on it.

There are no cough medicines, there are only remedies that help improve the patient's condition.

Reasons for violation

Various diseases can cause a dry cough, wet or any other. Most often, these are respiratory infections of the upper and lower respiratory tract. The body of babies cannot fully resist all viruses and bacteria, it develops immunity as it fights ailments. Dr. Komarovsky identifies such causes that cause coughing:

• allergic reactions of the body;
• viral and bacterial infections of the respiratory tract;
• whooping cough;
• chemical and mechanical irritation;
• malignant neoplasms.

Early diagnosis is the key to success

Doctor Komarovsky often talks about cough, he urges parents not to immediately use drugs to treat it. To choose the right approach to eliminate the symptom, you need to find out what kind of disease caused it. If the baby coughs, self-medication is strictly contraindicated. Some remedies can only aggravate the pathology if they are not properly selected.

It is also not worth delaying a visit to the doctor. Such serious pathologies as whooping cough cause dry barking cough, which must be treated in a timely manner. Also, complications can occur with viral and bacterial infections, they require special means. Especially dangerous is a wet cough without fever, it may indicate serious illness or a defective immune system.

What to treat?

Cough treatment is prescribed by a doctor, parents can only follow the recommendations of a specialist. Medications help relieve spasm, soothe the mucous membranes and alleviate the condition of the child, they are selected depending on the disease, its severity, the clinical picture, the general condition of the baby and the characteristics of his body.

Medicines can be divided into the following main groups:

• whooping cough;
• pleurisy;
• malignant neoplasms;
• dry cough arising from reaction with allergens (dust, paint, etc.).

• "Carbocysteine";
• "Bromhexine";
• "Ambroxol";
• "Guaifenesin";
• "Acetylcysteine".

It's important to know! Antitussive drugs are never combined with expectorants or mucolytics. This can lead to stagnation of fluid in the bronchi, which is dangerous not only for health, but also for the life of the baby.

Additional measures

To eliminate a dry cough or a wet one, it is important not only to take the drugs prescribed by the doctor. It is necessary to treat cough comprehensively. The pediatrician recommends doing everything possible so that the child's body can independently remove sputum from the bronchi and function normally. To do this, you should follow these rules:

• fruit drinks;
• homemade compotes;
• herbal decoctions and infusions;
• warm milk with honey;
• non-carbonated mineral water.

• light low-fat broths;
• grated soups;
• liquid cereals and mashed potatoes;
• fresh fruits and vegetables.

1. Regular cleaning. Dust in the room can cause allergic cough and seizures in other diseases. To avoid such a reaction, the child's room should be cleaned regularly. If you use a vacuum cleaner, then take the patient out of the room during the sanitary hour. Wet cleaning should be done at least 2 times a day. It is recommended to get rid of all objects that collect dust during the illness:

• soft toys;
• carpets;
• fleecy blankets;
• books, etc.

Let's summarize

Any cough medicine should be prescribed by a doctor. All diseases that cause this symptom have their own characteristics and require careful selection of drugs. Komarovsky recommends immediately contacting a doctor if the child is sick, this will help prevent complications.

Allergic cough and spasm of other types is eliminated only if it is possible to cure the ailment that provoked it in time.

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 that did not go away 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 pass in any way, it interferes with proper sleep and food intake, the use of antitussive drugs may be indicated. The 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, bronchodilators are indispensable. Particular attention should also be paid to the elimination of provoking factors and the prevention of exacerbations.

In the cold season, almost every cold or respiratory viral infection in children is not complete without a cough. There are a great many ways to get rid of this extremely unpleasant exhausting phenomenon. But before running to the pharmacy for medicines, it is necessary to take into account the specific features of a cough, because they are different for each disease.

Treatment of a cough in a child according to Komarovsky is a valuable recommendation that helps to effectively get rid of an unpleasant ailment. The well-known pediatrician Komarovsky has been studying the health of children for a long time. His advice, based on scientific developments, helped to cure many debilitated children and prevent serious diseases. Komarovsky is a pediatrician with many years of experience. He has written an entire book on the problems of children's coughs and how to deal with them.

Dr. Komarovsky adheres to the basic principle: you can not suppress a child's cough with various antitussive drugs. Such self-medication can be quite dangerous. After all, what is a cough? It is not just a symptom or residual effect of seasonal diseases. With the help of coughing, the body tries to clear the lungs of the child. If the cough is "turned off", then in the lungs, as a rule, accumulates a large number of sputum. As a result, ventilation of the lungs may be impaired, or diseases such as pneumonia or bronchitis are more likely to occur.

Thus, according to Dr. Komarovsky, a child's body needs a cough. Of course, it should be treated, but the logic of proper treatment is that the cough does not need to be eliminated, but alleviated. It is necessary to increase the effectiveness of its cleansing effect on the lungs of a child. Therefore, first of all, therapeutic agents should act on sputum. After all, it is well known: the thicker the sputum, the more difficult it is to leave the child's body.

Dr. Komarovsky believes that before starting the treatment process, it is necessary to find the answer to a number of important questions. First, it is necessary to find out the cause of the cough, that is, what kind of disease caused it. Secondly, determine which cough torments the child - wet or dry. Thirdly, you should pay attention to the condition of the child: does the cough make the baby cry, choke, convulsively change position. Fourth, it is important to determine the characteristic features of sputum: its quantity, color, presence of purulent discharge and fetid odor. Finally, it is required to clarify whether the child has bronchospasm and to have an idea of ​​​​how different groups of antitussive drugs work.

In particular, you should not immediately use antibiotics for a cough that is caused by viral infections. As a rule, it gradually passes on its own. In most cases, antibiotics do not help. The main direction of treatment is the relief of sputum discharge. Dr. Komarovsky claims that the viscosity of sputum is directly affected by the viscosity of the blood. Therefore, to thin the blood, you should increase the drinking regime and do not overfeed the child.

You should not keep your child at home all the time. A wonderful prevention of drying of mucous secretions is walking in the fresh air. Elevated body temperature also dries out the mucus. In this case, the child is shown taking antipyretic drugs. In general, in the room where the sick child is located, the air should be humid and cool. The main thing in the treatment of children's cough is to prevent the formation of a lump of mucus, which can close the lumen in the bronchi. Violation of lung ventilation is the main cause of inflammatory processes, in particular pneumonia.

At normal body temperature of the child, Dr. Komarovsky also recommends a special massage - gentle tapping with your fingers on the back of the child in the lung area. Such a massage will facilitate the discharge of mucus in a natural way, which contributes to the speedy recovery of the child.

Thus, the treatment of cough in a child according to Komarovsky is a modern method, built on the basis of the Soviet school of pediatrics.

Coughing in a child always alarms parents. Someone attributes this phenomenon to teething, especially when drooling, others believe that the child may have choked, others sound the alarm and panic: “Suddenly it’s pneumonia!”.

All of these suspicions can indeed take place. Therefore, in order not to be mistaken with self-diagnosis, with any cough in a child, even if there is no temperature, you should contact a pediatrician.

Causes of cough in children

A viral infection, a bacterial infection, teething, a common cold, pharyngitis, tuberculosis, bronchitis, tracheitis, pneumonia, and other pathologies can cause a cough in a child.

In most cases, the child's body reacts to infection and hypothermia by raising body temperature, but it happens that a child's cough is almost asymptomatic. At the doctor’s appointment, the parents state: “The child eats well, plays well, the body temperature is normal, there is no snot, only the cough bothers. With what it can be connected?".

Dr. Komarovsky explains that the cause of such a cough is most often an allergy. Some parents do not agree with this, arguing that their child is not allergic, eats everything, there is no rash. The fact is that allergens are found not only in food, but literally in everything that surrounds us.

One has only to give immunity a weakness, then some kind of “surprise” will cling to it. A cough without snot, especially when it lasts more than a week, should alert. Perhaps there is a lot of dust in the room, insufficient humidity, the child walks a little in the fresh air.

Dry cough

According to Komarovsky, a dry cough without fever is more common than a wet one.

The main causes of dry cough are:

• the initial stage of viral and bacterial infections of the lower respiratory system;
• the initial stage of laryngitis and pharyngitis;
• reaction to allergens (to dust, animal hair, household chemicals, tobacco smoke, flowering plants, etc.);
• dry air;
• diseases of the digestive tract;
• tuberculosis.

Moist cough

A productive cough or wet cough appears after a dry cough. The causes of its occurrence are the same as dry cough. Wet cough can be both with elevated body temperature and without it.

First of all, parents should pay attention to whether the child's cough is dry or wet. In the first option, if you listen well, you can determine that the child is coughing without wheezing, i.e. without sputum. A wet cough is often heard with the naked ear, the child has mucus, the baby swallows it, because. unable to cough up mucus.

If parents notice that there is viscous sputum, it is urgent to increase the amount of fluid you drink. Give your child water, teas, fruit drinks, juices (especially orange), warm drinks from sea buckthorn, currants, raspberries.

• It is important to set the appropriate humidity in the room where the child is. For this purpose, it is advisable to purchase a special device - a humidifier, which will become a reliable assistant, both in the cold season and in the summer heat.
• Another important condition for getting rid of a cough without fever is daily dosed walks in the fresh air. Walking in frost, rain, gusts of wind is not recommended, it is better to play it safe until the cough has passed.

Komarovsky warns against the use of antitussives. For example, mucolytics increase the amount of sputum and the intensity of the cough. A large increase in sputum is dangerous for babies under two years of age.

Good results are obtained by nasal remedies based on sea water, which, when instilled, also enter the nasopharynx. These funds include:

• saline,
• but-salt,
• salin,
• quicks, hyumer, others.

These funds perfectly moisturize the mucous. With the allergic nature of cough, saline solutions significantly improve the condition of the nasopharyngeal mucosa.

Komarovsky clearly outlines the rules for treating cough without fever:

• room cleanliness,
• Fresh air,
• room humidification,
• rational nutrition, drinking enough fluids.

Dry cough - treatment

With persistent dry cough in a child, most likely, you will have to use medications. The main task is to turn the cough into a wet state (productive cough). It is necessary to remove inflammation from the tracheobronchial tree and remove sputum. For this purpose, agents such as lazolvan, stoptussin phyto, ambroxol, and others are used.

Antitussives are potent drugs, therefore, for the treatment of whooping cough, barking cough, and other serious conditions, consultation with a pulmonologist is required.

Antitussive drugs inhibit the excretion of sputum from the bronchi. In order to avoid suppression of the respiratory center, Dr. Komarovsky recommends that his patients do not use these drugs until the age of two.

Komarovsky also has an ambiguous attitude to homeopathy, considering this method to be completely unexplored. If the cough is caused by allergens, systemic antihistamines are prescribed: loratadine, edem, claritin, suprastin, and others.

The most effective and safe methods of treating dry cough are:

• warm drink with linden, raspberries, sea buckthorn;
• inhalation with the use of saline solutions;
• milk with honey, soda and figs before bed;
• air humidification and cleanliness in the room.

Often, parents complain about an annoying cough in a child at night, and during the day there are practically no such manifestations, and in the evening they appear again. When the child is in a horizontal position, scant, irritating mucus flows down the back of the throat. Most likely, such symptoms are associated with nasopharyngitis or pharyngitis. In such cases, before going to bed, rinse your nose with saline solutions or chamomile infusion.

With a dry cough without fever, Dr. Komarovsky recommends not limiting the child's bathing and walking in the fresh air.

Wet cough - treatment

Cough with sputum appears in viral, inflammatory and infectious processes of the lower respiratory tract: tracheitis, bronchitis, tuberculosis, and other pathologies.

Komarovsky believes that it is irrational to treat a productive cough without fever with medication. The main thing is to provide the patient with a plentiful warm drink, optimal air humidity, and a balanced diet.

If a child has confirmed bronchitis, laryngitis, a prolonged cough and other inflammatory pathologies of the respiratory system, drugs such as mukolvan, ambrobene, bromhexine, and other drugs are used.

When the prescribed treatment does not give results, you should re-contact a specialist for advice.

About the treatment of cough on the Internet

Many young mothers disappear for hours on Internet forums, where they share their tips for treating children from certain diseases. They recommend treatment regimens from their doctors, advise medications, etc. Remember, this is not allowed.

How often pediatricians are faced with the fact that parents themselves begin to stuff their babies with strong cough medicines, because. it seemed to them that the baby, for example, begins bronchial asthma.

Doctors explain to parents that it is impossible to be treated on the Internet and the advice of neighbors. The fact is that when reading the symptoms of various diseases, for some reason, patients necessarily find all the negative symptoms in themselves and their loved ones, sometimes reaching the point of absurdity. Therefore, only professionals should treat diseases..

Cough in the chest - how to help?

In the infant period, a cough without fever occurs as a result of increased salivation. Firstly, this is how the salivary glands develop, and secondly, saliva is a harbinger of the appearance of teeth. Do not forget that the bronchopulmonary system is only developing, and any irritation can cause a cough in a baby.

• Parents should watch the child. If the cough occurs after waking up, and then passes, most likely, you should not worry. Examine the child's oral cavity, gums, they may be swollen, reddened, or white lines appear on them. Of course, the most correct decision would be to consult a pediatrician.
• Cough with anguish, vomiting, barking sound, with an increase in body temperature signals that urgent medical advice is needed.

For infants, whooping cough is considered a dangerous disease, which is accompanied by a dry cough. On this occasion, Dr. Komarovsky recommends timely vaccination with DTP. This vaccine will protect your baby from whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus. Up to a year, it is carried out three times, with an interval of at least 30 days.

At 1.5 years old, the child receives the fourth DPT vaccination (revaccination). In subsequent vaccines, pertussis toxoid is absent, the child will already receive only ADS (subsequent vaccination is performed at 6 years of age).

Vaccination is undoubtedly the only way to prevent whooping cough. It should be noted that in infants, body temperature up to 37.3 degrees can be a variant of the norm (imperfect heat exchange), so the pediatrician, after examination, can give the go-ahead even with such thermometer indicators for vaccination. Previously, a few days before vaccination, it is recommended to take a general blood and urine test to exclude possible hidden diseases, the child must be completely healthy.

The main help of parents for coughing in infants is the timely appeal for medical help to a children's medical institution.

Questions from readers to Dr. Komarovsky

Victoria (Kursk)

Question:

I respect Dr. Komarovsky and always use his advice, but now I have reached a dead end. The situation is the following. My daughter is 4 years old and goes to kindergarten. I took the child on Friday from the garden with snot, the temperature was normal. We continued to walk (no more than 1 hour outside per day). Everything was ventilated at home, a humidifier was turned on (on the advice of Komarovsky).

On Sunday evening, a dry cough with a rough sound appeared. On Monday, the pediatrician was called, the diagnosis was SARS. Purpose: ACC, hexoral, biseptol, inhalations with mineral water or saline, instillation of the nose with a humer. A day after the treatment, the cough became wet, and after another two days, then dry, then wet, while frequent, similar to seizures. On my own, I added inhalations with lazolvan. The child is just tired of coughing, and my hands drop. The body temperature of the child is normal. Where does such a cough come from, and what to do?

Answer:

According to Dr. Komarovsky, the appointment of a pediatrician was incorrect. If a pediatrician has identified ARVI without damage to the lower respiratory system, then drugs such as ACC are not needed. Acetylcysteine ​​provoked activation of the mucous membrane of the lower respiratory tract, hence such a cough.

The child has sputum, and with lazolvan you have further enhanced the action of ACC. The result is a painful cough that arose from illiterate treatment. Remember, pharyngitis, tonsillitis and other pathologies of the upper respiratory system are not treated with mucolytics.

As for the unreasonable use of biseptol, there is a chance to earn a bacterial complication.

To convince the reader, Komarovsky advises when she herself (not a child) has a runny nose, try the treatment as prescribed by the pediatrician. With such therapy, Komarovsky guarantees sleepless nights with a cough.

In this situation, the child should be helped: cancel all prescribed drugs, including lazolvan (“mother's medicine”). Rinse your nose with saline solutions. Walk. Find a competent pediatrician. In your case, the problem is in the treatment!

Irina (Kharkiv)

Question:

There is a statement that it is better to treat a cough not with pills and potions, but with “old-fashioned” methods: infusions, rubbing, mustard powder. Your opinion?

Answer:

Soaring legs, pouring mustard into socks, burying urine in the nose - Yevgeny Komarovsky considers all this to be complete nonsense. The doctor refers to colleagues from the burn center, for whom "steam legs" sounds like wild horror. "Grandfather's methods" are often used when normal medicine cannot help the patient, unfortunately (the professionalism of doctors wants to be the best).

As for rubbing, WHO warns that you should not rub the patient's skin with alcohol-containing liquids!

Tatiana (Krasnoyarsk)

Question:

We live in a harsh climate, although now there are no such cold weather as there were twenty years ago. It seems that Siberians should get sick less, but recently ARVI has simply become a misfortune. How to prevent the appearance of snot and cough? Is it possible to use the hardening method?

Answer:

Dr. Komarovsky welcomes hardening, but on this occasion he always clarifies that this method "works" with a tendency to colds, and not to SARS. Although by and large colds are not so common. Children are now normally dressed, some parents even wrap their child too much, so the likelihood of hypothermia is low. Of course, there is a category of children without proper parental attention, so it is they who are more threatened by a “cold situation”.

When we are dealing with SARS, hardening will not help. If the respiratory tract "catch" a high concentration of the virus, you still have to get sick for five days. Therefore, to prevent SARS, and as a result, snot and cough, daily walks in the fresh air, airing, and cleanliness in the house will help. The baby's room should be relatively cool, don't forget the humidifier!

Yanina (Yaroslavl)

Question:

Is it possible to use vasoconstrictor drops in the nose with congestion? Can they cause coughing?

Answer:

Any drug can cause an allergic or irritant reaction. Moreover, when instilled in the nose, drops enter the nasopharynx, and can cause irritation. Nasal vasoconstrictors do not affect the appearance of a cough in the lower parts of the respiratory system.

Drops that constrict blood vessels are needed with severe nasal congestion to make breathing easier for the child and prevent otitis media. They are used only symptomatically, no more than five days. Therefore, in a children's first aid kit, vasoconstrictor drops, as an emergency, must be required, as Dr. Komarovsky advises. In addition, parents are advised to monitor the humidity in the room.

Conclusion

We hope that the article will bring useful information to the reader. Treating a cough is easy and difficult at the same time - it all depends on the cause. The advice of a qualified specialist is always needed, even for the most experienced parents. If you see that the doctor prescribes a handful of pills and an antibiotic "for insurance" - change the doctor, do not wait until the child is made disabled.

Attention, only TODAY!

There are no parents who have not experienced a wet cough in their child. This symptom indicates a disease of the respiratory tract, the cause of which is very often a viral or bacterial infection. With the onset of cold weather, a wet cough becomes a mass phenomenon for those children who attend kindergartens and schools. Dr. Komarovsky is able to treat a variety of diseases. Let's get acquainted with his advice in the treatment of wet cough.

Causes of cough

Cough is the result of irritation of cough receptors, which transmit signals to the cough center located in the brain. And irritation of the receptors occurs due to mucus or sputum that forms on the inflamed mucous membrane of the nasopharynx or respiratory tract in a child.

A common cause of this inflammation in children are infectious diseases of the respiratory system. These diseases can be viral (ARVI, influenza) or bacterial (laryngitis, pharyngitis, pneumonia) in nature.

A more serious and dangerous infectious cause of coughing can be tuberculosis, which has recently made itself felt more and more often, as well as whooping cough and diphtheria. Treatment of such diseases is carried out only under the supervision of a physician.

A wet cough can be in a child due to an allergic reaction to various irritants. These irritants or, in other words, allergens are natural seasonal, for example, the pollen of some plants, as well as household. The latter include various paint and varnish products, household chemicals, washing powders, dust and pet hair.

In children, a wet cough may appear due to functional disorders of the body, for example, bronchial asthma. The treatment of this disease is not simple and requires constant adherence to preventive measures.

How to determine

Any treatment of diseases and, first of all, in young children requires a diagnosis, emphasizes Dr. Komarovsky. As mentioned above, there are many reasons for a wet cough. Therefore, it is very important to establish the true cause of the disease. Many parents rush to treat a wet cough in a child with antibiotics. Dr. Komarovsky warns against such a rash step. If this symptom is caused by a viral infection, then taking antibacterial drugs instead of benefit can only do harm.

Another thing is if there is confidence that the child has become infected from one of the relatives or close people, the exact diagnosis of the disease has already been established by the doctor. Then with a high degree of probability we can assume that the baby has the same cause of the disease. This gives some reason to start treatment in a similar way. But in any case, the disease in children should be examined by a doctor. Sometimes one visual examination and listening to the chest in a child is not enough. Then analyzes are taken, for example, a swab from the larynx for bacterial culture and a hardware study is carried out.

How to treat

The modern pharmacological industry produces a significant range of all kinds of drugs. Among the whole set, two main groups can be distinguished: expectorants and cough medicines. Dr. Komarovsky warns against the rash use of both. What caused it?

Expectorants serve to thin the mucus and sputum in the child's respiratory tract, which for some reason could thicken and therefore cough poorly. Under the influence of such a drug, the mucus liquefies and increases in volume. Here, as Dr. Komarovsky points out, lies the main danger. Instead of treating and alleviating the condition, children may worsen. The reason for this is simple. The respiratory muscles in children are still rather weak and may simply not be able to cope with the sharply increased volume of mucus.

Dr. Komarovsky carefully recommends the use of cough suppressants in the treatment of children. These medicines block cough reflexes. For this reason, the mucus that has accumulated in the airways will not be expelled from them. Stagnation of mucus leads to the fact that it becomes thick, and this adversely affects the state of health.

At the same time, Dr. Komarovsky points to simple ways that children can be treated simply and affordably. Parents should first of all provide their child with a plentiful warm drink. A sufficient amount of fluid in the body will provide a natural thinning of sputum and mucus, improving its expectoration. Drinking temperature for better and faster absorption by the body should be close to body temperature.

Another important condition for the successful treatment of diseases is the provision of such conditions under which the patient will not lose fluid from the body due to breathing and sweating. Dr. Komarovsky recommends for this purpose to maintain a temperature in children's rooms of up to 22 degrees with a humidity close to 60 percent. In other words, the air should be cool and humid. In addition, walks in the fresh air are shown in the absence of a high temperature in a baby.

Compliance with these rules will help to quickly cure the disease and restore health. In addition, disease prevention is an equally important stage in the life of every child. Prevention is to follow the simple rules of hardening the baby. These are clean cool air, regular walks, hardening water procedures, active games and the creation of an optimal climate in children's rooms.

Video "Children's cough and its treatment"

To deal with a problem such as dry or wet cough in children, we advise you to watch the following video. Practical advice will help you decide on the type of treatment.