WFMW: Cold Remedies
Zara is absolutely miserable with a bad cold. Actually I suspect she has the flu. She wasn’t a very happy baby Friday and Saturday when we were in Virginia which I easily attributed to being away from home. Saturday during the night she spiked a fever. Don’t you just love that ultimate version of Mom guilt? Hi, we came to visit you and now we have the flu so hopefully we’re only leaving good memories and not germs. Gah.
At any rate, her fever left yesterday, but she’s left with a cough and a nose that erupts like Old Faithful only I’m pretty sure the timeframe is less than every twenty minutes.
I’ve learned a few things about colds in kids in the last ten years and, not surprisingly, I’m still learning. Babies really should come with an instructional manual. About the time Adam was born, they pulled most cold remedies off the shelf. At the time I thought it was pretty unfair. What? They’re just supposed to deal with the symptoms? The past few years I’ve gravitated toward a slightly more holistic approach so I’m not sure exactly where I fit in right now. I mostly know that I scream prevention and still fail to do all of the things I preach. Like the fact that my favorite flu prevention is Vit D consumption and we’ve yet to swallow one dose this year.
So did you know that a cold lasts a very long time (10 days to 2 weeks) and that the peak day is day 5? I didn’t either until Zara was a month old and so sick with a cold that I absolutely could not wake her. We landed in the pediatricians office where she, of course, woke up and appeared more well than she had at home. He said, “Let’s see, this is day 5. That’s usually when we see babies because they keep getting worse and by day 5 parents are nearly panicked.” To be honest, I think I panicked more when she did not have one wet diaper for a period of almost twelve hours and finally put out a few reddish crystals instead of urine on day six. Her pediatrician still wasn’t worried and I finally eeked enough milk into her with a syringe to help her revive enough for a semi-normal feeding and suddenly we saw her eyes again.
So there you have it. Baby is worrisomely sick and it’s day three? You probably need help before she crumps. Day five and it’s bad but respirations are still normal? Hopefully this is as bad as it’s going to get.
But the best thing I learned last winter is that eucalyptus oil does a beautiful job of helping with coughs. Unkers and Vicks have been good friends of ours for years. We slather the kids chests and their feet, then put socks on them when we tuck them in at night. Adam can handle straight Vicks, but Liam’s skin is sensitive so I either use Baby Vicks or put a very thin layer of Vaseline on his chest and then a layer of Vicks. I just about can’t bring myself to put even baby Vicks on a teeny tiny baby’s chest, but I would put it on the soles of their feet. Interestingly, Vicks contains eucalyptus and lavender oil. After reading an article about oils for colds, I decided to try it. The next time Zara got sick, I added 6 drops of eucalyptus oil to our regular warm air humidifier and set it next to her crib. Amazingly, she coughed less when first getting up than she had before she went to bed. Quite unlike the normal wake up and cough and cough and cough types of scenarios that happen normally. I loved it because I wasn’t putting anything strong directly on her skin and I wasn’t using any petroleum products. (Told you I’ve been edging toward the other side.) 😉 One of these days I’m going to find a carrier oil we can all use and make my own cough rub. 🙂
UPDATE: Soon after posting this, a friend — thanks, Carmen! — with far more experience in essential oils messaged me about eucalyptus oil and said it’s dangerous in babies with epilepsy. Zara is up and gu-rouchy so I need to do more research but two quick links confirm these concerns. In fact, after reading [this article], I wouldn’t even recommend putting Vicks on a baby’s feet. It appears to be more dangerous topically, but is definitely one of those risk way outweighs any potential benefits kind of scenarios and it should not be used in kids under ten. Which makes me very curious why they sell baby Vicks?? So now I’m really serious. What DO you do with your babies? I find it interesting that Zara has more spasms whenever she has a cold whether or not I use oils. For example, I didn’t use anything until last night (not even tylenol) and yet, all day yesterday she showed a significant increase in events. Today is about the same as yesterday, perhaps a little less, but we haven’t hit evening yet either. I’d really like to know causation on colds and spasms for her. But anyhow, this is one more reason why you don’t follow everything you read online. Also, if you’re like me and just learning about EO, here’s where I’m going to begin my education.
The other thing we try to do when colds happen is to cut back on dairy consumption. Because milk based products can thicken phlegm, it stands to reason that they can accelerate the cold to ear infection progression. So we push fluids, just not milk. We haven’t dealt with an ear infection in years. Causation or correlation or just blessed? It’s hard to tell, but I’m grateful.
Aside from an occasional steroid inhaler when Adam younger, we’ve been blessed with garden variety cold symptoms. I know that some of you have tangled with nebulizers and hospitals and far more complicated respiratory issues than we have. I’d love to hear your tips for staying well #washyourhands #washyourhands #washyourhands and what you do to make your kids more comfortable when they develop respiratory infections.
Looking forward to seeing what everyone says as I have a sick with fever an coughs two year old. Three things I’d recommend in my limited experience… Garlic Muellan oil drops in the ear. If my child gets a bad cold, I put a drop or two of this in their ears to prevent infection. Infant immune booster from mountain meadow herbs seems to help my boys immune a lot. It’s basically elderberries an echinacea tincture. Respiratory aide from natural answers seems to help with breathing during a cold. But what about fevers an coughs????
The website you linked to learn about EOs is an excellent one. If you search that website, you’ll find an anti congestion blend for very young children that contains fir needle instead of eucalyptus. (Eucalyptus EO is actually not recommended for any children under age ten, not just those with epilepsy.) I use this for my kids, and it is wonderful- works just as well as eucalyptus oil. I also give my kids (over age 1) homemade elderberry syrup, which helps them bounce back much faster. The recipe is here: http://wellnessmama.com/1888/elderberry-syrup/. A friend of mine substitutes maple syrup for the honey for a baby under age one.
My kids (3.5 and 1.5) both have horrible coughs and streaming noses right now too. It’s being stubborn. 🙁
Well, this is the second time I’ve come out of my silent reader shell and commented! I enjoy your Wednesday posts, keep it up!
Thank you! I’ll look up those links. I love that you are commenting, too. The best part about writing is the community it creates. 🙂 Happy Wednesday!
I feel like I’ve lost faith in most cold remedies. Nothing works for Bronwyn except inhalers. We think she has asthma but can’t test for it until she’s older. She lives on inhalers, albuterol and flovent. Right now she’s in bed, coughing a terrible hacking cough that is way too familiar for her. I hate it! Don’t know what to do for her. If I can get her on inhalers the same day she gets a cold, she’s usually okay. But this time I ran out of the albuterol for a few days, and now the cough is out of control. Nothing–warm steam, Unkers, OTC cough remedies, cough syrup, honey–I’ve tried works. Last month she needed an oral steroid to get the cough under control. That time it had turned into bronchiolitis.
Why I am writing this? 🙂 not very helpful am I? I hope Zara gets better soon!
So I could send you a hug, that’s why! I’m so sorry. There is nothing worse than watching your child struggle to breathe. It’s horrible! I’m so sorry and will pray for Bronwyn tonight! {{{{hugs for her sweet mommy}}}}
I am not a very “health minded, herbal remedy” person….not that I’m necessarily against it just have never gotten into figuring out what to use! A simple thing I have done the last two years (besides my kids taking Vit C every day) is keeping EmergenC on hand and giving it as soon as the slightest cold symptoms start. It has worked wonders for us, and I admit, I’m sold on it right now! 🙂 I’ve taken a dose, gone to bed with a scratchy throat, sure I will wake up feeling miserable, and gotten up in the morning feeling almost 100% more times than I can count!! Of course, this might stop working tomorrow 🙂
A bit of encouragement to Jen – I so know the feeling of a child with asthmatic tendecies!! Hopefully your little lady will be like mine and grow out of it eventually!
I should have added that when I had a nursing baby with the sniffles, I would take it myself so that he would benefit. Now that he’s older, I give him his own cup with half a pack – he loves it and gets the packets out of the drawer and begs sometimes! 🙂
Love that Emergen C is working for you. I remember doing a lot of that one winter, too. It’s always so nice when you find something that actually helps your family instead of feeling as though you are powerless to do anything.
I love following your blog!! I love using EO on my children, it has warded off lots of colds an flues when they were going around!! Another good oil for coughs is RC or Raven but you would def need to put it in a carrier oil for one so young! If you are interested in more info feel free to message me!!
I’ve never heard of Raven. Clearly, I have a lot to learn.
Raven is not recommended for children under 6. There is a book called Gentle Babies that is all about Essential Oils specifically for babies. I don’t have it because I don’t have any babies, but my EO friends with babies really like it and use it. I could bring you some info on some EO’s the next time we come down, if you want. Don’t think we’re scheduled to come for a couple weeks tho. Hopefully everyone is soon feeling better!
If you happen to remember, that would be great. Otherwise, no worries. I’m hoping in a few weeks we’ll be loving spring sunshine and not worrying about respiratory infections. 🙂
As an alternative to Unkers and Vicks, which have ingredients that I don’t want absorbed into our skin, I found “Winter Breeze” from beeyoutiful.com. We go through about one little can a winter. I’m not sure how young I have used this for our children, but at least by 1 year I would say.
I had not heard before that eucalyptus would not be good for children and would like to look into it. Thanks for the info y’all!
Winter Breeze completely ended our nighttime coughing! With our older children, I would wake up so often in the night listening to them cough, or cough as they try to go to sleep… Well, Winter Breeze on their chests, back, lung areas, and feet stops that cold, all night long! I even put it on my own feet last winter, with old socks on top, when I was coughing. Relief!
You’re doing a good job!
Thanks for this recommendation, Wendy! I’d like to try it.