Prolonged cough in a child: causes and treatment

When a child is sick, parents cannot find a place for themselves. Any wound, even the smallest one, is perceived by adults as a personal tragedy. How many different diseases are there that no childhood can survive without? Snot, cough, chickenpox, growing teeth, tummy problems are obligatory companions of any growing organism. This article will tell you why cough in children does not go away for a long time and how it can be cured.

Causes of a long cough

The body needs a cough to clear the airways of accumulated mucus and dust particles. This is a normal defensive reaction. But there are situations when the cough becomes too intrusive, causes a lot of inconvenience and does not go away for a long time.

Periodic coughing, up to 15 times a day, is considered normal. Especially when they are observed in the morning. Prolonged coughing in children occurs due to various factors and is divided into dry or wet cough. Because of this, there are differences in the methods of treating children’s cough and methods of diagnosing it.

Coughing is divided into the following types:

1. Depending on the period of its occurrence, a distinction is made between continuous (constant) and irregular (happens from time to time).
2. There is also a gradation according to the time of day in which attacks predominantly occur - morning, evening or night.
3. In strength - simple, unobtrusive or attack-like, paroxysmal, up to hemorrhages in the eyes and nausea.
4. According to the duration, it can be sharp, not going away for about 2 weeks, significant protracted, lasting for 1 month and protracted - up to 5-6 months.

At such times, you should carefully monitor your baby. Pay special attention to his behavior, energy, whether he wakes up at time appetite whether foreign spots have appeared on the skin or mucous membranes, whether there is an increase in temperature. Don't put off visiting your doctor. First, you need to visit a pediatrician, then you should visit an allergist, phthisiatrician, pulmonologist, and parasitologist.

Be sure to do a Mantoux test, and also take all the necessary tests - blood OA, feces for eggworm.

Mostly long cough provoked by similar factors:

• Repetition of what has just been cured illnesses.
• Too active breathing - the child is out of breath after running.
• Fungus - Candida, occurs as a reaction of the body to an antibiotic.
• A persistent cough is often caused by the presence of worms in the body. They have every chance of occurring in the lungs. Only a special analysis will help to identify them.
• If antibiotics do not help in the fight against cough, this may be a signal of the presence of bronchitis, sore throat, pneumonia, or pharyngitis.
• Often, a long cough occurs in children who suffer from inflammation of the tonsils and palate. Sometimes it is accompanied by a severe runny nose, mucus enters the nasopharynx, coughing in this case becomes paroxysmal.
• Prolonged cough due to a viral disease in the lungs. In a child, it manifests itself in the form of attacks, it is difficult to clear sputum, the baby cannot clear his throat - it is accompanied by pain.
• During a protracted disease in the respiratory system, coughing becomes continuous; if an exacerbation occurs, it intensifies.
• With a chronic disease of the respiratory tract, coughing becomes continuous; with exacerbation, attacks become more frequent, but after some time the frequency decreases. Remember that a constant cough in a baby is very dangerous.
• A protracted and wet cough begins with the formation of pus in the lungs. It gets especially worse in the morning, immediately after waking up.
• A wheezing cough is direct evidence of a foreign body entering the respiratory tract. For example, when a baby chokes on food.
• A wheezing cough is often caused by allergic reactions to pharmaceuticals, household chemicals, cigarettes, and waste.

Prolonged cough in a child without fever

There are many factors for the development of cough, diseases more infectious. In the presence of which mucus forms in the respiratory tract, disrupting the normal activity of the lungs and bronchi. Preventing this type of infection is dangerous due to the so-called residual effects, when several weeks after the symptoms have subsided, the cough still remains. This is the essence of a prolonged cough, if you do not look at it deeply. Its most detailed study makes it possible to take a deeper look into the causes of prolonged coughing.

Testing can reveal hidden diseases such as:

• asthma;
• pneumonia;
• sinusitis;
• fibrosis;
• gastrointestinal disease;
• reaction to taking medications;
• Cancer;
• heart failure.

Prolonged dry cough

A hysterical, dry, prolonged cough or infrequent coughing in children cannot but worry, as this is often considered a sign of tuberculosis. And despite this, almost everyone is convinced that this disease is necessarily accompanied by an increase in temperature. In reality, such a phenomenon is not observed. Therefore, if this continues for more than 2-3 weeks, you should consult a phthisiatrician.

Giardia, roundworms, pinworms and other parasites that settle in the body sometimes stimulate a dry cough. But only if the parasites have spread throughout the body. Thus, it is important to regularly undergo medical examinations and carry out preventive measures for the whole family.

The cause of a prolonged dry cough in children in the absence of fever is considered to be remnants of whooping cough. During this disease, the part of the cerebellum responsible for coughing is irritated. And the baby can suffer up to 3 months. If this kind of diagnosis has been established, the doctor is obliged to warn parents and prescribe antitussive drugs.

But in practice, a dry cough is most often caused by ordinary household dust and insufficient humidity in the room. The lungs must cleanse themselves and as a result a cough is produced. During the flowering period of plants - the warm season, the cause of such a cough can be plant pollen.

Prolonged wet cough

The reasons for the appearance of a raw cough, without changes in standard body temperature, are no less than for a dry cough. In most cases, this is a symptom of a disease in the bronchi or an upper respiratory tract infection. Which can continue for a long time.  A wet cough in an allergic child may be a reaction to a pathogen.

This situation is often accompanied by an inflammatory effect in the bronchopulmonary system, and therefore will require the use of bactericidal drugs.

In any case, regardless of the type of cough, parents should consult a specialist. You should not be negligent about children's health - this can significantly ruin the baby's future.

How to treat a persistent cough

The treatment method for a persistent cough depends on its type. For a dry cough, medications that thin the sputum are prescribed - Delsim, Libexin. When wet - those that remove it: Mucoltin, ACC and others.

In the case of treating children's cough, it is best to use decoctions and tinctures. Don’t forget to pay attention to the proportions - it’s so easy to harm a small organism. You should not brew more than 12 herbs at the same time - the infusion will lose its medicinal properties.

The most effective is considered to be the use herbs and products with anti-inflammatory effect. For example:

1. Honey
2. Linden.
3. Thyme.
4. Chamomile.
5. Calendula.
6. Lemon.
7. Raspberry.
8. Mint.
9. Eucalyptus.
10. Coniferous trees.
11. Rosehip.
12. St. John's wort.

Along with their health benefits, these foods can stimulate and strengthen immunity.

Traditional cough recipes

Inhalation is rightfully considered the most effective means of traditional medicine. Probably everyone in childhood was forced by their mother to breathe over hot potatoes. This method helps to effectively warm up the lungs. Instead of potato broth, you can use herbal infusions and essential oils.

It’s good if you have a special nebulizer. Conventional inhalations with saline solution can even cure bronchitis. The thing is that the solution contains salts, which cope with phlegm.

List of the most effective traditional medicine recipes for coughs:

• Burnt sugar. Pour sand into a teaspoon and hold it over the fire of a gas burner. When the grains have melted into a smooth brown liquid, remove from heat and cool. Eat like candy. You should not hold the spoon with your bare hands; it is better to use an oven mitt.
• At night, you can rub your chest with mint or eucalyptus essential oil. Pork and goose fats are also good for this.
• Place finely chopped onions in a saucepan, sprinkle with sugar, and add a couple of tablespoons of honey. Cover with water and simmer over low heat for 3 hours. Strain the resulting liquid and cool. Take 1 tbsp. 5-6 times a day. Store the mixture strictly in the refrigerator.
• Before going to bed, it is good to drink a glass of warm milk with honey, butter and cinnamon. This mixture not only combats dry coughs, but is also very tasty.

Remember that health is not a toy; it does not tolerate neglect and negligence. Especially when it comes to children's health.