If a young child suffers from a chronic cough at nighttime, it might be the result of the weather getting colder, a pediatrician said yesterday, advising parents to keep their children’s room temperatures between 26°C and 27°C.
Taipei Shutien Clinic pediatrician Chen Yong-chi (陳永綺) said that a three-year-old boy with no history of allergies or asthma was brought to the clinic by his parents because the child had been coughing while he was sleeping for the past couple of months.
As no respiratory tract infection was found, Chen suggested his parents set the temperature of the boy’s room at between 26°C and 27°C and add warmer blankets to his bed.
The boy’s cough disappeared, she said.
“When a young child breathes in cold air, it can irritates their bronchial mucosa and cause them to cough at night,” she said.
Air pollution can also also cause irritation of the respiratory tract, and the number of young children who have been taken to Chen’s clinic suffering from nighttime coughs or bronchitis (inflammation of the bronchi) in the past few days has increased by about 20 percent, she said.
When people are asleep, their temperatures naturally fall and their hands and feet might become cold she said, adding that parents can touch a child’s hands or feet to see if they are cold, and take measures to warm them up if they are.
A young child can kick off their blankets when they are asleep, so parents should tuck them in, give the child more clothes to wear or consider using a sleeping bag, she said.
A nighttime cough can affect a child’s quality of sleep so if the problem persists, parents should seek medical attention, she said.
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