Ways to help relieve Bronchitis or Cough

My little girl unfortunately had Bronchitis at the age of 6mths old, from that period on it just keeps recurring and I had tried several methods to aid in the recovery which I thought might be useful to share with other parents with the same concerns.

1) Thru western medication:
   *Do note that this is preferably to be prescribed by the doctor

Usually she has to undergo through nebulization to inhale the medications, such as atrovent, ventolin and pumicort
   *Tip: For younger babies who doesnt know how to inhale properly for effective medication, you can try to make them cry as crying naturally opens their mouth and lungs to inhale properly.  As my girl started to neuberlize at 6mths old, we had to make her cry in order for the medications to be inhaled as she doesnt know how to breathe in deeply.

Medications such as singulair may also be prescribed by the doctor but do note the side effects so that you can pre-empt the school staff or caregiver.  Extract from wiki about the negative side effects: Side effects include gastrointestinal disturbances, headaches,, hypersensitivity reactions, sleep disorders, and increased bleeding tendency, in addition to other generic adverse reactions.  Its use is associated with higher incidence of Churg-Strauss syndrome.  Drowsiness is also a common side effect. 

2) Thru chinese medication
When she was first having bronchitis at 6mths old, I went to Fu Hua to buy their top grade of Chuan Bei Mu (Also known as Fritillaria) and request to have it grinded to powder.
At 6months old, her dosage was half a teaspoon, three times daily, one hour after her western medication to help dissolve the phelgm.
After she turned one year old, from then onwards we replaced chuan bei with Hou Ning (a type of Hou zao san) from Eu Yan Seng.  Its pretty expensive, so if you want to try a cheaper alternative you could pop by neighbourhood TCM shops to buy hou zao san too. 

3) Thru diet

Most FM that we give to our kids are cows milk which is known to cause more phelgm.

If you're feeding breast milk, do continue doing so to pass them the antibodies. 

Else you can try switching to soy milk for the interim. 

There's also a list of food items which are to be avoided as it will induce phelgm or prolong the recovery. These include: Fish, chicken, cold or sweet food, citrus fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, oranges, certain fruits like grapes also induce phelgm.