Baby coughs while sleeping

It is a very dry time now. Because every household is heating, the climate is dry. In addition, it is cold outside and hot inside. Many babies cough when they go out because they are not dressed properly. Some do not cough during the day, but cough particularly severely at night when they sleep. Severe coughing can also lead to excessive sputum and even difficulty breathing. What should we do?

In fact, coughing is a protective physiological phenomenon of the human body, that is, the body's defensive reflex action. Occasionally, coughing is to expel secretions or foreign objects from the respiratory tract. A large number of people think that they have a cold, pneumonia, etc. when they feel a slight cough, and blindly use antibiotics. This is extremely undesirable.

Once the cause of the cough is found, symptomatic treatment can be given. Scientific care methods can also alleviate the symptoms of the cough:

1. Strengthen physical fitness. Appropriate outdoor activities and physical exercise can increase the body's resistance to climate change.

2. Ensure adequate sleep. When sleeping, you can raise your head slightly and lie on your side to keep your airway open.

3. Increase air humidity. The room temperature should be preferably 20℃ and the indoor humidity should be maintained at 60%-65%. It is best to hang a hygrometer in the room for easy observation. It’s dry in winter and spring, so you can use a humidifier or hang wet clothes and towels indoors. When you have a severe cough and phlegm in your throat, you can inhale steam or turn on the hot water in the bathroom to allow warm and humid steam to enter your airways.

4. Apply a hot water bottle to your back to relieve cough. Applying a hot water bottle to your back can relieve cough symptoms. Fill a hot water bottle with hot water at about 40℃, wrap it with a thin towel, and then apply it to the back near the lungs. This can speed up the expulsion of cold and stop coughing quickly.

5. Hot drinks can relieve cough. Drinking more warm drinks can make sticky phlegm thinner and easier to cough up. It is best to drink warm water or warm milk, or you can drink fresh fruit juice mixed with warm water. Choose less pungent juices such as apple juice or pear juice, and avoid drinking citrus juices such as orange juice and grapefruit juice.

6. Apply externally to relieve cough. Use a mixture of fresh ginger or garlic slices, snail mucus and egg white, and apply it on the sternum from top to bottom, twice a day for a few minutes each time.

Diet therapy and acupoint massage can help relieve cough symptoms. However, experts point out that whether it is diet therapy or acupoint massage, they are only auxiliary relief of cough symptoms and cannot replace drug treatment. If the cough symptoms are severe, it is best to go to the hospital and ask the doctor to find out the cause and treat it with symptomatic medication.