My darlings got a cold this week. Unfortunately, I have just learned that my go-to, foolproof cold remedy has eucalyptus in it, and eucalyptus is no longer considered safe for anyone under the age of 10! So what's a mommy to do?
Well, this mommy spent a scary amount of time on the internet looking up ideas, and then forced all kinds of concoctions on the darlings. Poor things. My poor husband, too; he didn't know what I would try next, and our house stank to high heaven.
The most popular remedy among the over-1 crowd was a teaspoon of honey mixed with a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon. The girls ate that happily twice a day. I don't know how much it helped, but the colds were of shorter duration and intensity than normal for them, and this may have contributed. Since they liked it so much, I would recommend it.
The one I saw results from was garlic in olive oil applied to the soles of the feet. I put that on at bedtime, and coughing and sneezing stopped for the night. They didn't wake up with stuffed up noses either. Their bedroom stunk and they found it weird, but it worked. The one night I only put it on the sicker one, her sister coughed a lot and woke up in worse condition. Evidence enough for me!
Minced garlic can burn the skin, so the olive oil is essential. The first time, I minced the garlic and mixed it with oil, then coated the foot with plain oil before putting on a light coat of oil-soaked garlic. When the baby got sick, I put the minced garlic in body-temperature oil and let it soak overnight, then applied just the oil to his skin.
The baby, of course, couldn't have honey. The garlic oil worked on his cough, but he got a sore throat and was miserable. So I mixed up a throat cure for him: 3 cloves minced garlic, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar. Pour 1 cup boiling water over it, cover, and let steep until room temperature. I put it in a syringe and sprayed it toward the back of his throat every hour or two (about a half teaspoon at a time). He hated it, but he hates anything sprayed in his mouth. It did seem to work; the sore throat symptoms were gone in less than a day. And when I felt a sore throat coming on a few days later, I drank a cup and the pain went away. (It tastes like a weak salad vinaigrette; not exactly what you want in the morning, but not too horrible.)
So those worked. I tried all kinds of fever remedies on the baby (the older kids didn't get fevers), but none of them were successful. His fever succumbed to a night of pacing the floor with him in prayer, and divine intervention, I'm convinced. But the cold remedies, though stinky, were helpful.
Well, this mommy spent a scary amount of time on the internet looking up ideas, and then forced all kinds of concoctions on the darlings. Poor things. My poor husband, too; he didn't know what I would try next, and our house stank to high heaven.
The most popular remedy among the over-1 crowd was a teaspoon of honey mixed with a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon. The girls ate that happily twice a day. I don't know how much it helped, but the colds were of shorter duration and intensity than normal for them, and this may have contributed. Since they liked it so much, I would recommend it.
The one I saw results from was garlic in olive oil applied to the soles of the feet. I put that on at bedtime, and coughing and sneezing stopped for the night. They didn't wake up with stuffed up noses either. Their bedroom stunk and they found it weird, but it worked. The one night I only put it on the sicker one, her sister coughed a lot and woke up in worse condition. Evidence enough for me!
Minced garlic can burn the skin, so the olive oil is essential. The first time, I minced the garlic and mixed it with oil, then coated the foot with plain oil before putting on a light coat of oil-soaked garlic. When the baby got sick, I put the minced garlic in body-temperature oil and let it soak overnight, then applied just the oil to his skin.
The baby, of course, couldn't have honey. The garlic oil worked on his cough, but he got a sore throat and was miserable. So I mixed up a throat cure for him: 3 cloves minced garlic, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar. Pour 1 cup boiling water over it, cover, and let steep until room temperature. I put it in a syringe and sprayed it toward the back of his throat every hour or two (about a half teaspoon at a time). He hated it, but he hates anything sprayed in his mouth. It did seem to work; the sore throat symptoms were gone in less than a day. And when I felt a sore throat coming on a few days later, I drank a cup and the pain went away. (It tastes like a weak salad vinaigrette; not exactly what you want in the morning, but not too horrible.)
So those worked. I tried all kinds of fever remedies on the baby (the older kids didn't get fevers), but none of them were successful. His fever succumbed to a night of pacing the floor with him in prayer, and divine intervention, I'm convinced. But the cold remedies, though stinky, were helpful.
