The most common cause of cough is a respiratory tract infection, such as a cold. Young children usually have six to 12 respiratory tract infections per year, usually caused by viruses. Antibiotics don't help with coughs caused by viruses.
If your child has had a cough that's lasted longer than 3 weeks, see a GP. If your child's temperature is very high, or they feel hot and shivery, they may have a chest infection. You should take them to a GP, or you can call 111.
Your child has a persistent daily cough that lasts more than four weeks. Your child has a cough combined with fast breathing. Your child has a high fever, especially if he's coughing but does not have a runny or stuffy nose. Your child can't speak normally because of coughing.
Lockwood recommends trying ice pops or smoothies. If your child is one year old or older, give them warm apple juice, milk or decaffeinated tea with honey in it. The warm liquid can soothe their throat and loosen the mucus. Help clear their chests with a cool mist humidifier or steamy shower.
Common causes of cough include: Infection. Colds, flu, and croup can all lead to a lingering cough for kids. Colds tend to cause a mild to moderate hacking cough; the flu a sometimes severe, dry cough; and croup has a "barking" cough mostly at night with noisy breathing.
Asthma, allergies, or a chronic infection in the sinuses or airways also might cause lasting coughs. If your child still has a cough after 3 weeks, call your doctor.
Most people with asthma have a dry cough, one that does not produce mucous. This happens when the airways constrict in response to an irritant and is a feature of asthma. As well as the cough there is often a high-pitched wheeze sound that is also caused by the constricted airway.
Often, coughing is normal. Healthy school-aged children typically cough between 10 and 34 times daily.
The four main types of coughs are: wet, dry, paroxysmal and croup. Most coughs do go away on their own.
Chronic dry coughs are usually caused by irritation from cigarette smoke, environmental irritants, allergies, post-nasal drip, or asthma. Several chronic lung diseases also cause a dry, hacking cough. Some people cough out of habit for no clear reason. Gastric reflux may also cause a chronic dry cough.
Coughing or wheezing is more likely to be your child's asthma if: they're coughing or wheezing more at night or early in the morning. their cough or wheeze won't go away or keeps coming back. they wheeze without other cold symptoms.
If your child has a cough that lasts more than two to three weeks, schedule a visit with your physician. Coughing that lasts more than two weeks is considered chronic. It may be caused by asthma, allergic rhinitis (hay fever), reflux or other causes. An allergist is often the best specialist to determine the cause.
What is a heart cough? In heart failure, your heart muscle has dysfunction that might be due to weak contraction or stiffness. This can allow fluid to back up in yout lungs, creating a condition called pulmonary edema. Your body coughs persistently in an effort to eliminate the excess fluid.
Call your doctor if your cough (or your child's cough) doesn't go away after a few weeks or if it also involves any one of these: Coughing up thick, greenish-yellow phlegm. Wheezing.
You should see a doctor if your cough brings up yellowish-green phlegm or blood. A cough that doesn't produce mucus is called a dry or nonproductive cough. Acute cough is the least serious type of cough. It only lasts for three weeks or less and will most likely clear up on its own.
Uncontrollable Coughing
Whooping cough is the most serious of these different types of coughs, and it is characterized by deep, fast coughing that gets worse at night and that is followed by a deep inhale that often makes a “whoop” sound.
Asthma can begin at any age, but it most often starts during childhood when your child's immune system is still developing. Most children who get asthma have their first symptom by age 5.
An allergy cough happens when you breathe in a substance (allergen) that your immune system recognizes as dangerous, though it's not. The cough is typically dry and non-productive, meaning it doesn't bring up mucus. It is sometimes described as having a "barking" or "hacking" sound.
Cough-variant asthma is one of the most common causes of chronic cough, which is a cough that lasts longer than 6-8 weeks. The coughing with asthma can occur during the day or at night.
A bronchitis cough sounds like a rattle with a wheezing or whistling sound. As your condition progresses, you will first have a dry cough that can then progress towards coughing up white mucus.
Quick relief (relievers): All children with asthma need quick-relief medicine to treat coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath or an asthma attack. Your child should have this medicine with them (typically an inhaler) at all times and use it at the first sign of symptoms.
Viral coughs most often last for 2 to 3 weeks. Sometimes, your child will cough up lots of phlegm (mucus). The mucus can normally be gray, yellow or green. Antibiotics are not helpful.