How will I know my child has a chest infection?
Play, activity, exercise and some airway clearance are all important factors to help your baby/child’s lung health. Another important skill to develop is understanding your child’s symptoms, what is their usual lung health, what signs indicate they might be getting an infection?
You know your child best, and over time your child can learn more about how their lungs are feeling and what works best for them to maintain their health.
These are a few suggestions of signs or symptoms you can become aware of. Remember to work with your physiotherapist and your healthcare team if you have any concerns about changes in these signs and symptoms. Your baby or child might have some of these symptoms when they are well so you will be looking for changes to their usual baseline of wellness.
- Is your baby coughing, is this usual, or something new? Or are they coughing more than usual?
- Does your baby have a runny nose?
- Does your baby/child have a temperature?
- Is your baby/child not eating their usual amount? If you are breastfeeding is your baby not feeding as well as usual?
- Is your baby not as calm/settled as usual, are they not sleeping well?
- Does your baby/child have a rattle in their chest, or when they breathe does it sound different, noises like a wheeze?
You should contact your GP or your healthcare team if you notice changes in your child’s health, you may need to introduce more physiotherapy treatments, or start medication to help with any infection, or prevent further infection.
