What should I do if my child has phlegm in his throat?

Whenever the seasons change, many children will have symptoms of cold and fever, and there will be phlegm in the throat. They don’t know how to cough it out, and the medicine is not effective. This not only worries parents, but also makes the babies suffer. Experts say that if a child has phlegm in the throat, methods such as patting the back, drinking water, steam, and medication can all be very effective and can allow the baby to completely recover in a short period of time and no longer be troubled by phlegm. It is important to remind the baby to pay attention to diet during the treatment process and never eat hard, spicy, or irritating foods.

1. Patting the back

It can be used as an emergency measure to help children with expectoration when they are unable to cough up phlegm.

The specific operation is: in the intervals between the child's coughing, let the child lie on his side or hold the child up to lie on his side. The parent slightly bends the five fingers of one hand, makes a fist, and gently pats the child's back. Pat your left side and lie on your left side, alternating between the two sides. The force of the slapping should not be too great, and it should be done from top to bottom and from outside to inside, in sequence. Pat each side for at least 3-5 minutes, 2-3 times a day. The back-patting method can not only loosen the phlegm in the child's lungs and bronchi, drain it into the trachea and discharge it, but also promote blood circulation in the heart and lungs, which is beneficial to the absorption of bronchial inflammation and enables early recovery from the disease.

2. Drinking Water Method

Let the child drink more water, especially cold boiled water at about 23 degrees, which has a good moisturizing and physical therapeutic effect on the throat and is conducive to the elimination of local inflammation. Children with coughing attacks often have varying degrees of dehydration, which can aggravate respiratory inflammation and the thickness of secretions, making them difficult to cough up. Drinking more cold boiled water can dilute the sticky secretions, making them easier to cough out, which is beneficial for relieving cough and removing phlegm. At the same time, cold boiled water can improve blood circulation, so that the waste or toxins produced by the body's metabolism can be quickly excreted from the urine, thereby reducing its irritation to the respiratory tract.

3. Steam method

Pour boiling water into a large pot or teacup, hold the child, and let his mouth and nose face the rising steam and inhale and exhale. This can thin the phlegm and facilitate coughing up, and can also reduce congestion and edema of the trachea and bronchial mucosa and reduce coughing. But be careful to avoid burns and accidents.

IV. Drug Law

Do not take cough suppressants casually, as this may suppress the cough center and hinder expectoration. For those with little sticky sputum that is difficult to cough up, ammonium chloride, platycodon, polygala and other expectorants can be used under the guidance of a doctor; for those with a lot of mucous sputum that is difficult to cough up, use Bi Ke Ping, Tan Yi Jing, α-chymotrypsin, etc.; for those with white and sticky sputum, it is advisable to use Pinellia dew and almond cough syrup, and ultrasonic nebulization inhalation should be used if conditions permit. The Chinese medicine Chuanbei stewed with snow pear is also beneficial for resolving phlegm and relieving cough. Take a pear, cut off the head as a lid, dig out the core, add 10 grams of rock sugar and 6 grams of Chuanbei powder, cover the pear head, put it in a bowl, steam it over fire, eat the pear and drink the juice.