Dry Cough In Children

Dry cough in children may appear frequently throughout the year.  For this, it is best to be prepared. If you’ve recently wondered why your child coughs when he gets up or goes to bed, without an apparent cause, maybe it’s a dry cough.

It is considered a dry cough, that cough that does not cause expectoration, in other words, it is an unnecessary cough, since the person coughs, but no mucus comes out. Also, this type of cough is known as irritable cough and/or nervous cough.

Dry cough in children is not a strange thing. In fact, it is estimated that a child can have as many as eight flus a year, so coughing is a common nuisance. However, you should always look for the

pediatrician

and follow the guidelines before medicating your child on your own.

Differences between productive and unproductive cough

Imagine that something gets stuck in the airway. The mucous we have in them would be irritated, causing the cough reflex to expel whatever is hindering our breathing. This would be a productive cough, because it prevents suffocation, thus expelling what prevents us from breathing.

Dry cough also seeks to regain full freedom of the airways, but even if the muscular one is irritated, there is nothing there that is hindering breathing. It is, then, a compulsive cough that seeks to open the airways, but causes the opposite.

Causes of dry cough in children

There are many factors that can cause dry cough in children:

• Allergic reactions.
• Dust suspended in the environment or chemical factors.
• Very dry environments, air conditioning.

• Diseases caused by gastric reflux.
• Irritation caused by a cold, flu, laryngitis or bronchitis.

Types of Dry Cough in Children

Depending mainly on the duration of dry cough in children, we can speak of two types:

1. Acute cough.   It does not last longer than 2 weeks, and is usually caused by a viral infection of the upper tract.

2. Chronic dry cough. It exceeds 3/4 weeks in duration. It can be specific or non-specific if there is some other unapparent problem.

It’s difficult to interpret what type of cough it is or what the cause is, so don’t hesitate to see your pediatrician when your child has these

cough episodes

.

Dry Cough Remedies in Children

The fact that dry cough turns out to be very uncomfortable – and even tiring – for children,  the best we can do is find a solution for it, when we have consulted the pediatrician about what we can do. The most common recommendations for treating dry cough are usually these:

• Cold drinks (water or juices from

  fruits

  not citrus). Think about skin irritations, why can’t we put hot things on them? They don’t need to be chilled, simply at room temperature or a little cooler.

• Humidifier. One

  humidifier

  in your bedroom will increase the level of humidity, moisturizing your airways and reducing irritation.

  • You can add essences with different components to the water: eucalyptus, bay leaf, among others similar.

• Steam baths. Steam also opens the airways. The ideal for this to take effect is that your child is at least 20 minutes in a steam bath. Bathe with very hot water.
• 1 spoonful of honey with lemon before bed. Before bed and just after getting out of bed, your child will be more likely to have bouts of dry cough.
  • This happens when he is in a horizontal position, which increases the feeling of irritation and suffocation. So, the best thing is to take a spoonful of honey, which will impregnate your throat and will relieve the irritated mucosa, putting an end to coughing attacks.
  • When children are very young, they can hardly control the urge to cough at the irritation of the airways, in which case it is best to give them a good spoonful of honey with lemon.

Besides these

home remedies

, don’t forget to look for a doctor, this is important to take care of the child’s health properly.