This may not be a situation that you really need to be alarmed about. When we swallow phlegm, no matter how filled with the pathogens the mucus is, when it reaches the stomach, it will not survive the environment there. This is not to say that bacteria and viruses that affect the gastrointestinal tract are non-existent; rather, that these are a different species of pathogen. The species that cause respiratory tract infections cannot survive in the high temperatures of the inner body or in the environment of the digestive system. This simply means that you don’t have to worry about your baby recycling her mucus. Now, there is something to be careful about when a child gets a respiratory tract infection in the early stages of life.
It is only by getting infections from various viruses and bacteria early in life that we acquire the strength to fight these later in life. This is because the body learns to recognize the patterns of bacteria and viruses and can fight them off without even visible symptoms and the person knowing it. However, when dealing with infections in children, since the immune system is still coming up to full strength, there is always a danger that the infectious organism will do more damage than normal. For this reason, you should never take a respiratory infection in a child lightly and get a doctor to prescribe antibiotics for a bacterial infection. Viral infections unfortunately have no medical cure for children or adults and all that you can do is to control the inflammatory response until the virus is destroyed by the baby’s immune system itself.
To start off with, here is the first thing that you should not do. Never administer the painkiller acetylsalicylic acid to a child as this can cause serious nervous system disorders. To control the amount of the mucus that your child is exuding, you should use ginger and honey and give it to the child. Steam inhalation is an excellent alternative to the use of antihistamine decongestants and is quite simple to administer. This can be done by steaming up your bathroom and then sitting with your baby in the bathroom. You should also ensure that your child has some soup that contains some garlic in it. Garlic is nature’s antibiotic and will ensure the there are no opportunistic bacterial infections that do occur after a viral infection.