Cough Remedies

Poor thing! My heart breaks to hear my little ones cough - especially now that doctors don't recommend drugs!

I've used honey three ways. First is a 1/2 to 1 teaspoon directly in to the mouth right before bed. It coats the throat to calm the cough enough to get to sleep. I would do another in the night when the cough woke my boy up.

Second - my son loves this - I call it 'honey tea'. 2 teaspoons of honey into 4-6 ounces of warm water. Again, it would sooth the throat and calm the coughing. We did this multiple times a day. I'm a big tea drinker and my son thought he was a big boy by sharing teas with mom. :-)

The third is a part of another 'brewed' tea. It is a cough and cold remedy, tasty if you like stir fry. 1/2 fresh lemon (cut in half), 1 inch grated fresh ginger, 1 clove of crushed garlic in simmered for 20 minutes in a saucepan in a cup to a cup and a 1/2 of water. Squeeze the lemon juice out (it's hot!) and strain all ingredients. To serve, add honey to make it palatable. Drink warm. This recipe is also used for the prevention of colds as well as making colds go away quicker.

I found the last recipe on the internet and it's worked for everyone in my family. Look up homemade cold remedies. There are a LOT out there.

Hope this helps and the cough goes away!

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OK...don't laugh, because it truly works :) Try putting Vicks Vapor rub (or the generic brand) on the bottom of her feet and then put socks on! I use in to both my boys and it works WELL (within minutes) and about 1 month ago I used it on myself :) Good luck and I wish you lots of sleep!!!!

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Hi-

I know how hard it is to see them cough all night. We just went through this with my 2 year old. I brought him in and he had pneumonia. Not to scare you, but you might want to rule that out. Before I brought him in, the nurse on the phone said I could use 1 teaspoon of benedryl at night to try and see if that helped, so you might try that. After he was seem they gave me Albueterol to use with the nebulizer and that REALLY helps. Like the other poster said though, they get really wired on it so do it way before nap or bedtime. Good luck...hope everyone is back to normal soon!

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Honey is safe after the kids turn 1 so you're set there! I now swear by honey and use it as a first remedy before any OTC or precriptions. I mix equal parts honey and lemon juice together, microwave it just a few seconds to get them to mix together evenly and then drink when cool enough to handle. The lemon juice also helps cut the honey taste, which I can't stand. I'd say for a 2 YO, maybe start with 1 tsp. of each and go from there. Lasts at least 4 hours in my experience, the honey coats and the lemon acts as a bit of an anesthetic. Good luck!

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Give her a straight teaspoon to tablespoon of honey. (IT's best if it is organic honey. Regular honey they heat so hot that it kills all the good stuff in it. But it may still help for a cough.......) We used organic and it works great for coughs, scratchy throats, etc.

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You might want to talk to your pediatrician about it as a nighttime cough could be a sign of asthma. Both of my kids, myself, my brother and two of his three children all have asthma and night time is the worst for coughing. You may not notice any wheezing as my son has what is called cough induced asthma. He rarily wheezes, but he always coughs when his asthma is acting up. If asthma is not treated properly, it will make her more suseptable to illness and ear infections as asthma causes the body to produce too much flem and sinus congestion. That is why we cough, to expell the flem from the lungs. If she does have asthma, keep a bottle of ipacec syrup on hand. When the cough gets too bad or she starts wheezing, a touch of the ipecec will help her expel the flem when she throws up, which will help to ease the cough. Good luck to you hun!

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My 3-year old had the worst cough that kept everyone up at night too. Our pediatrician prescribed Albuterol syrup which we gave to him twice a day. This really helped! It wouldn't hurt to take your daughter in and mention this to them to see if you can get the same prescription. One side effect is that it makes some children hyper, but it's worth putting up with if it cures the cough which it did for us. Also, he said this is safe for all ages more or less, even babies. Good luck and I hope she is better very quickly!

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Once a child hits 1 yo they can have honey. I usually bring to a boil in the microwave 1/4 cup of water. Add a lemon or lime to steep in the water and 3-4 tblsp of honey. It is basically a honey simple syrup. It really eases her throat and helps stop the coughing.

When nothing else worked, I asked the pharmacist what to do (no cough meds til age 4!) and she said honey. My DS was 18 months old and we gave him a tbsp of honey before bed and it helped. It wasn't a 100% cure but it turned out to be a sinus infection. Still, I'd try it. Good luck!

Most docs prescribe cough syrup with codiene (spelling?) But be careful. Our girls' pediatrician rarely gives it out because coughing is the body's only way of getting the yucky stuff out; if that mechanism is stopped for long enough (night after night) the phlegm will sit long enough to allow pneumonia to develop. I don't know if your daughter also has a cold or not with phlegm, but that's just the general rule I've always heard. Our doc also says if the cough is so bad that the child cannot sleep, its time to bring the child in to the office. Hope this all makes sense. I know I kind of wrote two looong sentences, sorry, I'm in a hurry typing on my phone! Lol best of luck and I hope your poor little girl gets better soon! I know what its like :(

A pediatrician friend of mine recommends putting fresh onion in honey in a jar, letting it sit for a few hours until the honey pulls out onion juices, then removed the onion pieces. Stir up the honey/onion juice and take that as a cough remedy.

My doctor told me that after a year you can just give them a spoonful of honey. He recommends it over other cough remedies.

use hylands honey cough syrup. works like a charm! good luck!!!

Hi A.,

For what it is worth, I just talked to my doctor about a similar situation with my daughter so I thought I would share what he said to me. I'm not sure if your daughter has the cough all day or just at night but in my daughters case, she only coughs when she lays down for a nap or at night. My doctor suggested that it could either be acid reflux (brought on by laying down) or allergies. He suggested that we give her a little bit of Zyrtec syrup (1/2 tsp daily and she's 2) to see if that helps. If her cough goes away, then we know it's allergies. If it doesn't help, he said that we could try to treat her for acid reflux and if that didn't work then he would do further testing. Like I said, not sure if your daughters cough is an all-day thing or just at naptime/night but just thought I would share in case.

MH

Whooping cough has been going around but many dr.'s won't test for it since most kids have been vaccinated. If it is WC, it is known as the 100 day cough differing in severity throughout that time. Either way, try upping her vitamin c and honey like others have suggested. You can also try different homepathic remedies...Drosera is one that is supposed to be good for coughs.

We bought a cough "medicine" safe for kiddos at Whole Foods. The brand name of it is Hyland's. The main ingredient is indeed honey.