Question
My 5-month-old baby has been coughing for a long time and it hasn’t completely gone away. A few days ago, I took him to see a doctor, and he took medication, received injections, and even tried traditional Chinese medicine, and it got better for a few days. It’s been five and a half months since he got a cold on the third day of the Chinese New Year. He had a runny nose, sneezing, coughing, but no fever, and he occasionally spit up milk. What medicine can I give him to treat this?
Answer
The child’s intermittent coughing could be due to recurrent colds or possibly related to allergic coughs or infections by mycoplasma or chlamydia. Here are some steps you can take:
- Have blood tests done to check for mycoplasma and chlamydia antibodies to rule out infections. If your child is indeed infected with mycoplasma or chlamydia, treatment with azithromycin can be effective for two to four weeks.
- Consider testing medications like ketotifen and salbutamol for diagnostic treatment. If the child’s cough significantly improves, it may indicate an allergic cough.
- Always be mindful of taking proper precautions against the cold, especially strengthening the warmth around the knees. When feeding or bathing the child, move quickly to prevent catching a cold. However, avoid over-warming as excessive sweating without timely drying can lead to catching a cold. Therefore, always wipe the child dry if they sweat.
- You can use ginger water to bathe your child to expel the cold and relieve symptoms; continue this for a month as it may help lower the child’s resistance.
- Use a nasal aspirator or bulb syringe to remove mucus from the child’s nose.