Treatment of dry cough in a child with folk remedies

A dry cough is a rather painful condition for children. The attacks torment the baby constantly, but there is no relief. You can help him with quite traditional medicines from the pharmacy, but many parents prefer folk remedies that quickly and effectively relieve the child from suffocating attacks. We will talk about such recipes from the arsenal of alternative medicine in this article.

Features:

Cough is not an independent disease, it is just a symptom indicating that something has gone wrong in the child's body. And, before deciding on the treatment of this symptom, you need to understand that a reasonable approach is when the cause is treated, not the effect. To find it, see your doctor.

Cough in children is most often associated with acute respiratory infections, flu. However, it is possible that foreign objects enter the respiratory tract. In addition, children often suffer from allergic coughs. There is even a nervous cough reflex, mainly in children who are hyperexcitable and restless, subject to severe stress.

The duration of the cough is acute, prolonged, subacute and chronic. An ailment that torments a baby for no longer than 2 weeks is called acute. If a child has been coughing for about a month, doctors talk about a protracted nature, and if about 2 months - about a subacute one. If you cannot cope with the problem for 8 weeks, then the child has a chronic ailment that will require long and serious treatment.

According to the timbre, the cough is divided into dry and wet. Dry is quite easy to recognize, since it is unproductive or unproductive, in other words, it is not accompanied by sputum separation. Sometimes it has the character of a barker, as the sound strongly resembles a dog's barking.

The cough reflex with dry cough occurs in response to irritation of the respiratory mucosa caused by viruses. That is why a dry cough is considered one of the clearest signs of the onset of influenza or ARVI. The allergic reflex is also usually dry. But in this case, irritation of the receptors is caused by allergens that the child inhales with the air (pollen, particles of household chemicals, polluted air, tobacco smoke, poisonous fumes).

With a nervous cough, the cause of receptor excitation should be sought in neuropsychic disorders, in psychosomatics. Neither medication nor folk remedies will be effective with it, since the nervous system needs to be treated, not the respiratory system.

Dry cough is characterized by an increased frequency of attacks, especially strongly he overcomes the child at night. At the same time, many children complain of sternum pain.

Parents should be aware that different types of cough are treated very differently. Wet requires the use of mucolytic and expectorant drugs, and with dry it is important to reduce the intensity of the cough reflex. With regard to the choice of folk remedies for treatment, the same rule applies. If a mother finds it difficult to determine the nature of her child's cough, it is not worth treating at random, it is better to consult a doctor.

Dr. Komarovsky will tell about the types, features and dangers of dry cough in children in the next video.

Causes of dry cough

As already mentioned, the most "harmless" and easily treatable cause of dry cough is the initial stage of influenza or acute respiratory viral infection. This happens most often, but do not forget that other diseases are accompanied by dry cough, and it is better not to even think about treating many of them at home:

Bronchial asthma. The dry harassing reflex in this disease has a paroxysmal character. Seizures are often accompanied by asphyxiation, and they require immediate use of the drug.
Pneumonia (pneumonia)... An unproductive cough in this disease is deaf, monotonous with frequent seizures, which intensify if the child is actively moving, running, breathing more often.
Various inflammations of the trachea, bronchi and larynx. The cough can be barking, rough, accompanied by a hoarse voice.
Pleurisy with dry flow. With him, a dry cough is very painful, the child is limited in movement, since any change in body position causes severe pain in the chest.
Malignant neoplasms (tumors) in the tissues of the respiratory system. The reflex with such a problem can manifest itself in different ways, so this condition is the most difficult to diagnose.
Whooping cough. An unproductive cough with this disease often ends with vomiting. Such a reflex practically does not lend itself to treatment with medications, but passes over time by itself.
Allergy. The cough reflex is permanent, the cough does not change the timbre and depth of sound. The mucous membranes of the nasopharynx have a grayish pale tint.
Pulmonary tuberculosis. An unproductive cough with this disease is long-term, protracted. Sometimes parents confuse it with chronic. This condition requires a prompt visit to the hospital, since tuberculosis is dangerous and contagious.

When you can't do only with folk remedies

Any fact of dry cough should alert sane parents and force them to make an appointment with a doctor. If the doctor confirms that the symptom is caused by a viral infection, you can treat it with a clear conscience at home, including folk remedies.

However, statistics are stubborn things, and they say that every fifth child, whom his mother brought to the doctor with complaints of a dry cough, actually inhaled a foreign body, for example, a small part from a toy. In this situation, folk remedies will not help; it is required to remove the object as soon as possible before severe inflammation begins.

Dry cough can be a symptom of coronary heart disease, and also indicate problems with hematopoiesis. These conditions require highly specialized treatment, of course, not with antitussive drugs and non-folk cough prescriptions.

That is why it is important to visit a doctor and undergo the necessary additional diagnosis.

Effective folk remedies and methods

When treating dry cough at home, parents should be very careful and respond to the slightest changes in the child's condition. A dry cough is a very insidious symptom. So, laryngitis, which is accompanied by this type of symptom, can turn into a complication in the form of a false croup. Without a quick response from parents and timely medical assistance, the child may suffocate. It is better if, before choosing a prescription for alternative medicine, the mother still consults with a doctor.

There are a great many recipes for dry cough. Let's look at the most famous, popular and proven by generations of children.

Pine buds

You can buy them at any pharmacy or prepare yourself. Add a tablespoon of aromatic pine buds to boiling milk (half a liter). Such a coniferous drink should be infused for at least 3 hours, then strain and give the child a quarter of a glass several times a day.

Onion with milk

A couple of medium-sized onions should be cut into rings or half rings and cooked in milk until tender (the rings should be soft). The drink is cooled, filtered and a teaspoon of linden honey is added. A single dosage is a tablespoon, the child should be watered often - every two hours for three days. This is usually enough to soften the cough and reduce its intensity. If the child is under 3 years old, you should not put honey in the drink, this can cause allergies. Replace the bee product with sugar or fructose.

Mustard

A useful product that will help quickly cure a dry cough. A tablespoon of mustard seeds should be mixed with a spoonful of vegetable oil, a spoonful of honey and two tablespoons of 9% vinegar. Heat all this, but do not boil. Mix two tablespoons of flour into the resulting mass and form cakes. Put damp gauze, a layer of cling film on the chest and back of the child, put warm mustard cakes and cover with cotton wool. This compress can be left on for 4 hours.

In no case should the procedure be carried out for infants, since all the ingredients are strong allergens, and heating can disrupt the baby's heat exchange.

Barley

100 grams of barley grains are ground into powder, pour 250 ml of water and brew in a water bath for 30 minutes. Then the resulting liquid is insisted, filtered and given to the child warm several times a day. Such a recipe has practically no age restrictions; it can be given to children under one year old and children older.

Pine nuts

In milk (1 liter), boil 50 g of unpeeled pine nuts or a whole pine cone. Strain, cool. Give the child 1-2 tablespoons 5-6 times a day.

Garlic ointment

Several large cloves of garlic need to be chopped or rubbed on a fine grater, mixed with badger fat or liquid paraffin, insisted in the refrigerator and rubbed into the child's heels with a dry cough overnight.

Ginger

The ginger root should be washed, peeled, grated or finely chopped. Such a mass for one serving of the drink will be required at the tip of a teaspoon. Pour boiled but not boiling water over the ginger, let it brew. Add currant juice, raspberry juice, honey or sugar if necessary and let your child drink at night.

Inhalation with essential oils

For such procedures with an unproductive cough, it is best to use eucalyptus and fir oils. Do not drip too much of them, 1 drop is enough. Together with oils, use medicinal plants and preparations for inhalation that have antitussive properties - sage, coltsfoot.

Compresses

Compresses for an unproductive cough can be made from cottage cheese, from calcined salt. The main rule is no compresses and inhalations if the child has a fever. First you need to reduce the fever, and only then proceed to warming up procedures.

Tips

In the home where a child with an unproductive cough lives, create optimal environmental conditions. They will help you recover faster, and in the future will be an excellent prevention of respiratory diseases. The air in the apartment should not be too dry. To do this, use special humidifiers, bringing the humidity level to 50-70%. If there is no such device, you can hang wet towels over the batteries and make sure that they do not dry out.
The air temperature, which promotes recovery, is not higher than 19 degrees. The room must be ventilated several times a day and wet cleaning must be done at least once a day.
For inhalations, which are very effective for dry coughs, use a special device - an inhaler. If, like half a century ago, you cover the baby with a blanket and make him breathe over boiled potatoes, you can complicate his already significant health problems with burns o = mucous membranes of the nasopharynx, trachea and bronchi.
The best procedure to accompany the treatment of an unproductive cough is drinking plenty of warm drinks. It will promote the formation of phlegm, which will turn the cough into a productive one and the child will recover much faster.
If folk remedies, despite all your efforts, could not cope with a dry cough, you need to see a doctor. The "critical" period is 2 weeks from the start of therapy. If there is no relief, sputum does not form, the intensity of the cough does not decrease, additional symptoms (fever) appear, this is a reason to stop home treatment and go to the medications prescribed by the doctor.