My child is coughing. What should I do?
How to stop?
Before doing anything, let's find out why the child is coughing. So what is a cough? Disease? No. This is not a disease, but a child's protective response to an infection or foreign body. This is a sign of illness. Cough is warning us. The child is signaling that there is a problem with the airways. Now let's change the question. We need to eliminate the cause of the cough, not the cough. There are many reasons. The diagnosis is different. We have no right to arbitrarily prescribe medicine without a diagnosis.
What to do then?
Of course, you should consult a doctor. The drug should only be prescribed by a doctor!
But we do the opposite and make a mistake. What mistakes would you say? Read the examples here and draw conclusions.
❌ Before going to the doctor, we open the medicine box at home. 3-4 months ago, when his brother had a cold, we gave him "Horse Cough". But the patient is 6 years old and the boy is 6 months old. Can I give the medicine given to a 6-year-old child to a 6-month-old child? Why not now? It will be. After all, the pill can be divided into 4 or 8. Here is a ready-made children's dose for you.
❌ Which drug was advertised on TV? Linkas, Septolete, Ambrobene... I think... it's good to have. After all, he said that he would fix it in an instant.
❌ Going to the polyclinic, waiting in line, seeing the doctor, looking for the medicine prescribed by the doctor in pharmacies... I will go to the right pharmacy instead of bothering so much. Pharmacists are now better able to prescribe medicine than doctors.
❌ The best treatment is natural treatment without any chemicals. At home, there is so much grass growing in the yard. We boil it and drink it, take a bath, add soda and inhale, etc. We forgot about the smell. What was my neighbor saying yesterday, did he say that I drank milk with honey and garlic? What if I add lemon juice? After all, lemon is also useful.
❌ Ask my mother, what do they advise? Although they are not doctors, they raised 4 children.
(Here we learn strictly forbidden methods that were once used by our mothers)
"Make mustard, grind walnuts and add honey to figs and eat, put in a jar, wipe your throat with iodine 😨"
After reading the above examples, some of you got angry and some of you got goosebumps. After all, there are many people who are cursing that it is not possible to give advice on what to do without criticizing.
So let me go to the main topic. Is the child coughing? What else can we parents do besides the doctor's prescription? How can we help a child who is coughing?
1. Ventilate the room.
2. Wipe off the dust.
3. Wash the child's toys.
4. Boil everything for 3-5 minutes if you use a bottle and teats.
5. Take the child for a walk in the fresh air. Don't do extremes like rain, snow, cold. Dress the child according to the weather and take a walk, even for 10 minutes, in places sheltered from the rain.
6. The most important thing is that the air in the house should be dry, humid and not hot. For this, you can use a modern room vaporizer (otparivatel). Or use what you have on hand. Using a steam iron for a few minutes can moisten the air.
7. Make the child drink a lot of LIQUID. The more fluids the better.
