Baby & Child Coughing: What Baby’s Cough Could Mean

Every child will experience coughing at some point in his or her life. As a parent, watching your child cough can make you feel helpless knowing the cough be from many different ailments, ranging from innocent to dangerous, including upper respiratory infections, asthma, pneumonia and many other causes. Understanding different types of coughs can help you figure out what your baby’s cough could mean.
If a cough is present in your child, it may be hard to know whether you should call your child’s pediatrician for advice, schedule an appointment or head straight to an emergency center for immediate care. It’s important to remember that coughs are a natural part of life, signaling the body’s way of protecting itself. Coughing keeps the airways clear and rids the body of mucous. In children, a cough should rarely be suppressed.
When a baby’s coughs are associated with other symptoms, such as high fevers or difficulty breathing, consider seeking medical care. Due to safety concerns, cough medications and suppressants are no longer recommended for young children or babies.
Find a Texas Children’s Pediatrics location near you. Existing patients with MyChart accounts can also schedule an appointment online.
Coughing is a natural part of life and our body’s way of reacting to illness. Most coughs are innocent. Coughing allows your child’s body to naturally clear itself of mucous. Your child might be coughing because of a respiratory illness, asthma or inflammation. Determining the type of cough will help you determine your next steps.
Simple solutions for coughing include proper hydration, nasal aspirators with saline mist and cool mist humidifiers. For children over age 1, honey is a wonderful cough treatment and has been shown to be more effective than cough medicines, which aren’t recommended for young children.
If your child’s cough is related to asthma or allergies, removing any potential allergens will also help.
Do not use over-the-counter cough and cold medicine for babies and young children under 4. These medications are associated with serious and potentially life-threatening side effects.
For children ages 4–7, use over-the-counter cough medicine only when directed by a health care provider. Learn more about over-the-counter medications for kids.
Your child’s cough can worsen at night due to mucus dripping down their throat when lying down (also called postnasal drip). This mucus can irritate the throat, causing them to cough more. Nighttime coughing can also be a sign of asthma, especially if they don’t have a runny nose or congestion.
For babies, saline drops, gentle suction or a humidifier can help. For baby’s safety, you should not elevate their crib, use pillows or blankets or allow them to sleep in a swing or car seat. For children over age 2, elevating their head can help drain mucus.
Call your pediatrician if your child has:
If your child or toddler has a wet cough, it might be from a respiratory illness causing the airways to produce phlegm or mucous. This respiratory illness can be caused by a virus or bacteria, which can usually be identified by your pediatrician.
If your child has a cough with lots of phlegm, the most common cause of a phlegmy cough in babies is the common cold, which can last up to 2 weeks. Children get an average of 10 colds per year, which means they could be coughing 5 months out of each year! Most colds get better on their own; hydration and rest will help.
A phlegmy cough in infants could also be due to bronchiolitis, a lower tract respiratory infection brought on by viruses like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). In severe cases, a phlegmy baby cough with a high fever might signal a more serious infection, like pneumonia.
Children with asthma often produce a phlegmy cough when their asthma is flaring up. A phlegmy cough can sometimes be due to postnasal drip or drainage when children have runny noses.
In young children and babies, a dry or hoarse cough could signal croup. Croup is when a portion of a child’s upper airway becomes swollen, typically triggered by a virus. This kind of baby cough often sounds like a “bark” and may be associated with noisy breathing.
Croup usually can be managed from home with warm humidified air, a steamy shower and other supportive measures. Sometimes croup requires medical care and rarely, a severe case might require hospitalization.
If your baby has suffered from a cold for a few days and now has a cough with a raspy, whistling sound; wheezing or “chest congestion,” it could be bronchiolitis, a lung infection common in babies and young children. It’s usually caused by virus, often RSV.
This inflammatory reaction usually affects young children and infants in the winter months and can be diagnosed by your pediatrician through a physical exam. Most babies can be treated at home without medication, but severe cases might also require hospitalization. Antibiotics are not effective in treating bronchiolitis because it’s not caused by bacteria. Antibiotics only help bacterial infections.
Wheezing may also indicate asthma, the most common chronic disease in children.
If you’re concerned about your child’s cough or if they’re having difficulty breathing or other worrisome symptoms, you can always err on the side of caution and call a pediatrician.
Find a Texas Children’s Pediatrics location near you. Existing patients with MyChart accounts can also schedule an appointment online.
If you have any questions about your child’s symptoms or if you’re curious what your baby’s cough could mean, download the free Texas Children’s Pediatrics app, which has an easy-to-use symptoms checker and advice-giving capabilities, right on your smart phone.