“How do I know if my child has bronchitis?”

This answer is in response to the question “how do I know if my child has bronchitis” Children rarely if ever get what is classically known as “bronchitis”, which is almost always an adult disorder.  If your child has a cough, there can be many reasons, including the common cold, croup, asthma, post-viral cough syndrome, pneumonia, etc. More rare causes would be the aspiration of a foreign body, congenital malformations, etc. If your child’s cough has persisted for more than two weeks or is accompanied by fever or trouble breathing, then you need your doctor or NP asap to see your child and listen to the chest.

Thank you for your message to Valley Pediatrics. If this is a medical emergency, please call 911. We will respond to routine inquiries sent to this mailbox within 48 hours on business days. For a more timely response, please call our office at (201) 652-1888, 24/7, for immediate assistance. We kindly ask that you choose one method for contacting us (phone, text, or email), as all methods go to the same staff members and multiple methods will slow response times for all.

"Bronchitis" is just the medical term for cough. the suffix "it is" just means "inflammation of..." the "Bronchi" is the upper airways. With very rare exception, a cough is caused by inflammation of the upper airways, hence...BRONCHITIS. There is nothing in that term that suggests what is the CAUSE of the inflammation, which is the key to appropriate treatment. ONLY BACTERIAL infections, which are extremely rare, especially in children, can be treated with prescription antibiotics. The typical medical pronouncement, "Your child has bronchitis, here is a prescription for antibiotics" is usually not only useless, but is what contributes to antibiotic overuse, both in individual patients as well as in our population at large.