False croup in children: symptoms and treatment

Preschoolers often suffer from serious illnesses that can seriously harm the health of the baby. One of these dangerous diseases is false croup. Such a disease is dangerous in that it causes swelling and spasms in the child, making it difficult to breathe and causing suffocation.

Symptoms of false croup in children

With false croup, a narrowing of the child's larynx develops. It occurs due to swelling or muscle spasm. Usually, the cause of this condition is considered to be a feature of the child's respiratory organs. In the preschool period, babies have a significant number of blood vessels in the larynx and lymph nodes... This makes the larynx more vulnerable. The funnel-shaped form of the trachea and bronchi, which allows microbes to localize at one point, further aggravates the situation.

Most often, an attack develops unexpectedly in the evening or at night. The child begins to cough of a barking or croaking character. Then the baby has a hoarse voice or may disappear altogether. The child begins to breathe noisily and often.

Such difficulty breathing inevitably affects the work of the heart. His work becomes more frequent, the skin becomes pale, dark shadows lie near the eyes, and blue appears along the line of the nasolabial folds.

If the child suffers from an infectious disease, he may have a fever. If the false croup is caused by an allergy, then the child's skin becomes covered with rashes, accompanied by itching. In the future, suffocation may develop. This state should not be allowed.

Treatment of false croup in children

If the child develops swelling and spasm of the larynx of the first or second degree, then treatment is carried out in a hospital in the infectious ward. With a higher degree of stenosis, the baby is hospitalized in the intensive care unit.

The process of treating this disease consists in solving three problems - it is necessary to prevent the occurrence of new attacks, cure inflammation and eliminate edema. Treatment must necessarily be prescribed by a doctor, independent actions can only provoke deterioration and generally lead to the most dangerous consequences.

The main measures are taken as follows:

• Regular supply of fresh air, in connection with which the room must be periodically ventilated. If the air is too dry, it makes sense to use a humidifier.
• The child must be given an alkaline drink, which significantly speeds up the process of sputum separation.
• The baby should not be fed food that is too hard and irritating to the throat.
• Give your child lozenges, inhalers and aerosols to soften the throat surface.
• Give your baby antihistamines prescribed by your doctor to relieve swelling. This will quickly relieve swelling and make it easier for the child to cough up.
• With severe stenosis of the larynx, it is necessary to give the baby glucocorticoid medicines and anti-inflammatory drugs, which were prescribed by the doctor.
• If the baby has an infection of a bacterial or fungal nature, be sure to use antifungal and antibacterial medicines prescribed by the attending specialist.

If conservative treatment does not work, then tracheostomy and intubation are performed. In most cases, false croup heals well. Respiratory blockage is rare. In this disease, the peak occurs on the second day of the disease, and within a week you can track the clinical picture.

First aid for false croup

Since with false croup, laryngeal edema develops, threatening the life of the child, it is very important to provide the baby with first aid on time.

The sequence of actions should be as follows:

1. Be sure to call an ambulance right away.
2. While you are waiting for the specialists to arrive, calm your child down. After all, his nervous state and crying only increase the intensity of the cough.
3. Place your baby in bed with the top of his body higher. To do this, place a couple of pillows under the child's head and back.
4. Prepare a warm drink - a 2% soda solution or warmed milk mixed with mineral water. These products help dissolve phlegm and are excellent at moisturizing the mucous membranes in the throat.
5. Using a nebulizer, if possible, inhale with mineral water. You can use saline instead of mineral water.
6. In the room where it lies kid, Open the window. Your baby will need moist air, so use a humidifier or hang wet towels around the room. Moisturized cold air can help relieve swelling in the larynx.
7. If possible, the baby can be wrapped in a warm blanket and taken out to the balcony.
8. IN nose you can drop a vasoconstrictor drug. Inhalation with such a drug through a nebulizer will also work well.
9. Give your child an antihistamine to help reduce laryngeal swelling if age permits. To relieve the spasm, it is permissible to give the child the drug No-shpa. If the baby has a fever, give something from antipyretic drugs.

At the same time, it is necessary to know about those actions that absolutely cannot be done:

• Without the appropriate recommendation of a doctor, you should not give cough remedies to the crumbs.
• Do not rub or put mustard plasters.
• Do not inhale with self-produced inhalers.
• Do not feed your child with foods that can cause allergies... These include all citrus fruits, raspberry jam and honey.