Cough at night with the child: how dangerous is it?

Very often at a pediatrician's reception, parents complain of a cough at night with a child who torments the baby and prevents him from sleeping. But during a consultation with a pediatrician, no disease is detected. The doctor says that everything is normal. Maybe the doctor just missed the disease?

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

Is it always necessary to treat a paroxysmal cough in a child at night? First let's deal with the reasons that cause its appearance. It occurs as a result of irritation of some receptors, which are very sensitive to certain kind of irritants, in particular, to mucus. Such receptors are called "fast". But there are also "slow" ones, which are sensitive to inflammatory processes. In the aggregate of their interaction, a cough occurs at night in a child.

Exacerbation of any cough occurs at night. The thing is that there is mucus in the nasopharynx of the baby, which can not resolve itself. This leads to the formation of "stoppers", closing the nasopharynx and causing irritation of the "fast" receptors, which leads to attacks of reflex cough. Parents should remember that coughing at night in a child can occur under the influence of too dry air in the room.

Many people say that children cough from time to time, but at night the attacks become more frequent and intense. After awakening, the baby coughs up phlegm, clears throat, and everything falls into place. The thing is that a child can not completely get rid of accumulated mucus at night, because lying position makes it difficult.

Above it was a question of the so-called physiological cough. In this case, no specific treatment is required.

But sometimes coughing 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 specifically.

It turns out that this phenomenon is typical in the presence of gastrointestinal reflux, the essence of which is that the contents of the stomach returns back to the esophagus, or even into the mouth, which causes coughing attacks. If the child has a similar diagnosis, a characteristic symptom in this case is also heartburn.

If you notice an episode of coughing at night in a child, you need to find out its cause, in order to rule out the risk of developing certain diseases. Preventive measures in this case are reducing the temperature in the room and increasing the humidity (when it comes to the heating season period).

Children under six months can not carry out trimming the chest, take antihistamines, and do steam inhalations to avoid the accumulation of sputum. At night, it is desirable to periodically change the position of the child's body. Sometimes this is enough to prevent his coughing at all.