Speedy recovery
These all-natural, at-home tricks show that your family doesn’t have to take this cold and flu season lying down.
By Cynthia Ramnarace
Your glassy-eyed child stares up at you, coughs in your face, and then whimpers the words you knew were coming: "I don’t feel good." Cold and flu season has officially arrived at your home. While these seasonal maladies take time to run their course, some natural DIY remedies can help speed things along, make your child more comfortable, and help your child miss fewer days at school.
Healing foods
Honey: A teaspoonful of honey can help halt a nagging cough. Honey (particularly dark, thick buckwheat) is rich in immune-boosting antioxidants that could help your honey get better faster. Its thick, smooth consistency also works to coat a raw throat, calming that nagging cough that can make sleep elusive. (Don’t give honey to children under 1 year due to the risk of infant botulism, a type of food poisoning.) Adding honey to a cup of hot tea offers even more benefits, says David Grotto, R.D., author of 101 Foods that Could Save Your Life. "Tea works as a bronchodilator that opens airways and can actually help with breathing," says Grotto.
Chicken soup: If the sound of a sneeze triggers your maternal urge to make chicken soup, there’s good reason: Chicken soup is believed to have anti-inflammatory properties that can help shorten a cold. The steam from a hot cup of soup can open nasal passages in the same way a hot shower does, and studies also suggest that chicken marrow might have some immune-boosting properties, says Grotto. Season your soup with herbs like garlic, ginger, basil, oregano, and cilantro, which help fight bacteria in the body, says Grotto.
Homeopathic remedies
Allium Cepa or pulsatilla for colds: For a runny nose and watery eyes, try allium cepa, made from red onions (the same ones that make you cry while chopping them). It works by helping your body do more of what it wants to do—create mucus that helps clear the germs from the nose. If your child has yellow or green nasal discharge and is acting clingy and miserable, try pulsatilla, made from extracts of the anemone flower, which stimulates the production of mucus that’s part of the body’s germ-killing arsenal.
Oscillococcinum, aconite, or bryonia for flu: If the flu seems to be coming on slowly, try the tongue-twisting Oscillococcinum, a homeopathic treatment manufactured by Boiron that can help nip flu-like symptoms in the bud. If symptoms appeared quickly, such as a sudden fever, the National Center for Homeopathy recommends you try aconite, a treatment made from the buttercup family of herbs. Bryonia, derived from the roots of a flowering plant in the cucumber family, works as an anti-inflammatory in the body, which can help ease achy joints and dry cough brought on by the flu.
DIY cures
Saline wash: Help clear nasal passages for easier breathing with a saline spray. A saline wash "can cause sneezing, and that sneezing can help eliminate some of the mucus in the upper nasal passages," says Matthew Baral, a naturopathic physician and chair of the Department of Pediatric Medicine at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, Arizona.
Once the clogging mucus has been loosened, a thorough nose blowing is necessary to get it all out. Teach a reluctant nose blower by first having him blow through his mouth, just like he’d blow out candles on a birthday cake, says Baral. Then encourage him to blow through his teeth with his jaw closed. Next, have him blow with his mouth closed, so the air comes out of his nose.
Wet sock treatment: If a wet blanket can bring a party to a halt, a wet sock could do the same for a cold. "It works really well with kids with a lot of intense congestion in the head and nose," says Baral, by bringing blood flow to the feet and decreasing some of the pressure in the head. Run a pair of cotton socks under cold water and squeeze them out. At bedtime, put them on your child, followed by a pair of dry wool socks. By morning, the socks should be warm, head congestion eased, and the fever will often be broken. "All of my patients tell me it’s a really powerful treatment," says Baral. Children tend to like it, too. "It seems to have quite a sedating action and helps them sleep a little bit better," Baral says.
