The child coughs repeatedly, sometimes for a month, the parents are anxious to seek medical treatment, afraid of coughing up pneumonia.
The circle of friends and the many "cough remedies" in a red book are quite heartwarming, especially salted oranges and rock sugar pears, which look like a dessert and can stop coughing?
And many people say that they have eaten it since they were young, and now the effect of giving it to their children is just as good.
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In addition, there is white radish water, kumquat sauce, autumn pear paste... I heard that the effect is very good. Especially for children who do not like to drink water, the sweet rock sugar pear water and kumquat water are simply "hydrating recipes".
Some people think that even if the child does not cough, they can often eat some to replenish water and "maintain" the body.
So, are they really effective for coughing, and is eating them regularly good for the body? Today we will ask Dr. Fan Yunzhu, attending physician of the Pediatric Department of Lilac Clinic, to analyze and analyze.
Is home remedies really reliable?
From the perspective of modern medicine, warm liquid and sweet foods can effectively alleviate cough symptoms, and salt-steamed oranges, rock sugar pears, kumquat sauce, and pear paste do indeed occupy these two advantages.
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So it seems that the home remedies are very reliable? This is not the case.
These foods do alleviate cough symptoms to some extent, but the safety risks cannot be ignored.
According to the dietary habits of Chinese, children with a normal diet may exceed the daily intake of sodium. If you add an additional salt steamed orange, it is not cost-effective to increase the risk of future hypertension and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
The excess sugar in pear paste and rock sugar sydney pear, often eaten will develop a child's sweet taste, adding unnecessary health risks to children, for children who have obesity or high risk of obesity, the risk is even greater.
In addition, some commercially available pear pastes and kumquat sauce may add some unclear ingredients in violation of the law, which is not recommended from a health point of view.
How good is the cough?
Some people may wonder, the child's cough is indeed good after eating, its "curative effect" is still very obvious, it seems that it is okay to try it occasionally?
But are coughs really "cured"?
We have also said before that cough is not a disease, it is a symptom and does not need treatment. For example, colds, tracheitis, pneumonia, may cause cough, but these diseases are not caused by cough, let alone cough pneumonia.
Coughing is uncomfortable, but it helps to remove sputum, dust, pathogens, etc., and is actually protecting the lungs.
Once a cough occurs, the cause of the cough should be found and prescribed, rather than simply treating the cough, that is, "cough stop".
Sometimes we feel that the use of certain drugs and folk remedies is effective, and may just catch up with the node of self-healing of the disease, which is purely coincidental.
For example, everyone knows that the common cold is a self-limiting disease, and it can heal itself without taking medicine. Without intervention, the course of the disease will generally enter the recovery period after 6 to 7 days, and the symptoms such as cough and runny nose caused by it will also be significantly alleviated.
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At this time, whether you eat salted steamed oranges, rock sugar pears or otherwise, it will not affect the recovery of the disease, so it will create an illusion of "I ate salt steamed oranges so I coughed well".
In fact, this is the body's immune system defeating the virus, and the credit really should not be attributed to "dietary therapy".
It's like many girls will feel much more comfortable drinking brown sugar water when they are in the big aunt, but in fact, the hot water plays a role, rather than really can relieve pain.
Moreover, if you blindly think that the folk remedy can stop coughing, but thus cover up the real cause, it will cause greater health risks to the child.
Effective relief
Measures of cough discomfort
No need to cough, which means that when the child coughs, parents can only be anxious?
It should be emphasized here that not blindly suppressing cough does not mean that children cannot intervene when they cough.
It is appropriate to take measures that can help your child relieve cough discomfort without increasing side effects.
Eat honey or drink honey water
Compared with the above therapeutic remedies, honey is more recommended from the perspective of effectiveness, safety, and convenience.
It has the effect of relieving cough, diluting sputum and nasal discharge, relieving sore throat, and can be said to be a major "carry handle" in the field of cold and cough diet therapy, especially for alleviating nighttime cough.
Children over 1 year old can consume about 0.5 to 1 tablespoon (about 2.5 to 5 mL) of pure honey 2 to 3 times a day. You can eat it directly before going to bed during coughing times, or you can drink it several times during the day after diluting it with water.
Sometimes when you drink honey, you will feel that although your cough is better, your phlegm has increased, because honey can promote the secretion of the respiratory mucosa, dilute the sputum, and in fact help relieve the cough.
Drink warm / sweet liquid
Drink some warm boiled water, breast milk, juice and other supplementary liquids appropriately to soothe coughs caused by throat and tracheal discomfort.
Of course, the "liquid" here should be appropriate, not as water as milk to drink, the ingredients should also be in line with the age of the child and the corresponding complementary food situation:
For infants over 6 months and under 1 year old who cannot drink honey, warm boiled water, breast milk, 50% apple juice, corn syrup are good choices; for children over 6 years old, in addition to the above liquids, a moderate amount of hard candy and lollipops are also a choice.
Nasal saline or sea saline
Nasal reflux is one of the common causes of cold coughs and chronic coughs. Moreover, cough receptors exist in the nasal cavity, and when stimulated by pathogens and secretions, they can also induce coughing.
Using physiological seawater to drip, spray, atomize, and wash the nasal cavity can remove nasal secretions, dust, pathogens, etc., and help relieve cough, nasal congestion, and runny nose.
Adjust humidity and temperature to improve air quality
Air pollution, too dry or too cold, will stimulate the respiratory mucosa, aggravate cough symptoms, through air purifiers, air conditioners, humidifiers, etc. to adjust the room temperature to 20 ~ 26 °C, humidity 40% ~ 60%, can make children more comfortable, but also help to alleviate symptoms.
Therefore, if the child coughs, parents do not have to be anxious, after all, the cough is protecting the body.
As long as the child's mental state is good, breathing is stable, there are no other symptoms of discomfort, and the severity of cough and runny nose is in line with the development changes in the above figure, care and keep observation.
If there is no significant improvement in more than 1 week, it is recommended to seek medical treatment to evaluate the cause.