Experienced parents know that it is quite possible to treat a children's cough with folk remedies at home. True, with the observance of some important rules and recommendations, as well as with exact knowledge of what exactly they are treating. This article will try to figure out whether it is possible to treat a cough without the use of medication in children over two years old and how to do it correctly.
Determine the type of cough
Treatment of cough should begin with finding out its causes, since this condition is not considered an independent disease. This is always a symptom of some kind of disorder in the body. Naturally, a doctor should be involved in diagnostics. Therefore, any, even home treatment, should begin with a trip to the clinic.
There is a cough that cannot be treated at home, because there are many reasons for the cough reflex in children. Most often these are respiratory viral infections (influenza, ARVI, ARI). Cough is a manifestation of allergies.
There is one more reason that is peculiar to children of 2 years old. They often accidentally inhale solid food particles or small parts of toys. A foreign body in the trachea or bronchi is a common problem in toddlers.
With a cough, children sometimes react to too dry or too humid air, to its pollution. The cough reflex can appear and persist for quite a long time in children who have experienced a strong nervous shock, in babies who are in a traumatic environment, or simply in overly impressionable and impulsive children.
Also, a cough can be an alarming symptom of cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis, coronary artery disease, evidence of malfunctioning of the pancreas, as well as an indirect sign of problems with the processes of hematopoiesis.
As we understand, it is absolutely impossible to treat such diseases with home remedies, it is so important for the poet to go to the doctor's office. Diagnostics is his profession.
Parents can independently determine the nature and type of cough. These data will help specialists as soon as possible find the cause and give or not give permission to use traditional medicine.
The nature of the cough is determined by its duration:
If the child "dies" up to 2 weeks Is an acute cough.
About a month - it is protracted.
If the cough continues for more than a month, this condition is called subacute.
The reflex that harasses the baby throughout two months or more, - chronic.
It is important to know the type of cough in order to determine the tactics of therapy. A dry cough is treated with antitussive drugs, and a wet cough is treated with mucolytic drugs, because with a dry cough, the child needs a decrease in the intensity of the reflex, and with a wet cough, a faster and more efficient removal of a large amount of sputum.
Identifying a species is pretty straightforward.
Dry
This is a rather painful, frequent, harsh cough, in which there is no temporary relief. No sputum. The child may complain of chest pain. Usually, a dry cough is at the very beginning of a respiratory viral disease, with a cold, allergic. Nervous coughs, too, are usually dry and unproductive. With tracheitis and pharyngitis, a child often has a dry barking cough, accompanied by a hoarse voice. At night, the unproductive reflex increases.
Wet
This is a productive cough, each attack of which is accompanied by sputum production. A large amount of secretion is formed in the bronchi, the task of which is to resist pathogens and viruses. This is phlegm. The task of parents and doctors is to help her get out, otherwise serious complications may develop. A wet cough is always audible - with seizures, the child has wheezing and gurgling in the bronchi.
When you can't do with only folk methods?
Traditional methods are not suitable in the presence of a foreign body in the respiratory organs. While parents, unaware of the true cause of the problem, prepare a warm drink and make compresses with honey for the baby, inflammation develops in the place where food crumbs or parts of toys are stuck, which can have more than sad consequences.
Folk remedies do not work on foreign bodies, an urgent bronchoscopy procedure is required and the removal of a foreign object outside.
The statistics of the Ministry of Health of Russia are scary: about 40% of toddlers (from one and a half to three years) who come to an appointment with complaints of a prolonged cough, which cannot be removed by anything, are sent for the procedure for extracting a foreign body, that is, babies inhale foreign objects much more often than adults think.
Folk remedies alone cannot relieve a child of an allergic cough, since complex treatment is required, finding and eliminating the source of the antigen protein. If a cough is just a small manifestation of a big problem (with a heart or hematopoiesis), there can be no talk of any folk remedies.
For all cases of cough in children, it is true that the cough will go away on its own, but only when its true cause is found and eliminated. Otherwise, the cough reflex will not respond to any therapy.
Effective folk remedies and methods
Doctors quite often give consent to home treatment for children with viral infections, acute forms of respiratory ailments.
At the age of over 2 years, recipes should be selected with extreme caution, because "nursery" children are very sensitive to many herbal preparations.
Until the age of three, it is not recommended to give honey, propolis, and many babies are contraindicated in cow's milk, since they have an increased sensitivity to cow protein, which is an antigen. Honey, milk and various plants are the three pillars of traditional medicine in treating coughs. Most of the recipes that can be found on the Internet are based on these ingredients. Therefore, be careful!
Children from 2 years old, provided that they do not have a tendency to allergies, can be given decoctions and infusions of medicinal herbs. For these purposes, you can use pharmacy chamomile, coltsfoot, licorice root. Barley broth, currant leaf teas, cranberry juice are very effective.
If the baby does not have an inadequate reaction to milk, you can use the “grandmother's” recipe: warm milk, butter, a spoonful of soda. Or prepare a milk-onion broth (onions are boiled in milk).
Garlic, or rather, a gruel of grated garlic, can be rubbed on the heels of the baby at night. This helps relieve the baby from a debilitating night cough.
From a strong night cough, cottage cheese will be relieved, which is put on gauze, wrapped with it on both sides. A layer of cling film is placed on the child's chest, and a curd compress is placed on top. It can be left overnight.
Mustard plasters for two years old and children under three years old are contraindicated. But you can make a dry mustard compress on the legs. To do this, put a little mustard powder in woolen socks, put on the child's socks and make him walk for about 15 minutes. Then the compresses should be removed and the feet should be washed with warm water.
Banks that were well-deserved respect from our mothers and grandmothers are not recommended by modern pediatricians. This procedure disturbs the already delicate balance of heat transfer in the child's body.
As an auxiliary treatment, inhalations with decoctions of medicinal herbs are recommended. A drop of eucalyptus or pine essential oil can be added to the kid if he does not have a tendency to allergies. Inhalation is usually reasonable to use only at the final stage of treatment and only with the permission of the doctor.
But vibration drainage massage for coughing is very effective at any stage of treatment. The baby should be put on his knees, his head should be below the level of the priests, face down. With fingertips, the adult taps on the back in the region of the lungs and on the ribs. Then the child is asked to stand up abruptly and cough. The exercise is repeated 7-10 times in one session. Up to 4-5 sessions can be done per day. This massage promotes the discharge of phlegm from the bronchi and a speedy recovery.
Tips
Microclimate correction
Parents must create the correct and favorable conditions for the child to breathe normally. A child cannot but cough, in whose apartment the air is too dry, and mothers care so much for the baby that they overheat the room. Dry air dries mucous membranes, including in the bronchi, the mucus becomes thicker, its discharge becomes a difficult task.
To cure the baby faster and easier, you need to change its microclimate. The optimum air temperature in the house is 18-20 degrees, not higher. Air humidity - 50-70%.
If you don't have a humidifier, you can hang damp towels and sheets at home. They must remain damp, and when dry, they must be wetted again.
Precautions
You can not do inhalations and put warming compresses for coughs on children with fever. This can increase inflammation. The ban also applies to children in whose sputum fragments of blood or pus are visible. Additional heating will lead to the speedy spread of the infection further.
General recommendations
Walking, breathing fresh air, running, jumping, playing sports with a cough is not only possible, but also necessary. Physical activity improves the process of dilution and discharge of phlegm from the bronchi. Naturally, if the child does not have a high fever.
Once the fever has subsided, bed rest should be canceled, as it will lead to stagnation of bronchial secretions.
