Children's coughing not only makes the baby suffer, but hearing the pitiful sound of them coughing and wheezing makes mothers wish they could cough for their baby! Children's coughs can be persistent, and diet is very important. Are mothers aware of the 7 foods that should be avoided when a child has a cough?
1. Cold and raw foods
"The body is harmed by cold and cold drinks," which means that once the body is exposed to cold, it can damage the lungs. Coughing is often caused by lung problems that prevent the proper circulation of lung energy and lead to it rising upwards. Cold is most easily introduced through diet. Therefore, if the daily diet is too cold and raw, it can easily lead to cold invading the lungs, causing lung energy to become blocked, worsening symptoms, and leading to a prolonged illness.
Many children with a cough produce phlegm. The amount of phlegm is actually related to the spleen. The spleen is the foundation of postnatal life, governing the digestion and absorption of food. When cold invades the spleen, it can damage it, reduce its function, and cause dampness to accumulate and turn into phlegm. Therefore, if a child with a cough continues to eat cold and raw foods, it will worsen the damage to the spleen and lungs, making the cough difficult to cure.
2. Rich, greasy, and sweet foods
Rich, greasy, and sweet foods refer to refined, oily, and sweet foods, such as cakes. Coughs are often caused by lung heat, especially in children. Eating too many rich, greasy, and sweet foods in daily life can generate internal heat, worsening the cough and leading to thick, sticky phlegm that is difficult to expel. For children with asthma, overindulging in these foods can lead to a combination of phlegm and heat, obstructing the respiratory tract and worsening asthma, making the disease difficult to heal.
Fried foods are also greasy and considered "heat-inducing" foods, which children with a cough should not eat much of. When a child has a cough, their gastrointestinal function is relatively weak. Fried foods can加重 the burden on the digestive system, promote dampness and heat, and increase phlegm production, making the cough difficult to heal and potentially worsening the condition.
3. Fishy, seafood, and crab foods
Most people know that "trigger foods" should be avoided when coughing, and these "trigger foods" include delicious seafood like fish, shrimp, and crab. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that fishy foods have the greatest impact on "wind-heat cough." After eating fishy foods, a child's cough can worsen because the smell of seafood like fish and shrimp can irritate the respiratory tract. Additionally, fish and shrimp contain a lot of protein, which can easily cause protein allergies in babies. Silver carp and hairtail, in particular, should absolutely not be eaten by a child with a cough.
4. Sweet and sour foods
Sour foods often astringe phlegm, making it difficult to expel and thus worsening the condition and making the cough hard to heal. Sweet foods can also generate heat, making inflammation difficult to cure. When a child's cough is severe, even some beneficial fruits, such as apples, bananas, oranges, and grapes, should not be eaten. There is a folk remedy for children's cough which is to eat "pear with rock sugar," but this method is actually not beneficial for a new cough. Many people also believe that oranges can relieve coughs and reduce phlegm, so they let a sick child eat more oranges. In fact, while the orange peel does have the effect of relieving coughs and reducing phlegm, the orange flesh itself generates heat and phlegm. Therefore, if you want to eat oranges, the child should only eat the processed peel, not the flesh.
5. Salty foods
During a child's cough, parents should prepare a light diet for them. "Heavy-flavored" foods make a child's cough difficult to heal because eating too salty can easily trigger or worsen a cough.
6. Snacks
Snacks should absolutely not be eaten when a child has a cough. For example, peanuts, melon seeds, chocolate, and other processed foods contain a lot of artificial flavors and additives, which are not beneficial for the body in the first place. They are also high in oil and can easily produce phlegm after consumption, worsening the cough.
7. Tonic foods
Many parents believe that a child's cough is difficult to heal because of a weak constitution, so they give them tonic foods in the hope of boosting their immunity. However, tonics should be avoided when a child's cough has not yet healed because many tonics are highly nutritious, and a child's spleen and stomach cannot digest them, which can instead worsen the condition. A child should stop taking tonics while their cough is not healed to prevent it from becoming prolonged.