What to give a five month old baby for cough

Causes of cough

Factors that lead to the appearance of a cough symptom can be different, from a cold to a foreign body entering the respiratory organs. How to treat a cough, wet and non-productive (dry) will depend on the cause. The second type of cough symptom is more dangerous for the body. Typically, dry coughs disappear after the development stage of the disease, developing into a wet type. For cough for children 5 months old, complex therapy is used as treatment.

Causes of cough symptoms in children.

1. Allergic reaction of the body. Dust, the presence of pets in the house, or pollen from plants can be an irritating factor. The cough of an allergic breed intensifies when the child comes into contact with an allergen, especially at night. In such a situation, the baby does not suffer from a runny nose or body temperature. There are no standard cold symptoms. The only way out is to prevent the baby from contact with allergens.
2. Some children suffer from cough symptoms for up to 1 year. This phenomenon is considered normal. Physiological coughing helps the lungs clear mucus. No treatment will be required.
3. Dry oxygen in the room. In some cases, this is the cause of the cough symptom. Exacerbation of coughing occurs at the beginning of the heating season. To get rid of this deviation, you should purchase an air humidifier and thoroughly clean the apartment.
4. Presence of a foreign body in the respiratory tract. The baby may choke and swallow part of a toy, hair, or a feather from a pillow. Any of these microscopic things can be inhaled. If the baby coughs sharply and begins to choke, action must be taken. The airways should be cleared, you can put the baby on your knees, tilt his body down, tap on the back with your palm, open the baby’s mouth and try to pull out the object. After you remove the irritant, show the baby to the doctor. A respiratory examination will be necessary.
5. During teething. In rare cases, babies develop a cough at such a moment; it can be dry or wet. The symptoms of such coughing are not dangerous and do not require medical therapy.

Cough causes a lot of trouble for the child and parents. Children have a hard time suffering from illnesses due to underdeveloped immunity. Usually a cough in a five-month-old baby is caused by a cold. Why a newborn is coughing must be addressed immediately. It is best to conduct respiratory examinations and treat the baby with folk and pharmacy medicines. Thus, it is possible to “defeat” a cough in a 5-month-old child within a week. For example, if the cause of an allergic cough is not identified in time, and the baby is constantly in contact with the allergen, a chronic cough symptom may occur. A pediatrician can determine how to treat a cough in a 5-month-old child.

Associated symptoms

If a 5-month-old child is coughing, the first step is to determine the cause and only then take treatment measures. In addition to determining the etiological factor, special attention should be paid to the accompanying symptoms:

• increased body temperature;
• shortness of breath;
• runny nose;
• increased fatigue;
• chest pain;
• wheezing.

When the cause is an allergic reaction, the patient may experience excessive lacrimation, itchy nose, sneezing, and breathing problems. Unlike the bacterial or viral nature of a cough, there is no elevated body temperature with allergies.

Action Plan for Parents

A cough in a newborn that occurs without fever or runny nose should suggest that the baby has choked on something. In this case, cough acts as a reflex clearing of the airways.

When symptoms of acute respiratory infections appear, a doctor must come if the sick child is less than three months old. For older infants, independent assessment of the severity of the condition at home is acceptable. If the baby has a stuffy nose, it is necessary to instill in both sinuses vasoconstrictors, because it is very difficult for a baby to breathe through the mouth, and this can also lead to complications, because only the nasal passages are able to prepare inhaled air for the lungs, warming, cleansing and moisturizing it .

Reason to see a doctor

You need to call a doctor if:

• The cough is paroxysmal, frequent, barking, especially if each attack ends with vomiting - in order to exclude or diagnose whooping cough;
• The child is noticeably hoarse, coughs non-stop and cannot breathe fully - so that specialists use medications to relieve swelling of the larynx, ensuring full breathing;
• The temperature has risen above 38˚C, and the skin on the cheeks and ears is pale - this is the first sign of a bacterial infection, which requires an urgent diagnosis and the use of antibiotics prescribed by a doctor.

In any other cases, when the mother is not sure of the causes of the illness, does not see an improvement in the baby’s condition on the 4th day and detects an elevated body temperature after the 7th day of illness, she must call a doctor.

How to treat a cough

In situations where a baby has coughing attacks, you should resort to drug therapy. Fever and severe cough that does not go away within 5 days may indicate a serious illness that requires immediate treatment. You can take syrups and drops for cough for 5 months, but they must be prescribed by a doctor.

1. Expectorant medications (prescribed for wet cough). These include “Prospan”, “Gedelix”.
2. Dry coughs are treated with homeopathic medicines - Stodal, Oscillococcinum.
3. At high temperatures, you need to take antipyretic medications, such as Paracetamol, Ibuprofen.

When an infant coughs, note the frequency and nature of the attacks. Each type of cough symptom is cured by certain medications that are effective for a specific type of cough. The pediatrician will be able to find out why the newborn is coughing and whether it is dangerous for the baby’s health.

The use of traditional medicine for cough symptoms should be done with due care. It is necessary to take into account all the nuances and advice of doctors on the Internet. Parents often treat a baby's cough with chamomile infusion. Tea from this plant does not entail any side effects and effectively treats cough.

How to treat a cough in a five-month-old child, how to stop her attacks - the doctor will tell you. Good results can be obtained from the use of chamomile, which helps to have the following effects on the body:

• Provokes coughing;
• Helps restore the body's protective functions.

Sometimes people use chamomile tea as a daily drink. Coltsfoot teas with the addition of chamomile are also effective in eliminating cough symptoms.

Many parents relieve their children from coughing using inhalations. Infants are not advised to do steam activities, as they should not be overheated. For children 5 months of age, it is best to inhale using a nebulizer. The solution for this procedure is usually based on saline solution. A few drops of Lazolvan are added to it, which helps to cough up phlegm.

What to do if a 5 month old baby is coughing

Young children often cough for a variety of reasons. The cough symptom is a protective function of the body aimed at cleansing the respiratory tract.

What to do if your baby suffers from cough symptoms:

Don't overdo it with medications. When a baby takes medications that relieve a cough, but do not affect the cause of its appearance, they can harm the baby. If you deprive your child of the ability to cough, every cold can develop into pneumonia. In addition, most cough medicines are not intended for newborn babies. Antitussive drugs are prescribed for debilitating cough.

Identify the cause of the cough symptom. If a 5-month-old baby begins to cough, this may be due to teething. In this case, you cannot take medical therapy. Check when a newborn baby starts coughing and under what circumstances.

A wet cough in a baby without fever usually occurs after a cold. This disease can be treated with expectorants, which will help remove mucus from the respiratory tract.

If you are sure that the above factors are not the case, you need to call a pediatrician. The doctor will need to provide the following information:

• How often does the baby cough?
• how long do cough attacks last?
• what type of cough does the baby have?
• Do cough attacks occur while eating?

Parents usually believe that the treatment prescribed by the pediatrician is not effective enough. They begin to look for additional treatment methods on the Internet, in various forums about what can be given to a 5-month-old child to eliminate cough. There people receive a lot of advice from the same young parents, sometimes without positive effects. Don’t give in to panic and listen to recommendations on the Internet; consult only with specialists. The doctor will best determine how to treat a cough in a 5-month-old child after a detailed examination of the baby.

Causes of runny nose and cough

A cough with snot in an infant can occur for a number of reasons, including:

• infectious diseases of the upper and lower respiratory tract;
• allergic reactions;
• teething.

If parents can independently recognize the cause of anxiety symptoms, they will have no reason to be confused.

If there is no temperature

The absence of temperature may indicate that ARVI is mild, the body has enough local immunity in the form of mucus flowing from the nose and cough, which pushes harmful microbes out of the respiratory tract.

The mucus secreted by the nose, which in everyday life is usually called snot, has antiseptic properties. If it is secreted in sufficient quantities, does not dry out and is excreted on time, it can cope with a viral infection without letting it go further into the lower parts of the pharynx, bronchi and lungs. Therefore, sometimes acute respiratory diseases can occur without fever.

However, most often, snot and cough, not accompanied by other symptoms, indicate allergic reactions. This is not a food or contact allergy, but one that occurs when inhaling unclean air. In order to eliminate allergies, the mother must follow a number of rules:

• do not wash children's clothes with scented adult gels or powders;
• rinse children's underwear at least three times after washing;
• do not dry clothes washed with adult detergents in the room where the child sleeps;
• do not use chlorine when cleaning your home;
• do not actively use perfumes if the baby spends a lot of time in your arms;
• monitor the air humidity in the room where the child sleeps.

When teething, snot and cough may also appear without a rise in temperature, when the baby's gums are severely inflamed. Swelling from the oral cavity can spread to the sinuses, which causes snot to flow. If they accumulate in the posterior sections and then flow down the back wall of the pharynx, this will certainly irritate the mucous membranes of the throat and trachea, causing a cough.

Runny nose due to teething

Additional Information. Teething cough is especially common when the child goes to bed. Taking a horizontal position, lying on his back, the baby facilitates the flow of mucus into the lower respiratory tract.

If your temperature rises

An increase in temperature always indicates inflammation. Although teething is often accompanied by hyperthermia. You can distinguish a safe temperature from the one that occurs during infectious diseases by the value on the thermometer. As a rule, the so-called dental temperature does not rise above 37-37.5 degrees. In inflammatory processes that occur against the background of acute respiratory infections, it is often above 38˚C.

Any infectious disease is not limited to just a runny nose and cough. On the first day of the disease, other symptoms in infants are especially pronounced:

• general lethargy;
• tearfulness;
• loss of appetite;
• hoarseness of voice;
• yellowish or greenish mucus coming from the nose.

Komarovsky's opinion

Dr. Evgeniy Komarovsky notes that the principle of action of drugs for cough symptoms affects the cough center, bronchial mucosa and sputum. The simplest way to eliminate cough symptoms in a child is to “disable” the cough center. For such purposes, medications that reduce the density of sputum and provoke an improvement in the mucous membranes of the respiratory system are suitable.

Komarovsky often advises parents not to resort to medications at the first symptoms of cough, but to try to create favorable conditions for the baby that will help his body cope with the disease faster.

Cold in a baby

When children first encounter the virus, they get sick. They quickly develop nasal swelling and runny nose.

In addition, with ARVI, clear watery discharge from the nose is always noted. Flowing down the back wall of the throat, they irritate the receptors, and the child develops a cough.

This symptom appears in infants even in the absence of inflammatory changes in the trachea, bronchi and lungs. When a child coughs due to a runny nose, it is called postnasal drip.

Both a runny nose and a cough disturb the baby’s well-being and interfere with sleep and normal feeding. That is why parents should know how to cope with these manifestations of ARVI.

Cough prevention

Every parent wants to see their child healthy. Many measures can be taken to prevent childhood colds.

• Make sure your child does not get hypothermic.
• During outbreaks of respiratory diseases, walk with your baby only wearing a mask, avoid crowds of children.
• Give your baby a chest and back massage.
• Keep the room in which the baby is located clean.
• Avoid drafts.

By taking simple precautions, you can protect your newborn from colds and related symptoms. If the baby’s body is hardened and healthy, treatment of the disease will not take much time, and complications will be avoided.

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