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What Causes Cough And Cold In An Infant?

Posted on Fri, 23 Sep 2016

Question: Hello Doctor, This is XXXXXXX My daughter turned 2 months yesterday. She caught a cough 4 days back and was administered Sinarest drops and Asthakind drops(6 drops each) thrice a day. Since we didnt see improvement, we went back and were advised Moxclav (0.5ml twice a day of concentration 91.4mg). My daughter is a healthy baby 4.7 kg and birth weight 3 kg. She was given a nebulizer treatment once. My concern is - Is is ok to give Moxclav as it is an antibiotic. Please advice. can i wait for another week giving her just Asthakind and Sinarest to see if it subsides.

Answered by Dr. Pradeep Kumar Jain (27 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
It depends on the clinical condition

Detailed Answer:
Hello

Thanks for asking on this platform

Common causes of cough and cold in this age is some viral infection,allergy or bacterial infection.
Infection may be limited to upper airway or it may extend and involves lower airway also.
Viral or bacterial infections are usually associated with fever.In viral infection fever may be mild and usually starts decreasing by 3-4 days while in bacterial infection fever persists longer if not treated with antibiotic.
In some babies cough and/cold following allergy or viral infection may persist for longer duration.Some physicians give antibiotic prophylacticaly to prevent bacterial infection.
After going through the detail I did not find that there is any fever or breathing problem.
I won't get worried if there is no fever,baby is otherwise active,playful,accepting the feeds well and there is no breathing difficulty(presence of these symptoms suggest bacterial infection or involvement of lower airways).In this condition I would like to continue the sinarest and asthakind and observe the baby for development of symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection or involvement of lower airways.
Regarding your query of use of antibiotic I suggest you to better discuss it with your pediatrician as he has clinically examined the baby.

I hope this helps.
Please let me know if you have any more query.
Wishing for your baby's good health.
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Pradeep Kumar Jain (1 hour later)

Thanks for the advice doctor. My other question is I am hand expressing the milk each time since she is not able to breast feed. Her nose is not stuffy nor she has fever. It's just cough cough and cough. Is there a problem if I hand express each time.

Answered by Dr. Pradeep Kumar Jain (24 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
There is no problem in manual expressing

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for follow up

There is no problem in manual expressing of milk.Feed her carefully and make sure that she does not aspirate (chocks)during the feed.
Also take care for nasal blockage as that may cause difficulty in feeding.

All the best.
Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar