Question
A child always has occasional coughs, what’s going on? The child coughs a few times a day, feels like there’s phlegm but can’t cough it out. What medicine can help?
Answer
Coughing is not a disease in itself but a defensive reaction to clear foreign objects from the respiratory tract. Mild coughing is harmless and can be treated by addressing the cause, without the need for cough suppressants. However, if coughing causes discomfort, cough suppressants can be considered. There are many causes of coughing, including acute and chronic inflammation of the respiratory tract, foreign objects in the respiratory tract, compression of the respiratory tract, and allergic reactions. For children who frequently cough, it is first necessary to comprehensively analyze the condition and identify the cause. On the basis of treating the cause of the disease, appropriate cough suppressants should be selected for symptomatic treatment. Medications such as pediatric cough and asthma elixir powder and Chuan Bei Qing Fei syrup can be considered.