My baby has been teething non-stop for week with runny nose, she is also getting wet cough and greenish mucus from her right nostrils, her doctor healing everything with antibiotics, please suggest some better solution
The reason why your doctor keeps prescribing antibiotics is because he or she possibly believes that the reason for your daughter’s condition is because of a bacterial infection. This belief is rooted in some sensible guesses about the state of a child’s immune system. You must remember that a child’s immune system is less than half as effective as someone your own age and that a child will go through several infections before its immune system learns to identify and kill pathogens before they cause infections. However, it is obvious that you child will be going through some severe discomfort during this time and that is a matter of stress for you and especially for the child. The main balance to strike here is to temper the immune system’s inflammatory response. Inflammation is the characteristic mucus, swelling, and pain that are symptoms associated with disease, wounds, and any allergic reaction. The first thing that you need to do is to ascertain whether the problem is an allergic reaction or a pathogenic infection. You did mention that the child is exuding mucus from the nose. If this mucus is colored, then the problem is being correctly treated with antibiotics. However, other colors like brown and green are other pathogens, against which antibiotics are of no use. In most cases, it is better to let you child fight the infection for future strength.
Treatment For Infant Cough
Tempering the immune system response is done in modern medicine using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that contain paracetamol, acetylsalicylic acid, and ibuprofen. Unfortunately, it is not safe to administer acetylsalicylic acid to your child as this can do serious neurological damage to a child. It might therefore be a better idea to administer ibuprofen. Apart from this, another method of bringing relief to the respiratory tract can be done using a class of drugs called antihistamines. These drugs reduce the action of mast cells in secreting mucus. The only use of this is to allow your child to breathe freely and sleep, which is the most important part of healing itself.
These can be done at home as well. Make a ginger juice and honey preparation and administer it regularly to your child. This is the natural anti-inflammatory. Next, use a steam inhalation with boiling water and tea tree oil. This will form the topical application to the nose and sinuses to kill off bacteria. Finally, you need to monitor your child’s temperature and ensure that at no time is the fever allowed to increase beyond the 40 degree centigrade mark.
