Habit cough — also known as psychogenic cough or somatic cough syndrome — is a type of cough that isn't caused by any sickness or lung issues. Instead, it is a learned behavior that can be triggered by stress, anxiety, or other emotions.
Keep your routine. Your child can do all normal activities, including going to school, gym class, and sports. Keeping a routine helps your child understand that they are not sick.
Help your child manage their habit cough. Talk to your child about habit cough. When coughing happens, encourage your child to hold the cough back by breathing slowly and relaxing the muscles of the chest and neck. It might help for your child to sip a little water every time they have the urge to cough. This may make the urge go away.
Help your child manage stress. Stress sometimes leads to more coughing. Ways to help your child cope with stress include:
Your child:
How is habit cough treated? Habit cough is usually treated at home by helping kids find ways to stop the cough and manage stress. (Stress can increase coughing.) Health care providers typically don't use medicine to treat this type of cough because it’s not due to a medical issue. Sometimes counseling or speech therapy can help. If the health care provider isn't sure what's causing the cough, they may do tests or send the child to a lung specialist (pulmonologist) to get more information.
Should I give my child cough medicine to help with the cough? Don't give cough drops or over-the-counter cough medicines (the kind you can buy without a prescription) unless the health care provider tells you to. Cough medicine can be harmful to children, especially those under 6 years old. Habit cough isn't due to a medical issue, so cough drops and cough medicine won't help.
