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Disease & Conditions

Cough

How To Help Your Child Stop Coughing

Cough: Child Cough

The key point here is that when you start to do this you may feel a little uncomfortable. In the past when there was a slight tickle in your throat or a feeling of 'lumpiness' in your chest, you coughed and had short term relief.

Now you must use your willpower to not cough at all if possible. If you absolutely must cough, you do one with your mouth closed. It is a bit like throat clearing before speaking. The air is released only through your nose.

If there is some mucus right there, obviously do not allow yourself to choke. The goal is to not allow any more CO2 to escape than necessary.

[Remember the more you cough, the more CO2 you release, the more mucus you produce, the more you cough.]

Within a short time of not coughing, and practicing 'shallow breathing' [which we will learn later it simply traps more CO2 in.], you will notice the 'tickle' has gone.

A little story about this relates to my partner's father. He at one time was the caretaker of quarters for temporary accommodation for children.

He had a simple rule that said that 'No-one is allowed to be ill'. He is a caring old marshmallow, but could give the impression of a stern military man. In their efforts to please him, the children would suppress their asthmatic [at that time called 'bronchitis'] cough. Within a short time even the urge to cough would be gone, and the child would have seemingly 'grown out of it.'

Coughing is often a very simple and effective way to get affection and attention for children. The mechanism is unconscious, but all they have to do is increase their breathing or run around madly with uncontrolled breathing, and the coughing or wheezing will start.

You may have seen children who become upset, carry on for a while, and then develop a really excellent 'asthmatic' attack. This is real asthma, not psychosomatic, it can be dangerous and is often fatal.

The rules are simple. They are not allowed to cough [the dry asthmatic cough], and must be very still and reduce their breathing just as the adults learn to do. A very effective asthma stopper in children is be very still, place their forefinger under their nose, and breathe in and out in such small breaths that they can hardly feel the air from their nose on their finger. ['Breathe like a tiny little mouse'] In a short time the attack will abate.

Obviously, you must use common sense in an emergency, and follow any medical regime outlined for the child. This technique should be learned by the child in a non-emergency, and be used at the first sign of any problems, to totally avoid the emergency situation.

In a large number of my personal cases, all that was required is an explanation to the child of the cause of the problem, a short practice on what to do if their throat gets 'tickley', and the general strict instructions to 'Keep your mouth closed' and 'Dont Cough'. [Unless they are choking.]

This one session is often sufficient to stop all symptoms of asthma.

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