What Causes Coughing in Children?
Learn more about Causes of Cough
Learn more about Causes of CoughWe experience many complaints in diseases such as colds, throat infections. Complaints such as fever, a stinging sensation in the throat, weakness are obvious symptoms of this type of disease. Coughing also comes at the beginning of these complaints. Especially parents notice and worry about the cough in their children. Coughing, in fact, is not a disease, but a reaction. Coughing is a reaction that we give to protect the respiratory tract against threats such as foreign bodies, sputum, inflammation and discharge that come into the respiratory tract. It is correct not to stop the cough reflex, but to eliminate the conditions that caused the cough.
Causes of Cough
In children, more serious respiratory diseases such as flu, ear infection, croup, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma from simple factors such as catarrh, nasal congestion, throat infection can cause coughing. In addition, factors such as foreign body, allergy, smoking, reflux, cystic fibrosis, mass, tumor also lead to coughing. Every cough leads us to a different health problem. For example, a barking cough is seen in croup, a sigh-like cough is seen in whooping cough, and a cough that comes with wheezing in the chest is seen in asthma. A cough that starts suddenly and is accompanied by bruising, appears when swallowing a foreign body (aspiration). If your child has vomiting with coughing, if coughing increases at night, the cause of coughing may be reflux. Coughs, especially due to upper respiratory tract infection, are also observed at night. Coughing can cause vomiting by stimulating the gag reflex. The fact that vomiting does not continue indicates that there is no problem. One of the most important causes of long-term cough in adults in Turkey is smoking.
If the Cough Is Expectorant…
Discomfort, cough detected in time, the shape (saliva, dry, barking), how it started (sudden, nutrition and exercise after against dust and allergens), which accompanied by the child's complaints (fever, wheezing, shortness of breath, nasal congestion, vomiting, weight loss, night sweats) should be taken into consideration conditions such as. If the cough has passed 2-3 weeks, it is accompanied by wheezing, the child does not have a fever, but continues, repeats, sneezes, nasal congestion and itching are also present, the cause of the cough is very likely to be allergic. Again, in children who go to kindergarten, a cold that comes on top of each other can cause coughing to last for weeks. As a result, if the child's cough exceeds three days, if the cough is gradually increasing, if the cough is accompanied by fever, shortness of breath and bruising, if it started suddenly and coughs in a barking style, he should definitely take him to a doctor and have him examined.
How Does the Cough Go Away?
Children who are in good general condition, have no fever, breathing problems such as wheezing, can be monitored at home. In such cases, the best cough syrup is warm water. Abundant water and fluid intake softens your child's throat and provides relief. If there is a stuffy nose, you can open it with sea water or physiological serums. Since coughing can also occur when the air is dry, you can use water vapor to provide proper humidity for non-allergic causes of coughing and simple upper respiratory tract infections. Keeping the humidity environment in your home at about 50 percent levels during the day will be good for the cough problem of your children and babies. If you use a cold steam machine to humidify the house, you should not neglect the maintenance and cleaning of these devices. Instead of indiscriminately giving cough syrup and antibiotics to the child, some cough softening medications should also be preferred under the supervision of a doctor.
Coughing in Infants
The problem of coughing in infants should be carefully monitored if the baby is younger than 6 months. Otherwise, the underlying disease that caused the cough can cause more serious problems. Although it looks like a simple cough, the cough seen in babies can turn into bronchitis or pneumonia if neglected. For this reason, families whose babies are younger than three months should take their children to the doctor if they cough.
If the Cough Is Accompanied by These Symptoms…
If your baby or child has some other symptoms along with a cough, you should go to the doctor without waiting. We can list these symptoms as follows;
* If your child has a high fever,
* If he looks sluggish and tired,
• If he says his chest hurts,
• If your child breathes frequently, quickly,
* If there is a wheezing sound when breathing in and out,
• If there is a color change close to blue on the face, lips,
• If he can breathe with difficulty,
• If blood comes out when coughing, you should definitely have a pediatrician examine it.
You Can Give Linden Tea
Against coughing, you can use linden water on the recommendation of a doctor, provided that you give it warm to your children older than 6 months, as well as to adults. Linden tea, which you will drink up to a quarter cup of tea once or twice a day, will contribute to the relief of your child's throat. Flavonoids, one of the components in linden, have an anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effect, while there is a lot of data that musilages prevent irritation and soften the throat. Do not add sugar to the linden tea used for treatment. Sugar is able to react with effective components in tea. The addition of honey should be made at temperatures below 40 degrees.