To effectively treat cough, it is not enough to use some kind of medicine. And there is no specific list of drugs aimed at getting rid of such an unpleasant phenomenon in children. It was this idea that Dr. Komarovsky expressed more than once during his speeches in his own program. But what should parents do if the child's cough has begun to become chronic? First you need to find out its cause.

Komarovsky's view

Many parents do not share Komarovsky's opinion. And this is their right. Still, the pediatrician advises not to treat the cough at all, no matter how strange it may sound. The fact is that coughing is just a symptom that indicates changes in the body. Protracted cough can lead to:

• inflammation of the respiratory tract, accompanied by irritation of the mucous membrane;
• chronic heart diseases that a cardiologist should deal with;
• problems of the central nervous system, the solution of which is entrusted to a pediatric neurologist, and sometimes a psychiatrist.

Treat the problem causing the symptom. How exactly to do this is the concern of the doctor, not the parents. However, getting rid of the cough itself is also important. After all, it happens that it persists after the disease that caused it is defeated. First, you should turn to the general recommendations of Komarovsky.

How to be treated

By itself, a cough, even when it becomes chronic, will not harm the child. But it brings a lot of inconvenience. Komarovsky advises to follow one simple instruction, which does not involve the use of dangerous drugs. This instruction looks like this.

1. First of all, the reasons for which the cough persists for a long time are clarified. To do this, you need to visit a doctor to make sure that there is no danger to the health of the baby.
2. It is easier to treat if the air in the children's room and in the whole apartment is humidified. Therefore, constant ventilation of the premises is indispensable.
3. In the absence of contraindications, cough can be eliminated by inhalation or massage. But it usually helps when the cough is wet.
4. The use of pharmaceutical drugs - only with the permission of a doctor. From a wet cough, mucolytic drugs are used, from a dry one - thinning sputum or reducing the sensitivity of the mucosa.
5. You can use folk remedies only if they are approved by a pediatrician. Many of them are capable of causing an allergic reaction, which will only aggravate the situation.

From this it turns out that the cough should not be eliminated without the participation of a professional.

Special attention deserves a morning cough, which has been going on day after day for a long time. But in any case, you can not "prescribe" drugs on your own. Komarovsky emphasizes that only a doctor is able to accurately determine which medicines will contribute to recovery. In addition, it is required to eliminate not only the cough, but also the problems that caused it.

Cough preparations

If we touch on the medicines that Komarovsky advises to take, it is important to say about a number of recommendations. The child should be treated depending on the nature of the cough. It is necessary to build on the following.

1. First of all, stop using medicines containing codeine. There are at least two reasons for this. Firstly, drugs of this nature are dangerous for a child, because they have too strong an effect. A prolonged cough is not so terrible as to resort to serious therapy. Secondly, it is impossible to independently exclude the presence of contraindications in this case. There are a lot of contraindications for codeine-containing drugs.
2. Komarovsky recommends giving mucolytic agents intended for sputum removal only for those children who are two years old. Children at a younger age, such drugs are dangerous. Alternatively, you can consider the use of drugs for whooping cough that can block attacks.

Komarovsky tells in sufficient detail how to treat a cough in a child. But relying only on his recommendations is too imprudent. To preserve the health of the child, you should consult a doctor.

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 the above 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, humer, 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 remedies 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 mucolvan, 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 various 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.

A cough in a child worries not only the baby, but also his parents, who seek to help their son or daughter in every way. Some begin to use folk recipes on the advice of relatives, others go to the pharmacy for syrup, and someone makes inhalations. Let's figure out whose actions are correct in the opinion of a specialist, and how the popular pediatrician Komarovsky advises to treat a cough.

Be sure to check with your pediatrician before giving your child any medication.

Symptomatic treatment

First of all, when a child of any age coughs, Komarovsky focuses the attention of parents on the fact that it's just a symptom of some disease affecting the respiratory tract. In addition, this symptom is protective, so in most cases it is not worth suppressing.

The main cause of cough in childhood, a popular doctor calls SARS. And therefore, in the vast majority of cases of coughing in a child, the elimination of its cause, according to Komarovsky, is impossible. But it is not necessary to leave the child without help, therefore, a well-known pediatrician advises symptomatic treatment.

Wherein he calls the main principle of such cough treatment not eliminating the symptom itself, but increasing the effectiveness of coughing. This can be achieved by influencing the quantity and quality of sputum with the help of:

1. Humid and cool air.
2. Plentiful drink.

See more about this in the program of Dr. Komarovsky.

Humidify and purify the air

Komarovsky calls providing a child with moist and cool air one of the most important tasks of parents. This reduce the load on the respiratory tract of the baby, and also prevent the mucous membranes from drying out.

If you optimize the conditions in which the child is located, his body will not spend efforts on air processing (heating, cleaning and humidifying it), but will focus on developing antiviral immunity.

In addition to temperature and humidity, a popular doctor draws attention to the need for clean air in the room where the coughing child is. Komarovsky notes that children's need for clean air when coughing increases several times. This is primarily due to nasal congestion in acute respiratory infections and reduced activity of the epithelium in the respiratory tract. When dust enters the respiratory tract, it leads to impaired ventilation and additional sputum production.

Komarovsky advises:

• Reduce the number of possible dust collectors in the room, for example, hide books behind glass, put toys in boxes, take out carpets.
• Avoid contact of the child with foreign odors and substances, for example, do not use deodorants and perfumes indoors, do not wash the floor with chlorine, do not spray insects.
• Avoid exposure to tobacco smoke.
• Carry out frequent wet cleaning. A well-known pediatrician does not advise vacuuming in a room with a sick child, and if the vacuum cleaner is used for cleaning, the child should be sent to another room while cleaning the room.
• Maintain the room temperature at +18 degrees.
• Maintain indoor humidity at 60-70%. The best choice would be to use a humidifier, but if there is no such device in the family, Komarovsky recommends using water containers and wet sheets.

It is especially important to maintain optimal temperatures and humidity at night. This will prevent night coughing caused by overdrying of the mucous membranes and staying in a lying position, as well as coughing after sleep.

Humidifiers will help maintain the optimal level of humidity in the children's room

Letting your child drink more

According to Komarovsky, drinking plenty of water for a child with a cough is indispensable. It will maintain and restore the properties of sputum by affecting blood rheology, that is, drinking will first make the blood more liquid, which will increase blood circulation in the mucous membranes of the respiratory system and improve their ability to form normal mucus. In addition, the body of the child spends a lot of fluid with increased temperature and rapid breathing, which also necessitates frequent drinking.

In order for the drunk liquid to be absorbed faster, Komarovsky advises to give any drink heated to about body temperature.. In this case, the liquid will be immediately absorbed in the stomach and enter the bloodstream.

As for the drinks themselves, the child can be given:

• Solutions for rehydration.
• Weak tea, can be with sugar and safe fruit.
• Dried fruits compote.
• Infusion of raisins (infuse a tablespoon of raisins, poured with 200 ml of water for 30-40 minutes).
• Compote of berries and fruits that the child tried before the illness.
• Morse or juice.
• Non-carbonated mineral water with a neutral taste.
• Watermelon.

Komarovsky calls rehydration solutions the best choice for drinking, however, with a body temperature of up to + 38 ° C, sufficient air humidification and no breathing problems, you can be guided by the desires of the child.

For babies with a cough, a popular doctor advises to give to drink in addition to breastfeeding, since human milk does not cover the pathological waste of fluid. At an early age, the baby can be given a solution for rehydration, children's tea, mineral water without gas, and a decoction of raisins.

You need to drink your baby more actively if:

• The air in the room is dry and warm.
• The child's body temperature is high.
• Urination is rare, and the urine itself is darker than usual.
• There is severe shortness of breath and dry cough.
• The skin and mucous membranes are dry.

With a slight deterioration in the condition, low temperature, as well as access to cool and humid air, Komarovsky calls the child's thirst the main criterion for the frequency of drinking. At the same time, you need to offer a drink very often and at every opportunity. Supporting the drinking regimen is also important in cases where the child has a prolonged and residual cough.

Medical treatment

Komarovsky calls the appointment of any medicines for children with a cough the prerogative of the doctor. This is especially true for coughs in infants.

Cough preparations

Since coughing is a necessary protective reflex, in most cases such drugs are not needed. Komarovsky calls their appointment justified with whooping cough, when the child is tormented by coughing to vomiting. Also, drugs that depress the cough reflex are needed for pleurisy, an oncological process in the respiratory tract, and for an irritating cough caused by factors that affect the nerve endings.

Komarovsky is categorically against the independent prescription of antitussive drugs by parents to their children. He reminds that Some drugs in this group are narcotic and can cause addiction. In addition, many antitussives can also depress the respiratory center, which is especially dangerous in children under 2 years of age. So it is possible to use these drugs in children older than 2 years only if indicated and after being prescribed by a pediatrician.

Expectorants

The main purpose of the use of such drugs, a popular pediatrician calls the cleansing of the respiratory tract from sputum. It is very dangerous, according to Komarovsky, to combine such drugs with antitussives, because in such cases the sputum accumulated in the lungs will not be coughed up.

A well-known doctor divides all expectorants according to their mode of action into resorptive (they are absorbed in the stomach and excreted in the bronchi, affecting mucus) and reflex (they activate the nerve endings in the stomach and affect the muscles of the bronchi and mucus production).

Most modern drugs belong to the drugs with a reflex action. Komarovsky emphasizes that they are safe for children, but their effectiveness has not been proven, and the nature of the cough is more influenced by the conditions in which the child is located than any expectorant drugs.

The appearance of any type of cough in a child is always unpleasant. Often parents do not want to resort to the help of pharmaceutical preparations, preferring natural remedies. If cough treatment in children with folk remedies is required quickly, Komarovsky recommends using special compresses, decoctions and tinctures. You can find out more about what a well-known pediatrician advises to use below.

Proper treatment of wet cough in children

The following folk recipes will help to cope with a wet cough:

1. cabbage drink. It is necessary to squeeze the leaves of fresh cabbage so that half a glass of juice is obtained. Stir with 0.5 tsp. honey or sugar and heat. Give your child 1⁄4 cup, 4 times a day.
2. Blackcurrant juice. Berry (3 tbsp) is ground with sugar (2 tsp) and poured with a glass of warm water. Mix well and give the baby a drink. Take half a glass 2 times a day.
3. Fig porridge. You need to take dried or fresh figs (50 g) and chop in any way. Mix with 0.5 tsp. liquid honey and 3 tbsp. warm milk. Give the child 2 tsp. no more than 4 times a day.

In addition to the above recipes, you can use a cabbage leaf smeared with honey. It is applied on the back of the baby, in the area between the shoulder blades (for 15 minutes). You also need to remember that treatment with folk methods should be carried out only after consulting a doctor.

Treatment of dry cough in children with compresses

A dry cough is much more difficult for a baby than a wet one. In dealing with this condition compresses will help. The use of such funds is based on an increase in blood flow in the area where it was applied. This in turn helps to reduce pain and inflammation. It should be remembered that compresses should not be used for any skin diseases, wounds, scratches and cuts.

Dry cough in children can be treated with a compress with boiled potatoes. Then the finished root crop is crushed, half a glass of vodka is added to it and mixed. They make a flat cake from warm potatoes, wrap it in a thin cloth and put it on the child's back (on the area between the shoulder blades). Then the baby is dressed in pajamas and wrapped in a blanket. After 40 minutes, the compress can be removed. It is allowed to carry out from 2 to 3 such procedures per day.

If it is necessary to treat cough in children with folk remedies quickly, Komarovsky recommends using oil compress. In order to cook it, you need to heat the vegetable oil in a water bath. Then a towel is wetted in oil and applied to the baby's upper back. Waxed paper is laid on top and wrapped in a downy scarf. The child should lie down with such a compress for at least 2 hours. During this time, the bronchi will warm up, and the cough will become less noticeable.

Cough treatment with folk remedies

One of the most annoying types of cough is barking. In this condition, it is recommended gargle with special solutions. This must be done several times a day, an hour before meals or an hour after it. Using this method, you can quickly remove inflammation, relieve pain and moisturize the airways. Cough treatment with folk remedies can be carried out based on the following recipes:

• warm water (200 ml) with the addition of 0.5 tsp. soda;
• a decoction based on eucalyptus, sage and calendula (1 teaspoon per 2 cups of water);
• chamomile infusion (for 2 tsp per glass of boiling water).

If the cough is very strong, rinsing will help. water with apple cider vinegar(for 1 glass of warm liquid 0.5 tsp of the product). Also, to alleviate a dry cough, you need to drink as much liquid as possible. Very effective cranberry fruit drinks.

Cough lozenge based on flour and honey

If you need to treat cough in children with folk remedies quickly, Komarovsky advises to cook special flatbread. To do this, take 3 tbsp. flour and exactly the same amount of water, honey and vodka. Knead the dough and form it into a small ball. Flatten with your hands or a rolling pin. Put on the baby's chest, trying to ensure that such a compress does not touch the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe heart.

Then the cake is covered with plastic wrap and fixed. This can be done with bandages or a diaper. The duration of such a procedure should be at least an hour. To enhance the therapeutic effect, you can cover the child with a duvet. During this time, the sputum will begin to liquefy and the bronchi will clear.

It should be remembered that the cake should not be used in children suffering from skin diseases (abscesses, boils, etc.). In addition, such a kind of compress is not used if the baby has wounds or scratches on the skin. If the child complains of itching during the procedure, it is urgent to remove the cake and wash the application site with warm water and soap.

How to deal with this condition quickly?

If you need to cope with a cough very quickly, they will help mustard plasters. They not only help improve blood flow, but also warm the bronchi. Mustard plasters can be used in babies after 3 months. If there are no contraindications, it is allowed to use wraps based on such a burning powder. To do this, prepare a solution of mustard powder (0.5 tbsp) and boiling water (0.5 l), and then cool to a warm state.

Wet a towel in this solution, wring it out and lay it on the back of the baby. Then for 2-3 minutes they cover the crumbs with sheets. After that, the cloth is removed and the remains of mustard are gently washed off the skin of the child. This recipe is perfect for very young children. For those who are older, it is recommended to use mustard plasters.

The sheets are moistened in warm water and laid on the area between the shoulder blades and under them. To make the cough go faster, you can put mustard plasters on the child's chest. In this case, you need to avoid the place where the heart is located. Duration of the procedure will depend on the age of the baby and on how much he tolerates such a procedure:

• from a year to 2.5 years - 2 minutes;
• from 2.5 to 6 years - 4 minutes;
• from 7 years and above - up to 15 minutes.

As for the frequency of procedures, it is impossible more than 2 times a day. This can irritate the baby's skin. Contraindications to the use of such drugs are hypersensitivity to mustard, pustules and microtraumas on the skin. In addition, it is impossible to carry out such treatment at elevated body temperature of the child.

Pediatrician Komarovsky advises to be careful if the child has a paroxysmal dry cough. If it occurs at night at regular intervals, then it is likely that the baby has whooping cough. The cough can be so severe that it sometimes even leads to vomiting. In this case, you need to forget about self-treatment and urgently call an ambulance. If the cause of a strong cough was a cold, then in addition to folk remedies it is recommended to observe the following rules:

1. In the room where the sick baby is located, the normal temperature regime (from 21 to 25 degrees) must be observed. In addition, you need to carefully monitor the humidity of the air, especially in winter.
2. Until the cough disappears, the child should not be completely washed. It is allowed to soar legs.
3. Before going to bed, the baby needs to ventilate the room well. Of course, in order to avoid a new outbreak of illness, the child must be removed from the room for a while.

Cough is one of the components of local immunity, thanks to which the airways are cleared of bacteria, viruses, dust, and so on. Moreover, coughing is not the main symptom of the disease, but, on the contrary, the main a sign of wealthy immunity and healthy body.

Dr. Komarovsky: why you need a cough

Komarovsky believes that anyone, even the most healthy person, sometimes coughs. Thus the lungs cleared of mucus that accumulates in them. This happens because people breathe far from the cleanest air. Healthy children cough up to twenty times a day. If the coughing tremors appear more often and the child has pain and / or respiratory failure, contact the pediatrician immediately.

In case of diseases of the lungs or upper respiratory tract, the amount of mucus increases (mucus is responsible for neutralizing viruses or bacteria and clears the bronchi). Excess such mucus, called phlegm, the body and removes by coughing.

Dr. Komarovsky: cough is a symptom of the disease

Diseases associated with this symptom include:

This list can be continued indefinitely, however, it is important to remember that removing a cough does not mean curing the disease. That is, drugs that block the cough center, reduce cough, however, do not affect the cause of the disease. The result of the use of antitussive drugs is the accumulation of mucus, which is not removed from the body naturally.

The most common cause of cough is viral diseases, in this case, the cough is combined with rhinitis (runny nose) and fever. Komarovsky says that a runny nose can provoke night attacks, that is, when a child lies down, snot flows down the nasopharynx, makes breathing difficult and provokes a cough.

How to treat a cough, including a protracted one

According to Komarovsky, the main direction in treatment is not pills, but control over humidity and air purity, as well as the amount of fluid consumed. These measures prevent the sputum from drying out and ensure its liquefaction.

Before giving a child this or that medicine, it is necessary to study its properties and direction of action.

The most commonly used medications are aimed at:

Types of drugs used

Of the variety of drugs used, two groups can be distinguished:

• suppressing the cough reflex;
• improving cough productivity (clearing, thinning sputum, and so on).

When shown antitussives:

• with pleurisy, not accompanied by the formation and secretion of sputum;
• with whooping cough, the cause of coughing in this case is excessive irritation of the nerve endings of the mucosa;
• in the presence of neoplasms of the respiratory tract or chest;
• if the cough is the result of a long stay of the child in dry, dusty, hot air.

That is, treatment with antitussives is justified in the absence of mucus and clear lungs, and coughing does no good.

In other cases, Komarovsky advises not to suppress a dry/wet cough, but help loosen phlegm and its excretion, that is, the purification of the lungs. It is better to use ambroxol, mukaltin, bromhexine for this.

They also do a great job medicinal herbs: licorice root, thyme, marshmallow root and pine buds. Their use as the basis of various cough syrups is explained by powerful expectorant properties.

However, as Komarovsky insists, one should not neglect such means as humidifying the air and drinking plenty of water, which, in combination with medicines, contribute to a speedy recovery.

Reception mucolytic agents indicated only in the presence of viscous, difficult to expectorate sputum.

Dr. Komarovsky emphasizes that the combined use of antitussives and expectorants is unacceptable!

Treatment of the infant

A feature of infants is the small volume of the lungs and the undeveloped muscles of the bronchi, which greatly complicates the discharge of sputum and, consequently, the effective purification of the lungs. In addition, many medicines are contraindicated for an infant, and therefore, if you find the slightest signs of a disease or a prolonged cough, even after treatment, you should immediately consult a doctor.

Urgent care required in the following situations:

• signs of suffocation;
• suspicion of foreign objects entering the respiratory tract;
• wheezing, shortness of breath;
• barking cough, labored breathing.

Komarovsky emphasizes that in an infant, a cough often occurs against the background of viral infections, a runny nose, and teething.

With a cold should be treated as follows: drip the child's nose with saline, it will clean the nasal passages, remove mucus and cough will stop.

When teething there is an increased production of saliva and the baby simply chokes, which is why coughing occurs. To alleviate this condition, it is enough to lay the child on a pillow, that is, raise his head.

conclusions

The information presented in the article is for informational purposes only, and therefore you should not rush to the pharmacy and feed your child with handfuls of expensive drugs. A doctor should diagnose, find out the cause and treat your child with any (even lingering or residual) cough.

In turn, parents can significantly alleviate the condition of the child and contribute to his treatment by following simple rules:

• Reduce the amount of dust (remove carpets, hide books and soft toys).
• Eliminate the influence of tobacco smoke and various chemical agents and substances with a pungent odor (household chemicals, perfumes, and so on).
• Do wet cleaning more often.
• Maintain air humidity at 60-70%.
• Maintain the air temperature at +18.
• Give the child more fluids (compotes, juices, watermelon, fruit drinks, weak tea, rehydration solutions, mineral water without gas).
• For infants, combine breastfeeding with an additional intake of liquid, warmed up to 35-36 degrees.
• Clearly follow all the doctor's instructions, treat only with the drugs that he prescribed.
• If symptoms of the disease appear, the presence of a prolonged or residual cough, immediately seek medical help.