Why do Mothers Consult when their Children Cough?

Mothers' beliefs and evaluations of their child's illness werestudied in a group of 30 mothers who had con sulted a generalpractitioner because of a cough. Data were collected by tape-recordedsemi-structured interviews conducted in their own homes. A majorconcern for mothers was their fear that their child was goingto die, usually because of choking on phlegm or vomit, but alsothrough an asthma attack or cot death. Mothers were also worriedthat their child would develop long-term chest damage. Particularlyimportant in mothers' assessments were their experience of disturbedsleep because of worries about their child dying at night andtheir belief that the cough was ‘on the chest’ whichgave rise to worries about dying through choking on phlegm andlong-term chest damage. Antibiotics were commonly believed tobe required to break up phlegm which might cause the long-termdamage or the choking and death.