It is not easy even for a very good and attentive mother to understand what torments a child in the first year of life. When baby cries, is capricious, does not take the breast, does not sleep well, then he may be bothered by a headache, intestinal colic, sore throat. The baby cannot say what is bothering him, and the parents do not know how to help him. Even if the mother found a red neck in a newborn, then first of all, you need to figure out the reasons for this phenomenon. It is best to seek professional help. A pediatrician or pediatric otolaryngologist will find out the cause of the ailment and explain how to treat a baby's throat.
How to do a throat exam
Mom can see the red throat of a baby herself. True, the examination procedure is not easy, and many parents are lost in front of the child's stubborn resistance. You need to do the following:
- wash and disinfect hands and a teaspoon with a straight handle. Prepare a flashlight with a thin beam of light;
- sit on a chair with a back, put the baby in your arms, calm him down;
The examination procedure must not be forcibly carried out, otherwise the throat can be easily injured.
- when the newborn opens his mouth, you need to lightly press the tongue with the handle of the spoon. With this manipulation, the little patient will take a deep breath and open his mouth wider. At this moment, you need to shine a flashlight in the neck and examine the mucous membrane.
Therapeutic activities
Small children can get colds not only in the autumn-winter period, but also in the summer. For example, the peak of herpetic sore throat occurs in the summer. It is in the summer that the causative agent of sore throat, the Coxsackie virus, rages about once every four years. Children from six months of age are most susceptible to infection with this type of virus.
Throat treatment in children under one year old requires an integrated approach. Therapy is selected depending on the cause of the disease. A mother can treat a red throat for a baby at home, but as prescribed by a specialist. If the course of the disease is mild, then you can do with one correct care and folk remedies.
Traditional remedies
What to do if a newborn has a sore throat? Ventilate the room as often as possible. When ventilating, remove a newborn from the room. Do wet cleaning in the children's room at least twice a day, wash toys in hot soapy water, wash hands, and observe personal hygiene. Make sure that the air temperature is not higher than 20-22 degrees.
It is impossible for the nursery to be dry and hot during the period of an infectious disease, since this is the best environment for the reproduction of microbes.
The patient should drink a lot. If he refuses to eat, there is no need to force-feed him, but a drinking regimen is part of successful therapy. Drinking softens the pharyngeal mucosa, relieves irritation, quickly removes germs and toxins. The liquid should be given warm and as often as possible.
To understand how to treat a baby's throat with angina, you need to identify the causative agent of the disease - the doctor must take a swab from the throat. Therapy for bacterial sore throat will not do without the use of antibiotics. Before the introduction of the drug, a sensitivity test is required. If the result is positive, another drug is selected. The sooner antibiotic therapy begins in acute tonsillitis, the easier the course of the disease will be and the faster recovery will come.
Antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, antihistamines, antitussives, and nasal drops are prescribed. It is necessary to ensure that mucus does not accumulate in the nose. To remove it, drop 2 drops of saline into each nostril. After a couple of minutes, when the crusts are soaked, you need to remove them with cotton filaments. In this case, do not use matches, ear sticks and other hard objects. If you have severe nasal discharge, you can use an aspirator or a small rubber bulb.
Regular rinsing with antiseptic solutions helps to quickly cure a sore nasopharynx. However, the newborn cannot spit, so if the parents decide to rinse, then this should be done as follows. Take the baby in your arms, tilt your head slightly forward and to the side, irrigate the pharynx with a stream of solution from the syringe so that the liquid drains from the mouth. You can use a tray or towel for liquid. Irrigate the mucous membrane of the oropharynx with saline (2-3 grams of salt per 200 ml of warm water) or a decoction of anti-inflammatory herbs.
Before bedtime, you need to rub the chest, back and heels of the newborn with medicinal products. This procedure not only helps relieve sore throat, but also promotes the transition of a dry cough into a wet one. For rubbing children under one year old, Pulmex baby ointment is used. It is necessary to rub with soft smooth movements at normal temperature in the patient.
Folk remedies
Traditional medicine also knows how to treat a red throat for babies:
- throat treatment in infants is carried out with steam inhalation. Mom should take the newborn in her arms, cover her head with a blanket, put a container with hot water under the blanket, to which 2-3 drops of essential oil have been added. You can use lemon, orange, cinnamon, fir, juniper oil;
It is possible to carry out warming procedures only at normal temperature in the patient.
- water the baby with warm water with honey and lemon juice, for 200 ml of water 5 ml of juice and 8-10 grams of honey. This remedy can be used if the newborn is already being fed complementary foods and if he is not allergic to honey;
- at night, pour dry mustard powder into cotton socks, put on one more warm socks on top;
- an effective remedy for colds for treating children under one year old is a curd compress. Heat fresh cottage cheese in a water bath, wrap it in a cotton cloth, put it on the newborn's neck, put a film on top and fix it not tightly with a handkerchief or bandage. Procedure time - an hour and a half;
- instead of cottage cheese for a compress, you can use clay diluted in water. Exposure time - no more than three hours;
- make baths with decoctions of anti-inflammatory herbs;
- if there are no allergic reactions to bee products, then rubbing with liquid honey will help. The procedure is carried out before bedtime at normal temperature. Spread a little honey on the neck, chest, back, and immediately put on a cotton undershirt. Then rub the heels with honey and put on socks. Wrap the baby in a warm blanket. By morning, honey is completely absorbed;
- goat fat, badger fat, butter are used for rubbing. Melt the product, stick in warm;
- before feeding, smear the mother's nipple or nipple with an oil solution of propolis, cough syrup, if there is no allergy to medicinal components.
Normally, the nasopharyngeal mucosa is inhabited by microorganisms, therefore, with weakened immunity, children under one year old often catch colds. But every cold is the formation of strong immunity. You should not be afraid of infectious diseases, despite the fact that any illness of a baby brings great concern to parents. It is important to know how to treat the throat of a child under one year old, to have first aid supplies in the first-aid kit, not to expose children to risks that can lead to infection, and, of course, to consult a specialist in a timely manner.
