Sore throat in a baby: how to cure? Video

Caring for a child is not always just a joy and sheer pleasure. There are situations when you have to puzzle over how to carry out the procedure so as not to harm the baby’s health. One of these is a sore throat in a baby. After all, it is simply impossible to treat with most drugs, and leaving it unattended means further complicating the situation.

Almost no acute respiratory disease in childhood is complete without inflammation of the mucous tissues of the pharynx. The condition is accompanied by severe discomfort, soreness, perspiration and difficulty swallowing, while often the baby’s voice becomes hoarse and deaf. For effective treatment of throat in children, including at home, parents need to know the mechanism for the development of pathology and methods that can help the child without harm to his health.

Specialists of the medical center “SM-Clinic” today will tell you how to properly help children with a sore throat, when you need to quickly seek treatment from doctors, and help you figure out other important issues.

General information

The pharynx, which experts divide into three parts (nasopharynx, oropharynx and laryngopharynx), is the front line of local immunity. It is she who first meets external blows from pathogens: viruses, bacteria, allergens, fungi. There are many nerve endings on the mucous membranes of the pharynx, which is why any, even a minor inflammatory process, leads to the appearance of a variety of unpleasant symptoms.

If the inflammation has gone further and affected neighboring organs, then in such situations, in addition to complaints of soreness and sore throat, the baby has a temperature, lethargy, cough, runny nose, or other manifestations of a respiratory infection. At the same time, the “red throat”, which many mothers have repeatedly heard from the observing pediatrician, may mean nothing and not require treatment at all, especially if the child himself has no complaints, and the redness worries only the parents.

Important: a sick, red throat in a child is not a diagnosis, but only a symptom of a specific infection, which must be determined before starting treatment. Doctors should deal with the diagnosis and prescribing appropriate therapy.

Possible causes of sore throat in children

The most common culprit of malaise in childhood is acute viral respiratory infections or SARS. The most common among them are:

• flu;
• adenovirus infection;
• coronavirus infection;
• herpetic infection;
• Infectious mononucleosis.

There are many potentially dangerous pathogens that can provoke:

• pharyngitis – an inflammatory process affecting the tonsils of the pharynx;
• laryngitis – inflammation of the mucous tissues of the larynx and vocal cords;
• tracheitis – an infectious lesion of the trachea;
• adenoiditis – inflammation of the pathological growth of the nasopharyngeal tonsil.

All conditions are accompanied by soreness and soreness in the throat of varying degrees of intensity. In the vast majority of cases in childhood, these diseases are of a viral nature.

The most dangerous are bacterial infections in a child: they are accompanied by severe sore throat and require competent professional treatment. These include:

• angina or acute tonsillitis – inflammation of the palatine tonsils;
• diphtheria is a serious infectious disease that affects the mucous tissues of the nose and oropharynx against the background of general severe intoxication;
• scarlet fever is a pathology characterized by a rash, high fever, extensive inflammatory processes on the palatine and pharyngeal tonsils.

Other possible causes of sore throat and redness of the throat in children are:

• allergic reactions;
• prolonged stay in a room with dry, hot, dusty air;
• colds caused by general or local hypothermia of the body;
• mechanical damage to the mucous membranes resulting from the ingestion of sharp, poorly chewed pieces of food, foreign objects.

Sometimes pain is the result of parental attempts to carefully examine the sore throat of a child with the help of improvised means or a consequence of home treatments with folk recipes and inappropriate medications.

Symptoms

To understand that the child really has a sore throat, and the baby needs real treatment, the following symptoms will help:

• refusal to eat and drink;
• obvious reddening of the pharynx, the appearance of white, yellowish spots on the arches of the sky;
• swelling and an increase in the size of visible areas of the tonsils;
• hoarseness of voice, hoarseness;
• sore throat.

Associated symptoms of the disease may include:

• increase in body temperature;
• weakness, drowsiness;
• runny nose;
• headaches and joint pains;
• loss of appetite;
• increased salivation;
• cough.

In most cases, with such symptoms, we are talking about banal SARS, but there are conditions that require urgent medical advice. It is necessary to immediately show the child to a specialist if there are:

• high temperature against the background of sore throat and lack of a runny nose;
• any rash on the skin with high fever or headache;
• shortness of breath, difficulty breathing;
• complete refusal to eat, the inability to drink the baby;
• a thin film covering the tonsils and palate;
• small elements of the rash and pinpoint hemorrhages that have arisen on the walls of the pharynx;
• difficulty swallowing and speaking.

Such signs may indicate the development of serious diseases, for example, streptococcal tonsillitis, diphtheria, which in the future can give complications to the heart, liver and other important body systems.

Diagnostics

Pediatricians and specialized specialists are engaged in the examination and treatment of throat diseases in children: otorhinolaryngologists, infectious disease specialists, allergists.

Diagnosis begins with an examination of the oral cavity, pharynx and tonsils. For this, doctors use special devices: a nasopharyngeal and laryngeal mirror, a pharyngoscope, etc. In parallel with the visual assessment of clinical symptoms, the doctor interviews the young patient and his parents for contact with infectious patients, finds out the characteristics of the health and lifestyle of the baby, clarifies previous diseases and the level of vaccination.

To clarify the diagnosis, specialists may prescribe:

• video endoscopy of the larynx and nasopharynx;
• laboratory blood tests;
• a smear on the microflora from the larynx;
• determination of bacterial resistance to certain antibacterial components;
• allergic tests;
• radiography of the nasopharynx.

In difficult cases, additional specific studies may be required, as well as CT or MRI.