Any member of the household with a cough bothers the whole household but when a child has a cough it seems more bothersome. A cough is the body’s way of clearing an irritation in the throat or airway. The irritant signals the brain to tell the muscles in your chest and abdomen to push the air out of the lungs with enough force to blow out the irritant. An occasional cough is normal and healthy but one that persist for several weeks or has bloody or discolored mucous needs medical attention. Sometimes coughing can be prolonged and so vigorous that it causes sleeplessness, headaches, vomiting and even broken ribs.
Because coughs are so bothersome, cold and cough medicines are a billion dollar business. A German company, Statista, reports that cold and cough medicines in the US will amount to a 10.21 billion dollar revenue in 2022. One can only imagine the amount of money spent on advertising these medications.
It is important to remember two things. First, are these medications safe for children and two, do they actually help. Obviously the first thing to consider is finding the cause of the irritation which could be smoke, dust, allergies, simple viral colds, asthma or even bacterial infections. Most coughs in children are simple viral colds. healthychildren.org states that oral over-the-counter cough and cold medication can cause serious harm to young children(up to age 4) and using these medicines might cause more harm than help. For children ages 4-6 cough medicine should only be used if recommended by your doctor. After age 6, if they are used, please carefully follow the directions on the package.
A recent article in the journal Pediatrics (Kim I, et al) reports that there has been an increase in calls to poison control centers for overdoses of benzonanate. Benzonanate (Tessalon) is not recommended for children under 10 years, is only sold by prescription, comes in small enticing gummy capsules and is used for coughs due to colds and flu. Benzonanate overdose symptoms can occur in children within 15-20 minutes and in children younger than 2 years 1-2 capsules can be an overdose. Signs and symptoms of overdose may include: seizures, loss of consciousness, restlessness, trembling, depression of the central nervous system and death. If this medicine is taken by accident or there are concerns about overdose call Poison Control (1-800-222-1222) or go immediately to the hospital.
healthychildren.org has some helpful recommendations for home remedies for coughs and colds. Simple things like using bulb syringes to pull liquid out when they can’t blow their nose, using salt water to loosen dried mucous, and how to make salt water at home. For coughs they do not recommend honey under one year but for 1 year and older they recommend ½ -1 tsp.as needed. Research has shown that honey is better than store-bought cough syrups in reducing how often they cough and how bad coughing is at night.
Remember the first rule of treatment, Do No Harm.
by Sally Robinson, MD
Clinical Professor
Keeping Kids Healthy
Published 04/05/2022
References:
The American Lung Association, "Children and Air Pollution," Oct. 15, 2020
Also See:
UTMB Pediatrics - Pediatric Primary Care