Baby keeps clearing his throat

It is relatively abnormal for babies to clear their throats. Generally speaking, it means there are some problems with our throats. There are many problems with the throats, but the symptoms and causes of different diseases are also different. However, in general, this kind of situation should be treated in time, otherwise the condition will worsen. So why do babies always clear their throats?

The little boy clearly made a throat clearing sound that lasted for weeks to months, and his parents thought he had a cough and went to the doctor for treatment. As the disease lasted for several months, it was misdiagnosed as "chronic pharyngitis" or "bronchitis". However, the anti-infection treatment was not only ineffective, but the symptoms tended to worsen. The sound of the throat became a stereotyped behavior and was difficult to control. Later, after detailed consultation and examination by expert Director Zheng, these cases were finally diagnosed as multiple tics.

If a child always clears his throat, it is a symptom of vocal tics and is most likely caused by tics. Vocal tics are also divided into simple vocal tics and complex vocal tics. Simple vocal tics manifest as rapid, meaningless, monotonous repetitions, such as constant throat clearing, coughing, humming, roaring, grunting, screaming, etc.; complex vocal tics produce some seemingly meaningful short sentences, or more complex sentences, and some also manifest as repetitive, stereotyped complete sentences, such as certain word sounds, imitating speech, and repeating speech, but those who manifest as foul language are mostly adults, and children are rare. Vocal tics are generally characterized by slurred speech, nasal sounds, delayed speech, and uneven pitch.

Most patients develop motor tics first and then vocal tics; some cases also show simultaneous onset of motor tics and vocal tics. Tourette syndrome causes children to clear their throats all the time. In order to avoid misdiagnosis, timely examination and treatment are needed.