What to do if your child coughs

As long as the child shows some minor physical discomfort, parents will feel very distressed and worried. Especially when children cough while sleeping at night, it not only seriously affects the children’s normal sleep, but also affects the parents’ normal rest and routine. Coughing at night is very uncomfortable and painful for children. So what should we do if our children have a cough?

In fact, if you want to know what to do if your child coughs, you must first understand the reasons why your child coughs at night, so that you can take various preventive measures to prevent your child from getting sick and feeling uncomfortable. Children's coughs are mainly divided into two types: external infection and internal injury, so the treatment methods for different types are also different.

What to do if your child coughs

Experts tell us that not all cough symptoms are diseases as soon as they appear. Coughing is a child's own protective reflex action that can prevent foreign objects from entering the trachea and bronchial system, or prevent the accumulation of bronchial secretions. For example, when there is phlegm in the lower respiratory tract, it needs to be coughed out. If antitussive drugs are used, the cough reflex will be inhibited, resulting in sputum retention in the trachea and bronchi, causing the cough to worsen or secondary infection. However, if the child's frequent coughing affects his sleep or eating, cough suppressants may be used as appropriate.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that children's coughs can be divided into exogenous coughs and endogenous coughs, and exogenous coughs can be divided into wind-cold coughs and wind-heat coughs. Different types of coughs require completely different medications and diet therapy methods.

To distinguish exogenous cough, one should mainly observe the child’s tongue coating. If the tongue coating is white, the phlegm from coughing is thin, white and sticky, and there is nasal congestion and runny nose, it is a cough caused by wind and cold. At this time, you should eat some warm, phlegm-resolving and cough-relieving foods. If the child's tongue coating is yellow or red, the phlegm is yellow, thick, and difficult to cough up, and there is a sore throat, then it is a wind-heat cough. At this time, the child should eat some foods that clear the lungs, resolve phlegm and relieve cough.

The symptoms of internal injury cough in children are mostly long-term and recurring coughs. At this time, parents should pay attention to giving their children some foods that regulate the spleen and stomach, nourish the kidneys, and replenish the lung qi.

In addition, there is a special cough that sounds like a dog barking and makes a "hollow" sound. It is called a barking cough, which is a unique symptom of acute laryngitis. If a child's cough is so severe that it becomes suffocating and purple, it means that the laryngeal edema is severe, which can be life-threatening. At this time, you should take the child to the doctor in time and receive treatment according to the doctor's advice.

Children's coughing at night will seriously affect their sleep quality, and their resistance will also decrease if this continues for a long time. In addition to drug treatment, children should also be given enhanced care, and attention should be paid to conditioning and taboos. Children should get enough sleep, drink enough water, eat more vegetables and fruits, and the diet should be easy to digest and nutritious.

I believe parents already know what to do if their children have a cough. If the child's cough is caused by external infection, he should eat more warm and expectorant foods. If the child's cough is caused by internal injury, parents should give the child more kidney-tonifying and lung-replenishing foods. In addition, the child should be taken to a regular hospital for treatment in time, which will help relieve the symptoms of cough.