How to Get Bronchitis Treatment For Kids

Before getting into the treatment of bronchitis, it would be better to understand how the condition first. Bronchitis is a respiratory infection that can be mistakenly similar with ordinary colds or pneumonia. This is brought about by a number of factors including air pollution, smoking, rapid climate changes and exposure to certain chemicals. In children this is mostly caused by bacterial or viral contact.

Bronchitis happens when the air passages of your child's lungs gets irritated and swollen, causing coughing and breathing problems. Bronchitis usually starts from a simple upper respiratory infection (usually colds or flu) that was not given proper attention. From there, the infection spreads from your child's nose and throat going down further to infect the windpipe and airways resulting in bronchitis.

The most common sign of bronchitis is frequent coughing which starts off unproductive at first then turns into productive coughing a few days afterwards (presence of mucus) which tends to get worse during the night. The coughing can sometimes cause your child to gag and vomit because of the amount of mucus his/her body is producing. As time goes on chest pains and wheezing will start to manifest as well and can last several weeks long. Some of the other symptoms include sore throat, fever, chills, and fatigue.

Thankfully bronchitis is the type of illness that with proper treatment just goes away on its own. In order to ensure safety though it would be best to have your child checked in order to eliminate any possibility of other infections. Bronchitis is usually caused by viruses making antibiotics useless. Even doctors actually suggest that you just continue to give home treatments the same as you did when your child had the cold in treating bronchitis. Letting them drink plenty of water (not soda, juice, or tea just plain lukewarm water) will help, over the counter medications such as cough syrup and operating a humidifier can also help.

To prevent your child from acquiring bronchitis teach them the value of cleanliness. Hand washing or sanitizing is one of the best ways to prevent illnesses from spreading. If you have other people watching over your child from time to time it would also be better to suggest that they wash their hands as well. Also teach your child to cover their mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing and tell him to do the same when other person around him/her coughs or sneezes.

Bronchitis just goes away on its own with proper care. If you think your child may have bronchitis it would be best to have him/her checked because there might be an underlying cause other than bronchitis. You can get better clarification about any and all of the questions that you might have about bronchitis from your pediatrician as well.