Question
My child is two months old and coughs one or two times a day, with slight phlegm. What medication should I use for treatment?
Answer
Western medicine views coughing not as a disease itself but as a symptom that can be present in many illnesses. An infant’s cough is a protective reflex to clear mucus or foreign objects from the respiratory tract. In other words, coughing is a protective physiological phenomenon in babies. However, if the cough is too severe and affects eating, sleeping, and rest, it loses its protective significance. Therefore, for an infant’s cough, it is crucial to determine the cause and then treat it specifically. One should never assume that a child’s coughing means they have a fever or pneumonia and proceed with blind treatment.