Everything You Need to Know About Croup, Cough, and Kicking It to the Curb!

As parents, we understand that your child’s health and well-being are your top priorities. We know how challenging it can be to watch your little one struggle with croup, especially those sleepless nights filled with worry when they start coughing and experiencing difficulty breathing. It’s heartbreaking and scary, especially when you’re not quite sure what to do to help them. That’s why we want to empower you with the knowledge and strategies you need to confidently navigate croup episodes and provide the best care for your child. 

Imagine being able to soothe your child’s croup symptoms, ease their discomfort, and make those stressful nights a thing of the past – all while minimizing the use of medications. In this blog, we’ll share valuable insights, expert tips, and natural remedies that can help your child handle a bout of croup and, even more importantly, prevent and avoid them altogether in the future. 

Understanding Croup

What is Croup?

Croup is an upper airway infection that primarily affects young children, especially those between 6 months to 3 years old. It’s characterized by distinctive symptoms such as a barking cough, hoarse voice, and labored breathing, which worsens at night. 

Medical professionals diagnose croup by observing a child’s breathing, listening with a stethoscope, and may use diagnostic tools like neck or chest X-rays and pulse oximetry to check oxygen levels. Traditional treatment involves corticosteroids, which can reduce inflammation and swelling in the larynx and respiratory system. While these medications can be life-saving, they come with serious short-term and long-term side effects for your child. 

Causes of Croup

Addressing common misconceptions about croup is essential to understand that it’s not solely due to exposure to germs but is related to your child’s ability to handle those germs.  Factors like birth trauma, feeding difficulties, sleep challenges, and subluxation can weaken your child’s immune system and make them more susceptible to croup. We’ll delve into how these factors play a role in what we call the “Perfect Storm.”

Chiropractic and How to Care For Croup

Some essential home care strategies include the importance of keeping your child calm and comforted, ensuring they stay hydrated, using humidifiers, and alternating between warm and cold air to ease symptoms.

Chiropractic care does not aim to treat or cure croup but rather to support your child’s natural defenses and improve the function of the neuro-immune system.  

Subluxation can disrupt the communication between the brain and the immune system. This miscommunication can weaken your child’s ability to fight off infections, making your child more susceptible to conditions like croup. Chiropractic adjustments aim to restore proper communication and enhance the body’s natural defenses. 

The benefits of chiropractic adjustments during bouts of croup are improved drainage, better sleep, shorter illness duration, and reduced medication use. By focusing on your child’s nervous system, chiropractic care helps ensure that their body’s innate healing mechanisms are functioning optimally. 

At Freedom, we hope that you can take these natural solutions and deploy them to help your little one breathe better, recover faster, and build a stronger immune system so that they experience fewer bouts of croup, cough, and illness down the road! Together, we can help them thrive.