RSU Expert: What to Do If Your Child Has a Cough

Coughing is the body’s defence mechanism – a natural reflex with the main aim to expel foreign particles from the respiratory tract. The most frequent reason for a cough in childhood are viral infections and up to the age of 5, children are likely to have up to eight such infections per year. This is normal and usually does not require hospitalisation or the use of antibiotics. Assistant at Rīga Stradiņš University and paediatrician, Ieva Nokala explains in which situations a child’s cough can be treated at home and when you should seek the advice of your family doctor or head to hospital so that the child’s life is not put at risk.

Viral infections that cause a cough usually last five days. If the child has no other significant complaints, he or she should spend five days recovering at home. The child should drink plenty of fluids, and the room should be well-ventilated. Occasionally, a cold may cause a cough due to rhinorrhoea in the nasal cavity as the contents of the nose end up in the throat and this leads to an irritation, which ends up as a cough.

If the child has a cough, he or she should be taught to place the hand or  – even better –the elbow over the mouth, as in this case, carriers of the infection do not end up on the hands, which we use to touch various surfaces.

Parents should seek the advice of the family doctor if the cough is accompanied by the following:

• if the fever continues for three days, it becomes more frequent or does not respond to fever-reducing medication,
•  a wheezing or whistling sound in the child’s chest,
• the patient is an infant and because of the cough the child has difficulty eating or you notice more cases of reflux.

Parents should head to the hospital if the cough is accompanied by the following:

• the fever does not reduce at all with the use of fever-reducing medication or if the fever peaks too frequently,
•  if the child complains of chest pain,
•  if breathing is rapid or laboured, if the shoulders or ribcage are elevated or nasal flaring occurs,
• if the child’s lips turn blue, 
•  breathing becomes extremely loud and irregular, 
•  if the child appears to be extremely unwell.

Parents should bear in mind that it is up to the doctor to decide whether an x-ray is required, as this examination is not necessary in all cases. Besides, most often the cough is caused by a number of viral infections, and they do not require treatment with antibiotics.

 “After an acute illness the child may cough for another two weeks, but it should diminish gradually. If this is not the case, then you should turn to the doctor,” says paediatrician Ieva Nokalna.