Home Treatments for Children’s Colds

This post is part of the series Natural Solutions for Common Health Problems. Check the old posts and keep an eye for the coming days.

A good way to prevent cold, as with other contagious illness, is with good nutrition and hand washing. However, once in a while even very healthy kids can catch a cold.

The bennefits of natural remedies are that they are generally safer than allopathic remedies, cheaper and easier to take.

Here are some natural ways to help your child’s body deal with colds

If your child has a fever, don’t rush to try to bring down his temperature. Fever is in fact helpful at limiting the course of an illness. Generally after high fever kids get better quickly. Unless your child is listless and not responding to you normally, he’s probably fine. Better to assist his body’s natural attempts to heal itself. Allow your child to rest and avoid artificial stimulus like too much TV or electronic media. Read to him, play card games and just hold him as much as possible.

If your child has a sore throat, ease it with warm salt water gargles. Honey lemon tea is also nice: squeeze a little fresh lemon juice into a mug of warm/hot water and add a teaspoon of honey. Homemade chicken broth is also great to keep your child hydrated and nourished as well. I have actually seen my child (and mom) recover completely after drinking warm, free range chicken broth in the morning.

Avoid giving your child decongestants and antihistamines. These have been proven to have little effect on colds, and their ingredients could even be harmful.

Using acupressure may ease the symptoms of a cold and your child may also enjoy it. Consult a guidebook on acupressure and follow suggestions for targeting the bladder, large intestine and lung pressure points.

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Vitamin C, Echinacea and Goldenseal are all traditional remedies for colds. They boost the immune system so it’s also a good idea to take them from natural sources during cold seasons.

If your child has trouble breathing, try a cool mist humidifier, making sure to keep it conscientiously clean. As an alternative you can boil water and pour it into a bowl with two radishes cut in half and a spoon of vineger. Have your child inhale the vapor for 5-10 minutes, inside a large towel. Just be careful to hold the bowl properly to prevent burning.

Eliminate sugars and junk food as much as possible, especially when he has a cold. Supporting his body with good nutrition is very important at this time. Prefer fresh vegetable juices, homemade soups and other easy to digest foods.

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