Treating kids' Cough with raisins and nuts

Kids' Cough: Treating with raisins and nuts

Barky cough? 

Whooping cough?

Whistling sounds?? 

Night time cough? Here's the solution......

Which type of cough is your kid suffering from?

Let us talk about the remedies.

Can raisins and almonds cure cough in children?

Is ginger effective for children in any kind of coughs?

What is cough?

A cough is a common reflex action that clears the foreign particles or mucus from the throat. The foreign particles may be dust, irritants or perhaps fluids. 

Cough is a very common symptom in any child. If a child coughs while eating once or twice then no need to worry about it but frequent coughing is a symptom of disease. Most of the time irregular coughing is caused by infection in the respiratory tract but children could also suffer from Asthma, Gastroesophageal reflux disease and the most common now-a-days is air pollution. 

A child's cough mostly sounds awful but it is not serious ailment if the condition improves after 48 hours. This awful sound could remain for 2 or 3 weeks.

There are mainly two types of cough for common people i.e,

Dry cough and  Wet cough

Dry cough

It is caused by viral infections or allergies.Dry cough means it does not produce mucus. Common cold is the most important reason of viral infections in children. When small children aged 3 or more starts schooling, the number of infections could increase due to dusts and pollutants in the air or if any other child in her surrounding is suffering from infections, she may get infected.  

When non-smokers get sudden contact with the smokers then they may get effected as passive smoking is more dangerous than active smoking. In the cases of children, they get infections very fast due to their low immunity. There are many immunity boosters present in the market for your child but healthy food is the most important among them. 

Acid reflux  

Acid reflux is very much responsible for dry cough. It is a digestive disease in which stomach acid irritates the food pipe lining. This is very common in infants. One of the most important reason in case of small babies is that they always lay down on the bed. In acid reflux, a child feels a burning pain that may move from his stomach to his abdomen or chest, or even up to his throat. A bitter or sour tasting acid backing up into a kid's throat or mouth. Other symptoms could be bloating, vomiting, burping, hiccups, weight loss and the most important is dry cough.

 If your child is born with some birth defect like Tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF orTOF), he may take a long time to recover from Gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Tracheosophageal fistula is an abnormal connection in one or more places between the oesophagus and the trachea. Oesophagus is the part of the alimentary canal which connects the throat to the stomach. Trachea is the windpipe so it is responsible for allowing the passage of air.
Babies born with such birth defects start recovering from frequent coughs after the age of 5. Doctors suggest them to use inhalers and nebulizers to give relief from extreme cough. Nebulizers and inhalers are tools of asthma medicines to be given out to your kid. These tools are very much effective but you should know to use it properly and measure the appropriate medicine to be filled in as prescribed by your doctor. There are some side effects also while using these tools so you should not use unless prescribed by your doctor. Don't allow your child to play with these tools as they may get damage and in case of inhalers your kid may use more puffs which could be dangerous. Nebulizers work with electricity so never allow little children to switch it off or on. All the processes should be done with precaution.

          Nebulizer

Wet cough

Wet cough is also known as productive cough as it produces mucus. The difference between dry and wet cough is only that dry cough produce a little of mucus. 

Wet cough is also caused by viral infections and may be responsible for common cold, bronchitis or pneumonia.

 Symptoms of Wet Cough

Breathlessness

Common cold

Flu

Chest pain

Mild cough

Awful sound

Body pain

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is a lung infection with a number of possible causes. It could be due to extreme cold and cough, allergies, bacteria, viruses, aspiration. One or both the lungs could be infected. Your child's X- ray would show the white patches nearby the area of infected lung. After completing the whole process of treatment i.e. a complete course of antibiotics these white patches remains for longtime in your X-rays.  So doctors take X-rays after a week or more to confirm the difference with the previous X-rays. 

In the case of pneumonia your child becomes very sick and looks unhealthy. 

Symptoms of pneumonia

Cough (may be persistent) 

Fever

Trouble in breathing

Loss of appetite

Looks unhealthy

 Aspiration pneumonia

Aspiration pneumonia is a type of lung infection which is caused by the amount of substance entering into the lungs from the stomach or mouth. The main symptoms are fever and cough. You can give paracetamol to your child if fever is above100 degrees of thermometer scale. Aspiration pneumonia is rare in case of normal child but children with low immunity, prematurely born and birth defects like tracheoesophegeal fistula suffers a lot from this disease and tackles a frequent number of infections. Since there is abnormal connection between the food pipe and windpipe in tracheoesophegeal fistula so food offered  often reflux and enters the lungs of the child to aspirate. 

Different types of coughs according to doctors

Barky cough

Whooping cough

Cough with whistling sounds

Night time cough

Daytime cough

Cough with a fever

Cough with vomiting

Persistent cough

Barky cough 

 Barky coughs are usually caused by swelling in the upper airways. It means that barky cough is the swelling of the larynx and the trachea. Voice box is called larynx. Kids younger than 3 are more at risk for barky cough as their airways are so narrow. Croup is the main reason for barky cough. Croup is a condition that irritates your child's upper airways and causes them to swell. So it becomes difficult for your child to breathe. Breathing becomes noisy and while coughing it sounds like a dog barks. This harsh noise is called stridor. Stridor is a noisy harsh breathing that happens when the child inhales. 

Symptoms

Mild cough that sounds like a dog barks

Low fever

May or may not be runny nose or sneezing

Whooping cough

 Whooping cough is also a type of cough having low grade fever with deep breathing. Your child wakes up at night more often.

The most important thing to be notice is DTap vaccines ( Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis). The kids should get the vaccine in time as it is very contagious.

Symptoms

Runny nose

Sneezing

Mild cough

Low grade fever

Cough with whistling sounds

It is also called wheezing cough. It may be due to asthma or viral infections. Asthma is the disease which causes your airways to become inflamed or partially blocked. This condition worsens the child's health. Your child may need inhalers and nebulizers in such condition but only if doctor prescribes. Asthma is not easy to diagnose as symptoms vary from child to child. Such children are more concerned to allergies. In some cases, your child is prescribed anti-allergic like Allegra, Leveta- M etc for a long time. If the case is worst your child is prescribed with a low dose antibiotics like Septran or Bactrim for a long term course.

Symptoms

Trouble in breathing (asthma)

Cough

Fever

Night time cough

As the name suggests this type of cough gets worsen at night. When your child has a cold, the mucus from the nose and sinuses can drain down the throat and triggers a cough during sleep.

Symptoms

More coughing at night
Breathing distress
Mild fever
Vomiting

Day time cough

During the day time it effects more and nights are a little better. Don't use air fresheners in front of the children because it may be responsible for the infections. Dusts, pollutions, smoke etc. could effect the lungs of the babies. Pets are also responsible for infecting kids. So be careful if you have pets.
At the day time nasal drainage is reduced because your kid is active and almost in the standing or sitting position. When your child lay down the body becomes less active and during sleeping nasal congestion increases.

Cough with a fever

The common symptoms of cough are fever, runny nose, mild cold. Most of the infections come with a low grade fever to the children. But coughs with high fever could be due to pneumonia, especially if your child is weak and having trouble in breathing. In such situation call the doctor immediately.

Cough with vomiting

Kids often cough so much that it triggers their gag reflex, making them throw up. But vomiting is not a serious ailment as it can recover after few hours of medication.

For all type of coughs treatment and recovery depends on child's age, health and other issues. Medication can't cure cold and flu but a complete course of antibiotic (7 days  or more) can give relief to your child so that the recurrence of infection for a few days or months could be prohibited.
Never give cough medicines to children under the age of 4 as they are not approved. High dose of cough syrup can cause child's death.

What to avoid

Chocolates
Peppermint
Fried, spicy fatty foods
Caffeine and carbonated drinks

You should use  cow's pure ghee to make the food of your child as it is not harmful to health.

When to call a doctor

Trouble in breathing
Persistent vomiting
Face turns red or blue while coughing
Problem in swallowing
Seems fatigue
Chest pain
Stomach pain or irritation
High fever

Home made remedies are always best if they give best results.
There are home made medicines which give best results in cough.
It could also prevent cough to recur shortly.

Raisins, walnut and almond

Raisins are rich source of vitamin B, iron and potassium. Besides nutrients, raisins are also a good source of carbohydrates. They are best for gaining weight. Raisins are dried grapes with high nutritional value. 

Walnut

Walnut are rich in omega-3. They boost health and improve metabolism. They are also beneficial in regulating sleep and prevent cancer.

Almond

Almonds contain lots of healthy fats, fiber, protein, magnesium and vitamin E. They are quite beneficial in reducing blood sugar level and high blood pressure.

Soak raisins overnight. Mix soaked raisins with almond and walnut and grind the mixture in your mixer. You may require few drops of water while grinding. Let the child eat half spoon of this mixture everyday in the morning. You can also mix this mixture into their milk. This is very beneficial in improving your child's cough which occurs frequently.

Ginger and honey

Take few drops of ginger and warm it. Mix it with half tea spoonful of honey and let the child take it. Don't give this mixture to the infants as honey is prohibited to the babies less than 1.
You can also add jaggery (Gur)  in this  mixture to get best results and it would tackle the bitterness of ginger.

Milk and turmeric

Mix turmeric powder (pure) in  your child's milk to reduce cough. You can give this to your child for a long time. Turmeric can also be consumed with warm water. If cough is chronic use turmeric directly but the direct use of turmeric is not for children.

Jaggery and ginger

You can add jaggery with a few drops of ginger without honey. It also gives the best result.

Raisin and ginger

Raisins are always best in cough. Munakka is dried form of grapes. It is larger in size than normal raisins and gives more benefit.
Take a few drops of ginger and warm it. Mix munakka with it and give your child to eat. You can also give munakka by warming it in the pan with a little salt. It is quite tastier. It is especially for dry cough.

Things beneficial in all types of cough

Turmeric
Munakka (raisins)
Cinnamon
Ginger
Basil leaves
Fenugreek seeds
Grapes juice
Apple cider vinegar
Pepper
Eucalyptus oil

Mix turmeric, cinnamon and fenugeek seeds(powder).
Add few drops of ginger.
Boil basil leaves and take the remaining water(a little) to it.
Give your child to take this medicine in cough. This is the best of all the medicines. You can give this medicine twice a day.