Q:What should parents do if children has phlegm that cannot be easily coughed up?
A: To analyze the causes of phlegm production
The human respiratory tract has the function of self-purification with phlegm that produced as the body responds to infection, inflammation or other stimuli, for which sputum is composed of pathogens and necrotic cell tissues. Sputum is produced and expelled by the movement of ciliated cells in the respiratory tract, which can trigger coughing to produce strong airflow to help cough up the sputum.
In the acute phase of infection or inflammation, a constant flow of mucus production make the children sound “wheezing”, which can give parents the illusion that the sputum is not being expelled. This phlegm is mainly distributed in the main airway, and child will cough up phlegm unless they were suffering from a serious disease or has a rare disease like cystic fibrosis where the phlegm is particularly sticky. Literally, most of the phlegm is discharged into the laryngopharynx and swallowed unconsciously by the child.
However, the most important concern for parents is the cause of the sputum production. A cold caused by a viral infection needs to be watched and wait for it to heal on its own, a pneumonia caused by a bacterial infection needs antibiotics under the guidance of a doctor's evaluation, hormones need to be used to control the inflammation in asthma, and children need to be removed promptly by a doctor if their cough and sputum are caused by a foreign object in the trachea.
Therefore, when a child has sputum, parents needs to focus on the cause of the sputum production rather than whether the sputum can be expelled.
