In childhood, everyone gets sick. Someone is rare, others - almost constantly. For most mothers, wheezing in children, redness of the throat, or fever is a real disaster. Undoubtedly, none of these signs portends anything good, but still parents should not panic and call a doctor or emergency care for the usual symptoms of a cold.
What is wheezing?
This term, as a rule, refers to extraneous noise heard during breathing. It can be more difficult to determine in children than in adults. First, the sounds made by the respiratory system at different ages are different (which is considered normal). For example, children from one to seven years often have symptoms characteristic of acute respiratory viral infections in adults. It's about hard breathing. With age, they themselves go away. Secondly, a wheezing in a child without temperature can be difficult to listen to, because the baby feels well and does not want to sit quietly for a whole minute and breathe at the command of parents or doctors.
What are they like?
Wheezing in children, as in adults, is divided primarily by their location. They are pulmonary, bronchial or tracheal. There are frequent cases when extraneous sounds when breathing come from the nasopharynx or throat. This happens after long shouts (they say that the child is hoarse). Or a symptom is a clear sign of an allergic reaction or a beginning SARS.
Wheezing in a child without fever, regardless of the source, does not require emergency medical care (provided that he is able to breathe independently and there are no signs of asphyxiation). However, it will not hurt to show it to the attending pediatrician, especially in cases where neither the reason for noisy breathing, nor its source is clear.
In addition to localization, wheezing is dry and wet, constant and periodic, whistling and crepitating. Sometimes they are heard when inhaling (then they are called inspiratory), and sometimes - when exhaling (expiratory).
How to hear wheezing?
Medical workers do this using a special device - a phonendoscope. It allows you to locally amplify sounds. Often, pulmonary or bronchial rales are clearly audible if you just lean your ear against your back or chest. There are also such diseases in which gurgling in the chest is impossible not to notice even at some distance from the patient.
If the sound source is the throat or nasopharynx, the noise is usually accompanied by pain, distortion of the voice and difficulty breathing.
Wheezing in a baby
In early childhood (especially up to a year), it is very difficult to diagnose and treat the disease. The baby cannot say what specifically bothers him. In this case, wheezing can be the result of a prolonged cry, as well as a complex (and sometimes even dangerous) disease in an infant .
It is not always easy for a mother to understand whether her child is suffocating or just crying for too long. Doctors advise you to pay attention to other symptoms. If the baby, once in his arms, immediately calms down, looks healthy and behaves normally (despite wheezing), you can not worry. In the case when a bluish tint appears on the skin, and breathing is clearly difficult - you need to sound the alarm. This can be a symptom of a cold or infection, or a more serious illness. Such signs also sometimes indicate the ingestion of foreign objects into the respiratory system. It is important that in all these cases, emergency medical assistance is required.
When to start worrying
Wheezing when breathing in a child is not in itself a cause for panic. But in conjunction with some other symptoms, they require immediate medical attention. “Ambulance” should be called if the child’s strong wheezing is accompanied by high fever (from 38 or more), repeated vomiting, markedly difficulty breathing (there is a risk of asphyxiation) or before the age of one year (if they have not passed within 5 minutes to exclude “False alarm” caused by a prolonged scream).
In all other cases, there is no need for urgent intervention by a specialist. If the child has a cough with wheezing, fever (within acceptable limits) and other signs of a respiratory infection, it is enough to call the local doctor.
Self-medication is permissible, when all the symptoms have already been observed previously, the specialist was diagnosed and treatment prescribed. A visit to the clinic will still have to be planned if the cough does not go away in a week, despite all the measures taken. A doctor should be invited to the house, even if the baby’s temperature is not very high, but it was not possible to normalize it in 7 days.
How to treat wheezing in a child?
The most correct answer to this question is what the specialist will appoint. However, knowing modern mothers (as well as grandmothers, by the way), it is worth assuming that no one will listen to him especially, and their own knowledge will be used.
If wheezing during breathing in a child occurs as a result of a usual viral infection, then they can be treated with medication (expectorant and anti-inflammatory drugs), folk (honey with milk, herbs, rubbing) and other methods (warming, inhalation). In some cases, it is necessary to use more serious drugs - antiviral and antibiotics. They should be prescribed by a doctor in accordance with the diagnosis and condition of the child.
Drug treatment
If a child has a cough with wheezing, and even dry, folk remedies here, most likely, can not do. After showing the baby to a specialist and making sure that this is the result of a common cold, you can start taking an expectorant or syrup. The latter option is good because most of these drugs have a pleasant sweet taste, so that the child will drink the medicine without harm. Although potions are more effective (especially one that is sold in powder form and requires dilution with boiled water). But children sometimes refuse tasty medicines, so they certainly will not drink unpleasant, and even more so bitter ones.
For older children, expectorant drugs in tablets or powders are quite suitable. Or medicine for adults (it is important not to make a mistake with the dosage). If the doctor has prescribed additional anti-inflammatory drugs, they should not be discarded either.
ethnoscience
If wheezing occurs in a child as a result of a complication of a viral infection or hypothermia, the treatment may not be medication (provided that the temperature is normal). We are talking primarily about decoctions of medicinal herbs. When coughing, mother-and-stepmother, thyme, licorice, elecampane helps well. You can remove the inflammation with an ordinary chamomile. There are special herbal fees that are sold at any pharmacy.
In addition, inhalation on pine buds or potato peelings helps cough and wheeze. But they are contraindicated at elevated body temperature. Buds of pine brewed in milk (a tablespoon per liter of liquid) are taken orally by 50 ml every 2 hours. An unreleased dry cough can pass literally in a day.
In the absence of an allergy to honey, nogogol is effective. Children enjoy eating it, perceiving it as a treat. A tablespoon of honey is mixed with softened butter and triturated with 2 egg whites with yolks. A mixture of 20 grams is enough, it is consumed half an hour before a meal. A contraindication may be an allergy to eggs or honey. Wheezing in children is perfectly cured by radish. In it, with the help of a knife, a depression is made, which is filled with honey. After a couple of hours, a sweet syrup is formed in this place, which children drink with pleasure. The procedure can be repeated throughout the day, after which they take a new radish.
Compresses
When a child has wheezing in his chest and breathing is difficult, ways to relieve it can be not only medicinal. Compresses are used mainly at night, provided that the body temperature is close to normal. This method of treatment is good both for infants and for older children.
The easiest and most enjoyable compress is potato. For this, the vegetable is peeled and boiled. Then push (without adding salt or fat) and place in a plastic bag, which is tightly tied. Then you need to wrap it with several layers of fabric (a towel is suitable) so that it is warm, but not hot. The bundle is placed on the baby’s chest and held for about an hour. From time to time, you need to remove 1 layer of tissue, adjusting the temperature as the potatoes cool.
Kids sometimes make mustard-honey cake, which also has a good warming effect. In equal parts take vegetable oil and vodka. Add the same amount of honey and mustard powder, as well as flour, to make a dense but soft dough. A cake is formed from it and laid on the chest or back (2 can be made). Having fixed it with a bandage, you can leave it until the morning. With an allergy to honey, this remedy is contraindicated.
Inhalers
They are steam and aerosol. The first allows you to treat inflammatory processes of the upper respiratory tract with the help of hot herbal decoctions or special solutions. They are used both for mild forms (laryngitis, acute respiratory viral infections, tracheitis), and for more serious diseases, for example, bronchitis. Aerosol prescribes a pediatrician, diagnosing complex forms. This applies to bronchitis and bronchial asthma. Any type of inhaler can be purchased at the pharmacy. Usually it is used in combination with other types of therapy. The essence of this device is to turn the drug into steam (by raising the temperature or under pressure) and deliver it directly to the respiratory tract.
Physical exercise
If the child breathes with wheezing, he has a dry cough and sputum does not go away, therapeutic exercises are often used to alleviate the condition. The main expectorant exercises are carried out upside down. For example, you can grab a child by the legs and walk around the room in his arms. Then perform a "birch". If the apartment has a horizontal bar, it should be hung upside down (but not very long). It will also be effective to tap a little on the chest and back of the baby. As a rule, if he does not have a temperature and overall well-being is within normal limits, such a charge will appeal to the baby.
When it comes to the baby, he is taken by the legs and slightly shaken upside down. Then tap on the chest and back. It will be useful to spread the child’s arms to the sides, then cross it on the chest. Massage of the chest and back (in the area of ​​the shoulder blades) is no less effective. They make it for kids with their hands, stroking and tapping. Older children perform vacuum massage with a can. The procedure is very unpleasant and even painful, but very effective. Helps even with bronchitis and pneumonia.
Allergic cough
Often, wheezing in children, cough, runny nose and swelling of the nasopharynx are the result of contact with external stimuli. As an allergen, plant pollen, animal hair, clothes, toys, food and drugs can act. Often, allergies go away on their own with age. Sometimes it remains for life. It is difficult to treat allergies, and since its manifestations are often accompanied by fever, respiratory edema and the risk of asphyxiation, the first priority is to combat the symptoms.
If the child has a similar reaction to any stimuli, then contact with them must be minimized (ideally, excluded). The first-aid kit should have the appropriate drugs - this is about decongestant and anti-allergic tablets, drops in the nose, etc. It is better to use them on the advice of a specialist, since self-medication in this case is the most dangerous.
Prevention
Of course, all parents dream about the health of their children. But very few carry out specific actions aimed at maintaining it. It is primarily about proper nutrition, regular physical activity, outdoor activities, nature walks and hardening. Children do not need to be wrapped and stuffed with antibiotics at the first symptoms of a cold. After all, immunity is developed precisely at this age. If it is constantly suppressed by excessive care and chemicals, as a result of a sick child will be an adult with a bouquet of chronic diseases.
Wheezing in children can be a sign of a variety of ailments, ranging from a common respiratory infection to complex bronchitis, pneumonia, and even asthma. Therefore, in the event that they do not pass and are accompanied by fever and other symptoms, you should consult a doctor.