Listening to your little one cough all night can be enough to worry you! Even just a few days of a persistent hack can create some impatience around duration and doubt about what else you could be doing to help them recover. The uncomfortable truth: coughing can last weeks, and this duration alone doesn’t necessarily mean there’s more you should be doing.
The rule of thumb: Coughing caused by viral infections can last 2-3 weeks
A cough entering its second or third week alone is not necessarily an indicator of severity or something being wrong. In young children especially, who can catch different respiratory illnesses back to back, the coughing can overlap and linger even longer!
After three weeks, it’s a good idea to check in with your pediatrician.
This is because your doctor can help rule out underlying causes beyond viral infections, such as allergies, chronic infections, or asthma, which may warrant some extra measures or monitoring. Avoid going into the check-up assuming you need to leave with antibiotics merely because of the duration; if no bacterial infection is present, your doctor will not prescribe antibiotics because antibiotics do not treat viral infections.
What can you do for those pesky viral-induced coughs?
It’s tempting to want to stop or suppress coughing, but remember that coughing is a protective mechanism. It is how our bodies get harmful irritants out of our airways! Cough syrups are generally not recommended for children. The American Academy of Pediatrics explains this on their Healthy Children site: “Oral over-the-counter (OTC) cough and cold medicines can cause serious harm to young children. The risks of using these medicines is more than any help the medicines might have in reducing cold symptoms.”
0-4 years old:Do not use OTC cough or cold medicines.
4 to 6 years old:Seek a doctor's recommendation for the use of OTC cold or cough medicine.
After age 6:Cough medicines are safe to use. Just be sure to follow the instructions for proper dosing.
Here’s what you can try:
Run a humidifierto add moisture to the air, which is a good thing for respiratory health.
Run a hot showerto create steam that your child can breathe in. This can break up the congestion.
Make a simple “tea”with warm water, honey, and lemon. Infants under 12 months should avoid honey. If your baby is under one, and you have breastmilk to offer, that can be a powerful way to keep baby hydrated through illness.
Help them clear their nasal passagesby using saline drops and a snot-sucking device.
Consider an OTC nebulizer with saline solution,such as the one by Boogie. Nebulizers provide drug-free relief that can break up mucus and lessen irritation in airways.
Above all, a longer-lasting cough is not usually serious. However, if your child exhibits breathing difficulties, dehydration, or a fever lasting more than a few days (or going away and returning), please seek medical assistance right away.
P.S. What exactly do breathing difficulties look like? It might look like rapid breathing, sounding exasperated like they can’t finish their sentences, struggling to drink or eat, or using extra muscles to breathe (example: you can see their ribs moving when they breathe). You may also hear wheezing or a high-pitched noise called “stridor.” Blue lips also indicate respiratory distress. Any of these signs should be treated as a medical emergency. Here’s a video by Dr. Anjuli Gans, MD, on her Instagram @resilientrascals, that provides a helpful visual of breathing difficulties in babies and young children: Watch here.