Child Having Cough And Congested Chest. Prescribed Bricanyl Syrup For Mild Bronchitis. Alternate Medicine?

Posted on Sat, 5 Jan 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 5 Jan 2013 Answered on

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : Sir, My 2 and a half month old daughter is having cough problem for the last 4 days and it seems she has a congestion in the chest, i took her to the doctor and he said that she is having mild bronchitis and situation can worsen later on. He has put her on Bricanyl syrup. Pls.help me understand the acuteness of problem involved and will this problem get over with this medication. Also pls.help me with other alternative medication that we can use,which have minimal side effects. Since the baby is too small,are there any medications available in homeopathy as well.

Answered by Dr. Rajiv K Khandelwal (1 hour later)

Hi XXXXXXX

Thank you for your query.

Upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) is very common at this age. This usually subsides but in some cases can cause complications like bronchitis. Bronchitis means inflammation of the bronchial tree and responds to treatment. However, a small percentage of cases of bronchitis later develop bronchial asthma. Since there is no mention of asthma in your family it is very unlikely that your daughter will develop it.

Bricanyl syrup has been rightly prescribed by your doctor. This does not have much side effects and you should not unnecessarily worry about it.

Regarding side effects of medicines let me mention here that all medicines do have some side effects, whether they are allopathic or homeopathic. However one has to weigh the advantage of the medicines.

I hope I have answered your query to your satisfaction. Please feel free to revert back in case you need any clarifications or would like to share more facts.

Wishing your daughter an early recovery.

Regards,

RKK

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Rajiv K Khandelwal (22 minutes later)

Thanks Sir for your answer, I have a couple of clarifications to seek from you, please help answer those.

1) What could be the reasons that could have led my baby to have bronchitis at such a young age of 2-3 months.

2) Any home remedies/precautions we need to take so that it does not recur again.

3) My baby is currently on mother's milk, should she continue with that...hope mother's milk does not cause such infections.

Thanks,
XXXXXXX

Answered by Dr. Rajiv K Khandelwal (10 minutes later)

Hi XXXXXXX

Thank you for raising your doubts which I shall respond to the best of my ability.

1. The most common reason for bronchitis is a viral infection. However few cases can be due to superadded bacterial infection following a bout of infections do not recur unless there is some underlying pathology. You can start with steam inhalation at the first instance of cough to liquify the sputum and help in its expectoration.
3. Mother's milk is not the cause of this problem or infection. Studies have shown breast feeding to reduce the incidence of infections in children.

I hope I have clarified your doubts.

Wishing your daughter an early recovery.

Regards,

RKK

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar