It's a nightmare, and it typically occurs in the fall or winter: the child wakes up in the middle of the night and has trouble breathing.
A pseudo-croup attack: Your child cries and wheezes, makes hoarse noises every time he breathes in, and coughs with a bark. Parents quickly become afraid. The most important thing now is to stay calm and do the right thing, according to the pharmacy magazine “Baby und Familie”.
Mucous membrane in the larynx swells
In most of these cases it is a pseudo croup attack. “It has nothing to do with the weather or environmental pollution, but with cold viruses ,” explains Professor Christian Vogelberg from the Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital at the Technical University of Dresden, where, as a pediatrician, he is responsible for the areas of pediatric pulmonology and allergology as well as the University Allergy Center (UAC ) directs.
The cold viruses cause the mucous membrane in the larynx below the vocal cords to become inflamed, become more supplied with blood and swell. If the airways then narrow, as happens automatically at night and when lying down, some children react to this situation with shortness of breath and coughing.
Open windows so the child can breathe cool air
This is what parents should do in the event of a pseudo croup attack:
- Stay calm, even when it's difficult. If the child feels afraid, this could make the seizure worse - calm, on the other hand, gives the child security.
- Stand the child up and place him on your lap so that he can feel the physical contact.
- Comfort him and speak to him reassuringly. You should also put a blanket around the child, open a window or go outside together so that the child can breathe in cool air.
If the symptoms do not improve quickly or even worsen: the emergency number 112 !
The next day, parents should take their child to a pediatrician's office, where they will be given a kind of emergency kit with cortisone suppositories if necessary and further examinations can be carried out to clarify the situation.
Source: The pharmacy magazine “Baby and Family” 10/2021 is currently available in most pharmacies. There is also lots of relevant health news at baby-und-familie.de as well as on Facebook and Instagram .
Article image: Pseudokrupp in the fact check / Image rights: Wort & Bild Verlag / Photographer:istock_AndreySayfutdinov
Notes:
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