Coughing and wheezing are common symptoms of childhood illness. They do not usually mean your child has a serious condition, although they can sound awful and may be distressing for you and your baby
. Coughing is a normal, healthy and important reflex that helps clear the airways in the throat and chest. Chronic cough is typically defined as a cough lasting more than four weeks. This is because most acute respiratory infections in children resolve within this interval. Other schemes define chronic cough as one that last more than eight weeks but also recognize that a relentlessly progressive cough often warrants evaluation prior to eight weeks.
Your child may have a dry cough that does not produce any phlegm but in a chest infection this will develop into a more obvious cough and the child will bring up phlegm that may be green or yellow in color. It can become bloodstained. Younger children may be off their food and may suffer from diarrhea. Older children will complain of chest pain when they breathe. The pain is usually sharp and worse on taking a big breath in. The breathing may be shallow and rapid.
