4 Ways to Manage Tracheitis

1. Rest and Recovery

Bacterial infections usually need to be cleared up using antibiotics, which take several days to produce results. During that time, you should ensure that your child gets plenty of rest and avoids excessive physical exertion. Because tracheitis interferes with the patient's blood-oxygen levels and ability to breathe normally, intensive physical activity can result in severely worsened symptoms.

2. Prop up the Head

To aid your child's breathing as she recovers, you can stack pillows on her bed to keep her head in an upright position as she rests. This will help oxygen penetrate and enter your child's swollen and blocked airways and can reduce the coughing and wheezing symptoms that are hallmarks of this throat infection.

3. The Importance of a Smoke-Free Environment

Smoke is a severe enough irritant to children even without the presence of a throat infection, and if your child is coping with tracheitis, it's doubly important to provide a strictly smoke-free environment. The symptoms of tracheitis throat infections are complicated by smoke, which can cause further swelling in the patient's windpipe. If your child has smoke allergies, take extra care to ensure that he stays well away from any possible source of smoke, primary or secondhand, while he fights off the infection.

4. Steam and Humidity Can Help Relieve Some Symptoms

Just as smoke can irritate and inflame swollen windpipes, steam and moisture have the potential to bring the swelling down, helping your child manage and cope with her condition as she recovers. You can give your child a hot bath and encourage her to inhale the soothing vapors or fill a sink with hot water, lower your child's head over the basin and cover it with a towel for a few seconds while she inhales. As an alternative, you might consider placing a humidifier in your child's bedroom temporarily to increase the amount of moisture in the air. However, keep the temperature constant in your child's room to help manage the windpipe swelling.