When Should You Bring Your Child to the ER for Cough

Cough

Especially during flu season, coughs and sore throats frequently appear to be expected side effects. Most of the time, home care or a physician trip for kids to urgent care in Vestavia, AL, is all your child needs to get over a cough or sore throat.

However, you might need emergency care if any of the below symptoms accompany your child’s cough or sore throat or if their immune system is weakened due to a pre existing ailment.

Your child may need emergency care if they exhibit these symptoms.

If your kid develops the following in addition to cough or sore throat:

  • Having trouble breathing
  • breathing difficulty
  • extreme fever
  • less than three months old: more than 100.4 degrees
  • more than 102.2 degrees for infants older than three months
  • spitting up blood and having trouble swallowing
  • distorted voice
  • unable to fully open their mouth
  • significant throat swelling on one side, which can be a sign of tonsillitis

Recognizing Coughs

Children’s most common signs of sickness are coughing, wheezing, or trouble breathing. It doesn’t always imply that they have a serious ailment. 

You, however, find it painful to witness your child’s suffering. However, it could be important for you to be aware that coughing is a natural reaction that helps the body clean the airways in the chest and neck.

Most of the time, home care can take care of wheezing, breathing problems, or coughing. You should take your child to our toddler emergency room in Waxahachie right away if a respiratory issue doesn’t appear to get better.

What Is the Source Of My Child’s Cough?

Here are typical reasons for children’s coughs and warning indications that it’s time to visit a physician.

Cold

Call for children’s urgent care in Vestavia, AL, immediately if your kid develops a barking, productive cough and their voice becomes hoarse. There is no need for certain meds if your child gets a cold. Keep your kid well-hydrated, make sure they blow their nose (babies should use a suction nose) and give them rest as required. As long as the fever has not been present for 24 hours without the use of medicine, your kid may continue to attend school. Children are not often advised to use cough and cold drugs.

Allergies

Children under 2-3 years old often do not have seasonal allergies. Seasonal allergies include runny nose, itchy eyes, watery eyes, congestion, sneezing, and even a sore throat. However, weariness, bodily pains, or fever are not often symptoms of allergies.

If your kid continues to experience allergic symptoms, call your physician. The doctor may advise or approve allergy drugs based on your child’s age and symptoms. Contact your child’s physician if their symptoms continue despite a seasonal allergy medication.

RSV

RSV, or the respiratory syncytial virus, is a particular virus that shares symptoms with the common cold but can be difficult or even fatal in newborns and young children.

Call your physician immediately if your kid has hard, rapid breathing. Breathing problems might not be audible, but they may be visible. When your infant breathes, you can observe their ribs rising and falling and their chest constricting. 

Get in touch with a doctor for urgent care if you see any of these signs.

Bronchiolitis

RSV is the virus that causes bronchiolitis the most frequently, although other viruses can produce similar symptoms. Children 2 years of age and younger are most commonly affected with bronchiolitis, which causes wheezing and breathing difficulties.

When your kid inhales, a dry cough turns into clicking, bubbling, or rattling, call your physician. Also, contacting your child’s doctor could be necessary if they are experiencing difficulty breathing.

Pneumonia

Although the symptoms of pneumonia in children differ from those in adults and are sometimes extremely mild, pneumonia is frequently accompanied by a high temperature. Age and pneumonia-related factors will also affect the signs and symptoms.

Call your physician immediately if your kid has a persistent cough, a high temperature, and quick or challenging breathing.

Asthma

According to the Beyond ABC research, asthma is the most prevalent chronic condition of childhood, impacting approximately one in ten children, including more than 156,000 in North Texas. Exercise, cold air, excitement, laughing, roughhousing, and exposure to environmental variables, such as cigarette smoke and air pollution, can all cause asthma episodes, which can come and go.

If your kid is coughing and making a high-pitched, whistle-like sound when exhaling, you should get in touch with your physician.

Conclusion 

If your child has a cough accompanied by other symptoms like difficulty breathing, a high fever, or chest pain, it’s important to take them to the ER. A cough can also signify a more serious underlying condition, so it’s always best to err on the side of caution. If unsure, you can call urgent care in Vestavia, AL, for guidance.

All children who visit Your Kid’s Urgent Care receive excellent and practical pediatric urgent care treatments. Between a child’s primary care doctor and the emergency room, Your Kids Urgent Care acts as a bridge. Parents shouldn’t have to choose between going to the Emergency Room or doing nothing when their kids are ill after hours or on holidays. Contact us for children’s urgent care in Vestavia, AL!

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