How to treat a barking cough in a child?

Starting treatment, remember that only a doctor can properly advise you how to treat barking cough in a child.

General features of barking cough in children

The barking type cough in children can be caused by various respiratory diseases, infections, viruses and even be a result of allergic reactions.

There are several diseases that can be accompanied by a barking cough:

• pharyngitis and laryngitis - a disease that affect the mucous membranes of the throat and are accompanied by inflammatory process;
• acute stenosing laryngotracheitis, also known as OSLC or false croup, is an infectious disease that is accompanied by swelling of the throat and the breakdown of ligaments;
• SARS, the flu;
• adenoviruses and respiratory diseases;
• whooping cough and diphtheria.

In any of these cases, you must perform timely diagnosis and begin treatment to relieve the child's cough. Dry barking cough makes breathing difficult, in most cases, children "choke".

The development of barking cough: the initial stage of the disease

Barking cough may develop in children 4 months, but in some cases the disease affects the child at a later age.

The occurrence of dry barking cough mainly signals of respiratory disease, parainfluenza or adenovirus.

Just a few days after the infection in the body there is swelling of the larynx, inflammation of vocal cords and trachea, increased discharge of mucus in the throat. The danger is that in young children the trachea is much narrower than adults, so swelling occurs almost instantly and almost completely blocks the lumen of the larynx. As a result, the air is not ingested into the body, and the baby can suffocate.

Alarming symptoms in a child:

• barking cough;
• the increase in body temperature;
• osiplosti;
• pale complexion, loss of appetite, lethargy;
• shortness of breath;
• the suffocating night-cough.

If these symptoms should urgently seek specialized medical help, because together these symptoms indicate that the child's health in great danger. Perhaps the child needs urgent hospitalization. You should not self-medicate, especially in cases where children are prone to allergic reactions. Baby may develop allergies to one of the drugs, it will only worsenthe situation.

The specialist will prescribe the little patient a General analysis of the blood will conduct a thorough inspection of the larynx, and listen to the bronchi and lungs, sent for x-rays.

Treatment of barking cough in children

The first time the child has a barking cough, suffocation and difficulty of breathing it is necessary to calm the baby, as with a strong fear, he begins to cough even more and the situation is complicated. The ideal option would be to take baby in your arms, sing your favorite song or shake might give toy. If there is a child in the older age group, you can include your favorite cartoon or movie.

Then before applying to medical institution, you can perform steam inhalation. It is necessary to take a pot of boiling water, add chamomile or mint, add a little soda, pour sunflower oil, to wait until boil, remove from heat and sit the baby next. The essence of the method consists in the fact that the child needs to inhale the beneficial vapors. You can also pre-heated by steam in a bathroom to make a baby for 5-7 minutes. This is done in order that the steam has softened the cough and throat formed a small clearance.

You must know that to date, inhalation is considered the simplest method to help your child with barking cough. If you have a rescue inhaler, a great option would be inhalations with mineral water or with the addition of eucalyptus. However, you can only add those herbs and fees that had been previously tested for allergic reactions.

In addition to softening the cough as a symptom, it is necessary to give to drink baby antihistamines such as claritin or Suprastin, Kestin or Zyrtec. All medications need to be used only in accordance with the regulations. If the child is very young, from a year to three years, to give antihistamines in the form of syrup.

Mandatory it is necessary to ventilate the room and create a favorable atmosphere for the child that will ensure intake of fresh air. The best option would be to install in the room where the sick baby, a special humidifier.

Need to drink only warm (not hot) liquid, it is better milk or water, tea. Juices are not recommended, especially bags. A child suffering from acute respiratory diseases, losing a lot of fluid (temperature, perspiration), and in this moment it is impossible to prevent dehydration.

Delayed treatment of barking cough in a child may lead to the development of false croup, which threatens the future of acutestenosis of the larynx and suffocation.

After the child will become calm and the coughing subsided slightly, remove from baby all the embarrassing clothes, such as socks, sweater, or unzip in the throat, chest.

If the barking cough in a child is accompanied by a high fever, you should take care to give him antipyretic drugs in a carefully calculated dose that matches the child's age and weight.

Additional activities

In addition to all these procedures, you need to carry out various support activities. For example, you can warm the feet and calves of the baby with mustard or mustard powder to make a warm foot bath and to massage with cream, put on warm socks. Such procedures will significantly increase the level of blood flow to the lower extremities and provide the outflow of blood from the throat.

But you must understand that warming foot bath only permissible when a child does not have a high temperature, otherwise it can contribute to further improvement. It is strongly recommended not to use a warm breast rubbing in the form of ointments and creams, since their components can be allergies that significantly exacerbate the situation.

If a child has had a suffocating cough, do not use aerosol medications, especially if they were not prescribed by a doctor.

Only a specialist knows how to treat a barking cough in a child. Almost all asthma in spray tubes contain a significant percentage of hormonal components, whose use could be regulated solely by the physician.

When the barking cough of the baby is accompanied by a noisy breath and observed retraction of the jugular fossa, it is necessary to urgently call an ambulance and don't stop doing steam inhalation. In some cases, the expert shall designate the inhalation of drugs such as Pulmicort or Benacort that stimulate expectorant process.

For this you can use the following similar facilities: Doctor, Chest, Mucosolvan, Geelix, Ambrobene, Mukaltin and many others who are in almost every pharmacy.

It is important to understand that when the dry barking cough it is necessary to take all available measures in order to come to a wet. Thereby, the system displays the viruses and toxins from the body.

In addition to the use of drugs should reconsider your diet, for example: eat more fruits and vegetables and everything that may be needed to maintain or enhance the immune system of the child.