Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] Hi. My baby is 40 days old and has recently acquired coughing and ocassional vomiting. This has been going on for the past three days. He coughs quite loudly and almost every hour. The doctor said the infection could be viral and did not advise any medicines as he is too young for any cough syrup. He has not developed any fever. Needless to say, we are feeling very helpless to watch him in this state of trouble. Is it true that medicines do not exist for babies at this age? Will this be gone on its own like common cold or flu? Thank you
[|AI|]  Hi, thank you for choosing Chat Doctor. It is true that there is no effective cough medicine for this age group, but as it is persisting we have to rule out bacterial infection cause like pertussis as this also causes cough in this age group. A simple blood test will differentiate viral and bacterial cause. After this even if we give antibiotic the cough will persist for another few weeks. You can give her steam inhalation or normal saline nebulization as they decrease the irritation in throat and decrease the intensity of cough. Hope this has been helpful to you, kindly feel free to contact again for any queries. Kindly rate the answer if so. Take care.  Chat Doctor.