Cough at night in a child: how dangerous is it?

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Very often, at the pediatrician's appointment, parents complain of a cough at night in a child who torments the baby and does not let him sleep. But during the consultation with the pediatrician, no diseases are detected. The doctor says everything is normal. Maybe the doctor just missed the presence of the disease?

Cough is a protective reaction of the body, with the help of which it gets rid, for example, of mucus accumulated in the respiratory tract, and, accordingly, of pathogenic microorganisms. Thanks to this “sharp exhalation”, the bronchi, trachea and pharynx are cleared.

Is it always necessary to treat a child's paroxysmal cough at night? First, let's look at the reasons that cause it to appear. It arises as a result of irritation of some receptors, which are very sensitive to certain kinds of stimuli, in particular, to mucus. Such receptors are called "fast". But there are also “slow” ones that are sensitive to inflammatory processes. In the aggregate of their interaction, a cough appears at night in a child.

Exacerbation of any cough occurs at night. The thing is that in the child's nasopharynxthere is mucus that cannot be absorbed on its own. This leads to the formation of "plugs" that close the nasopharynx and cause irritation of "fast" receptors, which leads to bouts of reflex coughing. Parents should remember that coughing at night in a child can occur under the influence of too dry indoor air.

Many say that children cough from time to time during the day, but at night the attacks become more frequent and intense. After waking up, the baby expectorates sputum, coughs, and everything falls into place. The thing is that the child cannot completely get rid of the accumulated mucus at night, because the lying position makes it difficult.

The above was about the so-called physiological cough. In this case, no specific treatment is required.

But sometimes a cough at night in a child can be a sign of the development of the disease. In this case, you should immediately establish the cause of its appearance and treat it.

It turns out that this phenomenon is typical in the presence of gastro-food reflux, the essence of which is that the contents of the stomach return back into the esophagus, or even into the oral cavity, which causes coughing fits. If a child has a similar diagnosis, heartburn is also a characteristic symptom.

If you notice a coughing fit at night in a child, you must definitely find out its cause in order to eliminate the risk of developing certain diseases. Preventive measures in this case are temperature reductionin the room and an increase in humidity (if we are talking about the period of the heating season).

Children under six months should not be rubbed the chest, take antihistamines, and do steam inhalations to avoid accumulation of sputum. At night, it is advisable to periodically change the position of the child's body. Sometimes this is enough to keep him from coughing at all.