Inhalation in colds in children and infants

Rhinitis is a problem, which sometimes is difficult to avoid even for an adult person, and what can we say about our children who can run through the wet nose all autumn and winter. And no matter how parents tried to dress the child according to the weather, in the cold time to avoid a runny nose the baby can not always.

There is nothing to be surprised at, after the birth of the child, another 3 or more years will pass before his immune system begins to function at a high level, protecting the body from penetration of pathogens. It turns out that the protection of the baby is weak, therefore, the incidence of respiratory pathologies is higher than in adults.

Children suffer more often, but it is more difficult to treat them, because not every drug that is treated for an adult is suitable for treating a child. And the side effects of drugs are more dangerous for children, especially when it comes to oral administration or intravenous administration.

In this regard, local treatment of the disease can be considered the safest way to get rid of it. But only the treatment of the nose with external drops, ointments and sprays does not allow to solve the problem of infection and inflammation deep in the nasal passages, let alone cope with those pests that penetrated a little deeper (into the throat and bronchi). But with this task, with a cold, inhalations are excellent.

Inhalation therapy rarely causes a child to protest, because the baby does not experience unpleasant sensations. The recommended duration of the procedure for children is only 5-10 minutes, so they just do not have time to get tired of the baby.

It is especially convenient and safe to carry out inhalations in the cold to children with a nebulizer. Steam inhalations, especially effective at the outset of the disease, carry the risk of burn mucous, so pediatricians are skeptical about them. True, in the absence of inhalers, from such an effective procedure that allows simultaneously treating the nose, throat and the initial parts of the bronchi, it is not worth it. Just when preparing for inhalation, you need to check that the temperature of the medicinal composition does not exceed 35-40 degrees. Before you sit in front of the pot the baby, you must first check the temperature of the steam on yourself.

During the steam inhalation, parents should always be near the child and monitor his condition. Begin these procedures can be from 2-3 years of age, explaining to the child how to properly bend over and breathe over the steam. It is better if the child during the procedure will sit.

If the baby begins to be capricious, crying, complaining about the fact that he has a dizziness or is very hot, this is a signal that the treatment session should be interrupted.

Today in pharmacies and medical stores you can buy inhalers for every taste and purse. Such a device can greatly facilitate the task of parents. Especially when it comes to the safest and most effective devices called nebulizers. They provide the deep penetration of drugs into the respiratory tract of the patient and do not carry the danger of a burn of mucous membranes.

With the help of a nebulizer, you can safely carry out inhalations in the rhinitis, even babies, runny nose in which the phenomenon is a habit. However, inhalations for small children can only be done according to the doctor's prescription, which first must determine the cause of the common cold. Perhaps, this is not a respiratory pathology, but a violation of the patency of nasolacrimal canals.

Many models of nebulizers have nasal attachments for the smallest. But if such a nozzle is not present, you should not get upset. For inhalations, you can use a mask suitable for the size of the baby's head. The mask is conveniently attached to the head and does not prevent the baby from resting, so you can safely put it on while the child sleeps, making sure that the tank is in a vertical position.

During inhalations, doctors advise not to talk, which is not so easy to make curious by nature young children. To distract the child and make the procedure more pleasant, he can offer to listen to a fairy tale or watch a cartoon.

As for inhalation formulations, preference should be given to safer hypoallergenic herbs with a small amount of essential oils, salt and soda solutions, potato broth (in case of steam inhalations), saline solution. Antiseptics, antibiotics and even more hormonal anti-inflammatory drugs can be used for inhalation for babies only for the prescription of the doctor and in the prescribed dosages. The local application of the above mentioned drugs, of course, excludes the absorption of large doses of the drug, but it is not worthwhile to risk the health of the child.

Speaking about the duration of the inhalation procedure in a child, it should be noted that pediatricians advise a treatment session in infants to spend no more than 5 minutes, children older than 1 year, the duration of inhalation can be gradually increased to 10 minutes. This applies to steam inhalations, and procedures conducted using special medical devices.

The choice of a nebulizer should be determined not only by the ease of use, but also by the type of solutions that will need to be poured into the reservoir. For example, noiseless and compact ultrasonic devices, although convenient to use (many appreciate them for not frightening the child with loud sound, like compressor ones), the choice used in non-solutions is limited. A membrane devices, although they provide the possibility of treatment with various solutions, have the highest cost.

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