Can I eat bird's nest when I have a cold or cough?

When people have a cold or cough, their body's immunity has decreased. At this time, they need to eat more nutritious substances to ensure their health. Bird’s nest is a very nutritious food that can provide the human body with many necessary nutrients. Drinking more bird's nests on a regular basis can help beautify your skin, but can you drink bird's nests when you have a cold or cough? Let’s take a look below.

Can babies eat bird's nest when they have a cough?

Children's coughing is a defensive reflex movement, the purpose of which is to prevent the inhalation of foreign objects, prevent the accumulation of bronchial secretions, clear the secretions and avoid secondary respiratory tract infections. The causes of cough in children include upper respiratory tract infection, bronchitis, pharyngitis, history of allergies and inhalation of foreign objects. Therefore, any cause of acute or chronic inflammation of the respiratory tract can cause cough. Children's cough can be divided into acute cough, subacute cough and chronic cough according to the course of the disease. Children's cough is a defensive protective movement. Any cause of acute or chronic inflammation of the respiratory tract can cause coughing. There are five main causes, including upper respiratory tract infection, bronchitis, pharyngitis, allergies and inhalation of foreign objects.

As the name suggests, children's cough occurs in childhood and is related to a variety of diseases. Children's cough is a symptom. When children accidentally inhale foreign objects or smell irritating odors, they may also be stimulated by secretions in the respiratory tract. They will clear out these substances that irritate the respiratory mucosa through coughing. Therefore, children's cough is also a protective reflex action. Children need to absorb more nutrition during their development and growth period. Taking bird's nest can strengthen their physical fitness, increase resistance, prevent disease invasion, and promote brain development, increase intelligence and make them more responsive.

Things not to eat when coughing

Babies are generally not suitable for using centrally acting antitussives, such as codeine, Kebiqing, and Kemifen. The baby's respiratory system is not yet mature, the cough reflex is poor, the airway lumen is narrow, the blood vessels are rich, the ciliary movement is poor, and sputum is not easy to expel. If a cough occurs, a stronger cough suppressant will be given. Although the cough can be temporarily stopped, the sputum transport function of the ciliated epithelial cells on the tracheal mucosa and the contraction and peristalsis function of the bronchial smooth muscle are inhibited, and the sputum cannot be discharged smoothly. A large amount of sputum accumulates in the trachea and bronchi, affecting the respiratory function.

When the baby has a cough, the mother should be especially careful not to give the baby cold drinks, greasy food, fishy shrimps and crabs, sweets, etc., so as not to aggravate the cough. So what are the foods that children should not eat when they have a cough? The following are the things that babies cannot eat when they have a cough:

1. Cold food: Do not drink cold or frozen drinks when you have a cough. If you eat too cold food at this time, it will easily cause blockage of lung qi, aggravating the symptoms and not healing over time.

2. Fatty, sweet and greasy foods: Traditional Chinese medicine believes that cough is mostly caused by lung heat, especially in children. When children cough, their gastrointestinal function is relatively weak. Fried foods can increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, increase moisture and heat, breed phlegm, and make the cough difficult to cure.

3. Fish, shrimp and crab: The cough of children with cough will worsen after eating fishy foods. This is related to the fishy smell irritating the respiratory tract and the allergy to the protein in fish and shrimp foods. Babies who are allergic to certain fish and eggs should be more careful, among which silver carp and hairtail are the most affected.

4. Sweet and sour foods: Sour foods often cause phlegm to accumulate, making it difficult to cough up, thus aggravating the condition and making the cough difficult to cure. When the cough is severe, it is not advisable to eat apples, bananas, oranges, grapes, etc. Eating sweets will also increase heat, making the inflammation difficult to cure.

5. Orange: Many people believe that oranges can relieve cough and reduce phlegm, so they let children with coughs eat more oranges. In fact, orange peel does have the effect of relieving cough and reducing phlegm, but orange flesh can generate heat and phlegm.