What Causes Violent Coughing Fits and How Can I Stop Them?
Coughing fits are common among children. They cause anxiety, worry, fear, and stress. Children with asthma have a higher risk of having a violent coughing fit than other children. The reason why they do not only in the beginning but even later on in life is because it takes time to learn how to control their breathing during the day or night when they feel anxious or stressed out.
The best way to prevent coughing fits is to teach your child how to control their breathing during the day or night. There are many ways that you can do so. You could read books, watch videos, listen to music, play games, or just sit quietly with them while they sleep.
You may want to take advantage of the free online courses offered by your local library. These classes will give you tips on how to teach your child how to control their breathing during the day or night. These classes are usually taught by a medical professional such as a physician or any other breathing experts.
However, if you would like to try another technique, you could try the following method:
– Make sure that your child is in a comfortable position and is calm.
– Place one hand on their upper back and gently press down. This will prevent them from hunching up while they sleep.
– Place the other hand underneath their cheek. This will prevent them from turning their heads to the side.
– Try to keep as much of their body still as you can. Movement only increases stress and anxiety, causing an attack.
After your child is asleep, it is important that you do not wake them up after they have fallen asleep. Although tempting, this will cause even more stress and anxiety. The more they sleep, the better off they will be.
You may wake your child up if they have been asleep for a long time. Typically, children who have issues with coughing fits will sleep for long periods of time because their bodies are tired from all the stress and anxiety that they experience. Waking them up after they have slept for at least 4 hours is perfectly fine.
If you follow these steps, you should see an improvement in your child’s sleeping patterns. If you do not see any signs of improvement, seek medical attention immediately.
How to stop coughing fits in kids?
Coughing is one of the body’s natural defense mechanisms. The body coughs in order to get rid of unwanted elements such as mucus or dirt that has entered the body. In some cases however, coughing can be a cause for concern and may even be a symptom of an underlying disease or condition.
What causes coughing in children?
There are a number of reasons that may cause coughing in children. These include:
– The child is suffering from a respiratory infection such as the common cold. Other symptoms of this include nasal discharge, red and swollen nostrils, fever etc.
– The child is suffering from an allergy. Allergies often cause the lining of the nose to swell up which may lead to blockage of the nasal passage and hence cause coughing.
– The child has an infection in the ear. These are more common in children and may cause earache, discharge from the ear, as well as coughing.
– Foreign objects such as dust, dirt or sand in the throat or windpipe.
– Asthma. This is a condition that is caused by the airways becoming narrow and closing up. This makes breathing difficult and often causes a tight feeling in the chest and shortness of breath. In some cases, the airways become so narrow that they completely close up and cause the sufferer to choke and cough violently.
How to prevent coughing fits in kids?
It is possible to take certain steps which may decrease the risk of your child suffering from coughing fits. These include:
– Keeping your child’s immune system strong. The best way to do this is by keeping them away from places with a lot of people such as shopping malls or public transport. Another good way to keep their immune system strong is by making sure they get enough rest, eat a healthy diet and most importantly, keeping their stress levels to a minimum.
– Keeping your child away from second hand smoke. A child’s breathing passageways are much smaller than an adult’s and as such, even exposure to second hand smoke can desensitize the nerves in their airways leading to coughing.
– Keeping your children away from allergens. If you know that your child is allergic to certain kinds of pollen for example, make sure they stay indoors or at least keep the windows closed when levels of pollen are high.
How to treat coughing in children?
If you believe that your child is suffering from any of the conditions mentioned above, you should seek medical attention immediately. If you are unsure of what the cause of the coughing is, seek medical attention anyway as your child may be suffering from something that is easy to treat but requires medical attention.
If your child is suffering from an infection such as a cold or the flu, they will gradually get better on their own provided that you keep them away from other people and keep them hydrated with plenty of liquids.
If your child is suffering from an allergy, they will need to see an allergist in order to determine what they are allergic to as well as being given medication to help prevent attack.
For other causes of coughing such as an ear infection or foreign object in the throat, your child will require treatment for these conditions. Antibiotics may be required for an ear infection while the foreign object will have to be removed by a medical professional.
If your child is suffering from asthma, there are various medications that can be administered both orally and via a nebulizer to stop the fits. These may need to be prescribed by your doctor.
You can also find more information about home remedies for coughing here.
This page was written by Ashley Coleman.
Sources & references used in this article:
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Managing cough as a defense mechanism and as a symptom: a consensus panel report of the American College of Chest Physicians by RS Irwin, LP Boulet, MM Cloutier, R Fuller, PM Gold… – Chest, 1998 – journal.chestnet.org
Transient cerebral circulatory arrest coincides with fainting in cough syncope by HP Mattle, AC Nirkko, RW Baumgartner… – Neurology, 1995 – AAN Enterprises
The incubation period of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from publicly reported confirmed cases: estimation and application by SA Lauer, KH Grantz, Q Bi, FK Jones… – Annals of internal …, 2020 – acpjournals.org
Acellular pertussis vaccines protect against disease but fail to prevent infection and transmission in a nonhuman primate model by JM Warfel, LI Zimmerman… – Proceedings of the …, 2014 – National Acad Sciences
