How to treat a barking cough in a child without fever

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Children's cough is caused by various reasons. Often this is a reaction to dry air in the apartment or the action of allergens. But sometimes a child has a barking cough without fever - an indicator of an incipient infectious disease, and if measures are not taken in a timely manner, the disease can be brought to a serious condition. How to treat - experts will tell.

What is a barking cough

Often the cough is short-lived, and the parents have time to notice why it appears in the child. A barking cough without fever, which lasts for a long period, requires contacting a pediatrician to find out its cause.

It is important to alleviate the child's condition, relieve him of a painful dry cough. What to treat, the doctor determines by the nature of the cough, by the general well-being of the child.

Doctors identify two types of childhood cough, especially if it appears suddenly, for no apparent reason. It's wet and dry. Any one of them should be alarming to the parents. You need to visit a pediatrician with your child, conduct the necessary examination.

A prolonged dry cough is important as quickly as possible to translate into a wet, with coughing up phlegm. At the same time, the lungs get rid of pathogenic mucus, accumulations of sputum. Breathing is released, the baby's condition improves.

A dry barking cough does not allow coughing, the child develops shortness of breath, breathing becomes heavy, the voice is settled, with wheezing. The child cannot clear his throat, suffocates. This complicates the well-being of the baby. After all, a dry cough is much harder than a wet one.

Such a cough is especially dangerous for infants. In them, the cause of a dry cough can be swelling of the larynx, a decrease in its lumen, overlap with films or foreign objects that have got into the throat.

In a child, a barking cough without fever is a protective reaction of the body. It is necessary to find out what causes the cough, to remove this reflex.

The main causes of the problem:

1. Allergic manifestation. This factor should be considered first. Allergic cough provocateurs: pollen from flowering plants, house pollen, especially book dust, some foods.
2. Reaction to temperature and humidity in the child's room, throughout the apartment. Dry indoor air often causes a sudden onset of coughing. To alleviate the condition, humidify the air in the room, give the child moisturizing inhalations, put a humidifier at the head of the bed, leave it on while the baby is sleeping.
3. The initial stage of a cold. In this case, a dry cough manifests itself in a mild form, often accompanied by a runny nose. You should not miss the beginning of a cold, bring it to a severe course. A dry cough should be urgently disposed of, and an incipient runny nose should be treated on the recommendation of a pediatrician.
4. Respiratory tract infections. Beginning bronchitis, tracheitis cause dry cough. This also includes diphtheria, whooping cough. A strong barking cough with whooping cough manifests itself in attacks, lasts a long time, which is why it is called a "hundred-day cough". Whooping cough is a dangerous disease, especially for children in the first years of life. Even if the vaccination is done in a timely manner, it is important to show the child to the pediatrician, who will exclude parapertussis and prescribe timely treatment.
5. Reflux disease of the esophagus. This factor is due to the release of gastric juice into the respiratory system, which causes irritation of the esophagus and dry coughing begins. This is the body's reaction to irritation, such a cough helps to clear the respiratory passages.
6. If a runny nose is added, mucus flows down the back of the larynx, causing a cough. In this case, he becomes similar to productive, but they should not be confused, which is why the examination of the pediatrician is so important.
7. Nervous disorders.
8. Ingestion of a foreign object into the larynx.
9. The development of cysts on the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract.

If a child has a barking cough without fever, the reasons are very diverse, so it is not recommended to self-medicate. An examination by a pediatrician who knows how to treat different types of cough is important here. This will help prevent complications such as bronchial asthma and early tuberculosis.

How is dry type cough treated?

Self-treatment, the use of pharmaceutical preparations are excluded. A targeted effect is needed that will eliminate not only the cough, but also its causes.

It is important that the doctor prescribes the medicine, he does not prescribe mucolytic drugs with expectorants. Their combination is dangerous, since the bronchi can become clogged with mucous secretions, which are hardly excreted from the nasal passages.

How to treat a dry cough in a child, the pediatrician determines after examining and examining the baby. Before visiting a specialist, in order to alleviate the child's condition, it is allowed:

• to strengthen the drinking regime. This makes it easier for you to clear thick nasal discharge. Drinking plenty of water - warm, rich in vitamins, will help to liquefy a runny nose, remove mucus through the nose. Compote, fruit drink, green tea, jelly will help well;
• do not overheat the room, because it will be even more difficult for the child to breathe in a warmed room. Excessive cooling of the room temperature with air conditioners is also harmful. Only regular ventilation is required;
• do not overheat the child by wrapping him in clothes (tights, sweaters, warm socks). Clothing should be single-layer, appropriate to the air temperature in the room;
• maintain the level of humidity in the apartment, especially in winter, when hot radiators dry the air. You can increase the humidity in different ways: put a bucket of cold water near the battery, put a wet cloth on top. The optimum humidity is from 45 to 70%;
• do wet cleaning twice a day, remove accumulated dust;
• avoid getting into the room odors irritating the breath: harsh perfume, fabric softener, tobacco smoke;
• do not limit walks on the street, but on the condition that the patient is feeling normal, there is no temperature.

When a child has a barking cough without fever, treatment depends on the cause. Dr. E. Komarovsky says that it is important to show the child to the pediatrician. The doctor will prescribe the necessary examination, prescribe treatment and prescribe the necessary medications.

It is allowed to use folk methods, but their use should also be discussed with doctors, since they know how to treat, so that the effect of medicinal plants is the same as required by the child's condition.

Treatment with folk remedies

You can alleviate the well-being of a child using folk methods. Among them, the first, almost universal, is to solder with warm broths, teas infused with medicinal plants. In addition, traditional healers offer:

• warm the child's feet in a warm bath, immersing them almost to the knee, so that the shins are warmed up, because it is on them that the centers of the cold are located. Various medicinal herbs are suitable, on which you can make a warming bath;
• apply mustard plasters to the feet, legs. This ancient method dilates blood vessels, relieves swelling of the larynx. For small children, dry mustard can be poured into their socks during sleep;
• do steam inhalations with soda, iodine - this dilutes phlegm, reduces swelling.

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The use of simple folk methods stimulates the elimination of toxic substances from the child's body that cause dry cough, helps to translate it into a productive, moist one. How to treat a barking cough without fever in a child can only be specifically determined by a pediatrician.

First, an examination, examination is carried out, then, based on their results, the pediatrician prescribes treatment aimed at eliminating the cause of the cough. This is important to avoid serious complications of the cough.

Summarize

1. If a baby has a dry cough, one should not self-medicate, it is important to get an appointment with a pediatrician as soon as possible, who will examine the patient, prescribe the necessary examination and treatment.
2. Self-medication with the appearance of a dry cough is very dangerous, it can develop into a complex disease of the respiratory system.
3. Treatment with folk methods is allowed, but their use should also be agreed with the doctor.