How to treat a dry cough in a child

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

For parents, any manifestation of the disease in a baby becomes a matter of concern, and not everyone knows how to treat a dry cough in a small child, and what to do if it is a sporadic phenomenon, not accompanied by a temperature. Usually, in a family with young children, they already know how to treat such a phenomenon, but a cough without fever and phlegm is often ignored if it has not acquired the character of a prolonged and painful attack.

At a certain age, the baby's immunity loses the properties of resistance received from the mother and the child's body remains practically defenseless. Cough is not a disease, but a signal given by the body that negative processes are present in it that require resolution in some way. Pharmacy lozenges and warm milk do not always help to eliminate dry cough.

Before treating, using folk remedies adopted in the family, you need to see a pediatrician and check if the child has more serious pathologies than a cold or hypothermia of the pharynx.

The nature of the problem and possible causes of the occurrence

A tense inhalation and jerky exhalation produced by the respiratory organs is a consequence of irritation of the mucous membrane, after which a signal is sent to the medulla oblongata, where the cough center is located, about the need for a reflex action. Often, such a reaction saves a person's life if a foreign body enters the respiratory system and the airways are blocked. But no less often the irritant has already acquired a permanent character. In this case, a pathogenic agent or allergic reaction is clearly present, which makes a dry cough symptomatic.

It can be a disease at an early stage, and an already hardened infection that is gaining momentum in its development.

The mucus released when coughing is already a formation that appears when the body fights the aggressor. It consists of the products of its vital activity and dead protective cells. In some cases, switching to coughing up phlegm means that your own immunity has earned. A dry cough, especially in a child who does not go away for a long time, is already a sign of serious pathology and a weakened body, so you should not try to treat it yourself, and use common remedies at home.

It is necessary, with the help of a doctor, to try to identify the real cause and start treating it, and traditional medicine in such cases acts already as an auxiliary tool that helps to alleviate and eliminate symptomatic manifestations.

There are several types of dry coughs. It is subdivided into:

• spicy - the most common variant that occurs when a virus, infection or hypothermia enters the body, and indicates the onset of the inflammatory process;
• lasting up to 3 months in medical practice, it is considered more dangerous, because it most often indicates processes that have remained without treatment, or have not been completely eliminated and are present in the respiratory organs;
• chronic dry cough without phlegm - the most dangerous condition, because it indicates not only the presence of pathology in a chronic condition, but also a weakened immunity that cannot cope with the pathogenic agent present.

A well-known Russian pediatrician, Dr. Komarovsky, based on many years of extensive practice, is convinced that a dry cough in a baby rarely coexists with a high fever or runny nose, and aggravates at night, as a specific reaction of the autonomic nervous system. Often, according to him, the reaction of the cough center in the medulla oblongata occurs due to the increased temperature and dryness of the air in the room.

Inadequate sleep conditions in the nursery lead to drying out of the mucous membranes of the respiratory system, which causes the onset of the symptom.

In his opinion, if the cough is lingering, first of all, it is necessary to check the air temperature in the room (it should not exceed 18-20 °). It is necessary to create the necessary humidity there with improvised means, if there is no special device.

If these measures do not help, you need to check the hypoallergenicity of bed linen and pillows, or look for a negative component in the room, which causes a specific reaction.

Dangerous diseases accompanied by cough

An unproductive (that is, not accompanied by sputum production) dry cough in a child without fever can be a characteristic symptom by which parents can navigate the presence of certain pathologies.

After all, the general concept of a signal given by the body means several reactions that are of a diverse nature:

• short, called coughing, even with frequent occurrence, is really a reaction to irritating factors (the presence of a particle of an allergic component in the air, dryness or high air temperature);
• dry - this is simply a characteristic of the species, in which specific mucus (sputum) does not arise;
• barking, or laryngeal - a sign of inflammatory or traumatic diseases of the larynx (it often changes the natural timbre of the voice);
• spastic cough, which is present almost constantly, can be determined by strengthening at the moment of inhalation, it is intrusive and almost always unproductive;
• paroxysmal, one of the most unpleasant and painful types, which lasts a long time and is often accompanied by a change in complexion and vomiting;
• whooping cough accompanied by a characteristic hoarse sound, but its difference from whooping cough cough is the absence of a deep breath in the middle of an attack;
• two-tone cough (bitonal), accompanied by sounds of high and low tones, is dangerous, because it can be given by a foreign body or severely developed bronchitis;
• psychogenic (for no reason) speaks not of a disease, but of a lack of attention from adults or severe anxiety, but he also requires certain measures, especially in early childhood.

If a child has a dry barking cough, with concomitant subfebrile, or, even more so, high fever, the question of how to treat is decided not by the parents, but by the pediatrician, and in some cases by the infectious disease specialist in the hospital. Therefore, before. than to start therapeutic measures, it is necessary to listen carefully to the manifestations of a cough reaction in a child and remember how long it has been present in such a manifestation.

Dr. Komarovsky advises to try such simple means as changing the microclimate in the room and checking the bed linen during the week.

If preventive measures have not worked, it is necessary to consult a doctor and track the further state of the pathology. Having passed into a productive form, a cough really indicates a viral, or catarrhal disease, which is treated with conventional methods. If unproductive seizures last for more than a week, you should immediately visit a pediatrician and begin therapy, which uses a complex method that includes both medicines and proven folk remedies.

The appropriate treatment can be prescribed only after the diagnosis has been carried out, and for this, simple parental attention and love is not enough.

What a dry cough may indicate

Pediatricians differentiate three main mechanisms of a dry, unproductive cough in a child, with provoking factors present. It can be caused by a viral or bacterial infection, or allergic components. With the onset of the cold season, the number of children suffering from cough increases significantly, and accounts for about a third of the total number of children of preschool and school age.

The reasons for the appearance of a cough, at any time of the year, may lie in dangerous diseases or subjective factors, but this issue must be clarified in order to carry out the correct treatment:

• ARVI, due to the abundance of existing viruses and their ability to mutate, it can begin with a dry cough without temperature manifestations, but further downstream it can be diagnosed;
• an attack of bronchial asthma is accompanied by a painful and suffocating manifestation of the reflex;
• dry, barking and obsessive can also talk about the pathology of the cardiovascular system present in the baby's body;
• this is a characteristic sign of dangerous infections - whooping cough, tuberculosis, false croup, or diphtheria;
• present in bronchitis, laryngitis and tracheitis "barking" is caused by swelling of the mucous membrane, and is almost not accompanied by an increase in temperature (it can be triggered by the rapid spread infections, which occurs due to the absence of protective tonsils up to a certain age);
• can cause coughing helminthic invasion, because toxins secreted by worms irritate the mucous membrane:
• it could be allergic reactionrequiring the intervention of an allergist;
• protective manifestation of the activity of the medulla oblongata is also a consequence stress and emotional turmoil, and then the child will need a psychologist or even a psychiatrist.

Any alarming manifestations, according to Dr. Komarovsky, should be a signal for parents to contact a family doctor or district pediatrician. They can take action to prevent the development of the disease, following the usual algorithm, but if within a week the cough has not become productive and the clinical picture has not changed, it is clearly impossible to do without the help of a doctor.

Dry cough treatment

It is clearly not necessary to talk about a single tactics for treating such a symptom. It is not worth starting drug therapy right away, especially if the true cause of the occurrence has not been clarified. The doctor can prescribe medications only after a diagnosis has been made.

They often include antihistamines, immunostimulants, agents with an enveloping effect, mucolytics or antitussives, antiviral or antibacterial agents, vitamin complexes, combined drugs with combined or indirect effects.

Doctor Komarovsky believes that there is no need to rush with medicines. It is necessary to check the microclimate in the room, increase the humidity and lower the temperature, if necessary, spend more time with the child in the fresh air and change the diet.

In no case should you self-medicate with the use of medicines, moreover, resort to them on the advice of a pharmacist in a pharmacy or a friend on a park bench who already has experience in raising children.

The appointment of antibacterial, anti-inflammatory or antihistamines unnecessarily can lead not only to a worsening of the condition, but also to undesirable reactions in the child's body.

If, despite the neutral measures taken, in the form of compresses, drinking and inhalations, the general condition of the child has not improved, he should be immediately put to bed and a doctor should be invited for diagnosis and a professionally prescribed comprehensive method of treatment.