Soothing Baby Coughing Fits

Melody Short
May 14, 2016
2 min read

Does your baby get stuck in a repetitive coughing fit?

If your baby has a cough, for whatever reason, (cold, allergy, post nasal drip from teething, milk went down the wrong pipe), they can get stuck in perpetual coughing fits that leave you feeling helpless to get them to stop.

When an adult or older child gets stuck in a coughing fit (because of that self perpetuating tickle in the back of your throat) they will generally take a drink of water, suck on a cough drop, hold their breath until the feeling passes, or use another mind over matter or physically soothing technique to disrupt the tickle in the back of their throat trigger.

Babies don't know how to do this. They often will also choke on a sip of water or be unable to nurse if they are coughing too strongly as it is counterintuitive for them to swallow when their body already thinks it needs to eject something.

So what can you do?

Think about how often you have instinctively thumped your own chest when you coughed really hard, even if you knew you weren't actually choking on something. That thumping vibration disrupts the throat tickle and helps your respiratory system calm down, (it's also great for knocking phlegm loose).

When a baby is coughing and can't stop you can help them overcome the tickle by using the same type of rhythmic patting you would for burping. You can do it either on their back or their chest (centered over their sternum).

To be effective remember two important keys.

First, thump with the same get a burp out force that parents know their children can handle, not the feather light I've never burped a baby force that those who are still worried about breaking a baby by touching it use.

Second, continue the patting for a while after they have stopped coughing, until their breathing and swallowing has calmed to normal.

It may take several rounds of patting to break the cough cycle. You can intersperse them with rubbing your child's back or resting your hand on their chest.

You will be able to start to anticipate when the coughing is about to start again by a change in their breathing (often a holding of breath), or a tensing of their muscles. They are feeling the tickle at that point.

Don't wait until they start coughing again. If they appear to be feeling the tickle, start thumping. They may still cough, but gradually the coughing spurts will become shorter and eventually their system will calm enough to be able to nurse or sleep.