Toddler Cold Remedy

We do the Vicks on the feet, covered with socks, at night (I do it myself - and I've had colds where it makes all the difference in the world, and sometimes doesn't do anything - it all depends on the cold I guess) But I've also found a Sudafed that is a decongestant for 4-6 yrs and it's helped my 4 year old son lately. He doesn't like the flavor, but it works. I've also found little melt-away strips for sore throats, I think the age on them is 2 or 3. We also do the Vicks scented pads on the warmer, but we recently had a round of colds that the Vicks made the coughing worse - it was a terrible nasty cold! I've heard Walgreens has the best selection of children's cold relief items - I haven't had a chance to look myself, but I hear that they have a variety of things for all ages.

Good Luck!

Try rubbing Vicks on their chest and on their feet before bed and put socks on their feet. This really helps my children sleep. good luck! K.

We use baby Vicks (label says for 3 months and up) and a vapor plug in. I put a few rolled up towels under his mattress to raise the head of the bed a little. We also use Children's Tylenol. When he was younger, we used the infant drops. I don't use the cough medicine because they no longer recommend it.

I'm surprised no one mentioned this, but maybe I just missed it. I have found that putting honey & a few drops of lemon juice in some water & warming it up has been a GREAT alternative to cough medicine. If it's a phlegmy cough, not as much. It works great when the cough is one of those tickles in the back of the throat ones!

Good luck

In my book of natural healing it suggests that you be sure to pack your winter meals with food rich in vitamin C, such as broccoli and citrus fruits and zinc which is found in whole grains and by getting plenty of sleep. If you get a cold you need to drink more often in order to replace moisture loss by coughs and sneezes. You can also boost your vitamin intake by drinking fruit juices and soups. If you are looking for herbs that help deal with the cold, here is a good list:

echinaccea- strengthens the immune system- drink a cup of tea daily
Citrus fruits- lemon, grapefruit and orange juices are all antiseptic and have uplifting properties.Orange can bring down temperatures, Grapefruit the lymphatic system, and lemon cleanses and purifies.
Eucalyptus- the vapors work on the respiratory tract soothing inflammation and clearing the head and sinus (this can be found in baby vicks) as many mothers suggested.
Rosemary- eases headaches and sore throats.
Garlic- has antibacterial properties and help the immune system fight infection.
Sage- has chest clearing properties.
Thyme- fights infections.
Ginger- is a stimulant and expectorant all in one.
Honey- not for under age 1 soothes sore throats and tickly coughs.

Here is a homemade cough syrup that I used with my daughter when she was sick and it worked great:

pour half a pint of boiling water into a jug containing a sliced lemon and one tbsp of organic honey (for under 1 you can use corn syrup- this makes a simple syrup) add chopped fresh sage to soothe an aching head, grated fresh ginger to stimulate the circulation, and chopped fresh thyme to help fight infection (1 tsp of each). Let it steep until cool and strain. Take 1/2 tsp three times a day.

Good Luck!

Children's Zyrtec is what our pediatrician has our son on. He's 3 1/2. I never thought of him as having "allergies" so I was very surprised by the recommendation. But, he always had a runny/snotty nose and a very dry unproductive cough. Just "the ick". But never ran a fever or anything. Our pediatrician looked at him and told us to give him Children's Zyrtec once daily for a rotation of 6 weeks. After the 3rd day..........different child! Matter of fact, we're about to start it again tonight. He's starting with that same little cough again. Here's the info on it from their website....
Children 2 to under 6yrs of age.....1/2 teaspoon once daily. If needed, can be increased to a maximum of 1 teaspoon once daily OR 1/2 teaspoon every 12 hours. Do not give more than 1 teaspoon in 24 hours.

Hi T.,

When I detoxed my home, everyone in the family started staying well. When the synthetic chemicals are not available to break down the immune system, then the immune system can actually fight off the germs the way it is supposed to.

If a cold does come into play then there are several natural things that will help with the immune system. Echinacea is good but you have to make sure you remove all sugar from the diet...this includes white potatoes and also white bread. Elderberry syrup has always been my choice as it tastes good and kids will take it. You can even put a teaspoon in a cup of hot tea and it becomes a fancy drink...

Chiropractic care will also do wonders if you find a principled, upper cervical chiropractor. If you don't have one you can go to upspine.com and find one in your area. Hope I helped!

M.

Check with your doc about benadryl. It's generally cleared even for really little ones, and it really does "dry them out." Like you said, it won't make them healthier, but will make everyone able to breathe. Be careful though, as it can make kids really sleepy or, sometimes, really hyper. Good luck! Hope everyone feels better.

I'd listen to the advice of your pediatrician. The main reason they changed the guidelines to age 6 is because it is so difficult to dose for younger children. Too many parents were overdosing.

Unfortunately, I think you're doing the best thing with the tylenol/motrin. Our kids have had the same thing (as well as myself and my husband currently). They're too young to understand how to blow their noses, so the best things right now are humidifiers, saline solution, and an aspirating bulb.

Tussin is certainly against the advice of the American Academy of Pediatrics at this point in time - the risks just too greatly outweigh the benefits.

We honestly just let time take its course and deal with miserable, grumpy kids. My husband and I both work in the pharmaceutical industry, and perhaps we know too much about possible adverse events and how risky it is to study drugs in kids.

My oncologist said this has been a really bad cold/flu season and hopes the worst is past.

Do allergies run in your family? I only ask b/c I was one of those kids who always had a cold, and when they figured out I had seasonal allergies & mild asthma (at age 22!), they put me on an allergy med and my colds mysteriously stopped. Like, I maybe get 1-2 a year now. My nephew had a similar problem and at age 4 was diagnosed with allergies/asthma - he's on a med now and rarely gets the bad colds anymore. Just a thought!

Oh, T., I feel for your little ones (and for you!). If, looking down the road, you want to do all you can to prevent future rounds of colds/flus, there are definitely natural things you can give babies and toddlers to build their immune systems, so they're better equipped to fight off the viruses. The idea being that with prevention, you won't have to deal with the awful symptoms. Feel free to send me a private message if you'd like more details about safe approaches designed specifically for little ones. For now, though, I second the suggestions to use a humidifier and the Vicks.
Blessings,
A.

Every person here is telling you different information. This is one of the reasons the Powers That Be decided in part to discontinue medications for children under 6 years of age. Each parent decides "how much" medication is right for their children and children died from these decisions. Medications made for older children or adults are not formulated for smaller bodies. They don't break down the same and can become toxic. You need to follow the guidelines set by your Pediatrician.

The things you can do yourself are:

Give warm steamy showers 3-4 times a day to wash off any allergins and to loosen phlem and mucus.

Use Saline spray formulated for small children, follow the directions.

Give Tylenol, wait 4-6 hours, give Motrin, wait 6 hours, give Tylenol, etc...

Have a humidifier running all the time with Spring, Distilled, or Drinking water in it, the chlorine in tap water really stinks and builds up in the humidifier system.

I will tell you about my trip to the ER where my granddaughter was really sick and I found out it was toxic build up from Homeopathic teething tablets. The ER doctor told me if he found out I was still giving her anything not prescribed by a physician he could turn us in to child welfare for child endangerment. Please understand, most of those drugs are for adults not toddlers, their weight or size has nothing to do with their metabolism and their ability to precess these drugs.

Here are some links:

CNN reports on the "Why" about discontinueing meds.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/10/19/coldmed.fda/index.html

Here is an article on babycenter.com about what you can do.
http://www.babycenter.com/0_colds_11417.bc?page=2#article...

I "2nd" Shelli S.'s response. For my 1 1/2 yr old, I give xtra tablets of Vitamin C (Hylands or kid chewables) or I put a few oranges w/banana in a blender and feed that to him, goldenseal echinacea drops (about 7 drops), saline rinse in the nose (not too much because you don't want to irritate the nose and make it bleed). Water before bed and Hylands also makes the little tablets for "sniffs" & "sneezes" or Kali Mur.6x tablets, also made by Hylands brand. Vitamin D helps too. Hylands tablets - kids love them, they dissolve in the mouth.

Chicken soup w/broth made from chicken bone & or cow bone, w/sea salt (not for baby).
Peroxide drops (like 2 or 3) in both ears---till the kids says it has stopped bubbling...does tickle, but it is said that colds enter openings into the body which includes the ears (peroxide, 80% success rate - look it up). For my toddler, I kinda soak a part of a cotton ball w/peroxide and stuff in both ears, for about a minute.
Humidifier in bedroom.
Go to Akins Health Food Store more stuff.

Hi T. ~
I have a 2-year old boy who really responds to the Baby Vicks on his chest and on his feet with socks during nap and naptime, using a humidifier, saline drops, and tylenol. These tips worked when he was 6 months old and even today! Now when he has a cold, I also give him Vitamin-C lollipops to suck on. (Little Colds Safe-T-Pops, at Walgreens) Yes, there is a little sugar in them, but no artificial dyes or flavors. I never give him candy or sugar, so having a lollipop is a special treat when he has a cold, and he gets 60mg of Vitamin C.
And also, just remember that your 6 month old shouldn't have honey until he/she is 1 year old...but I plan on trying the honey and lemon in warm water for my 2-year old next time he's sick! Best of luck to you!

I hate that parents/people not properly dosing has made it difficult for the rest of us. When our son was about 2 1/2 his ped said the only thing she would approve of us giving him is Delsym cough suppressent. It helped greatly along with the humidifier and saline drops. I'd be concerned about the Zicam if its not under your peds watch.

For anyone considering Zyrtec, please read the following link on some side affects.

http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=19835&...

My friend's son's doc prescribed it to her 7 year old and in less than a week he was a totally different kid having melt downs, very frustrated and not himself. She did the research above and immediately took him off of Zyrtec. He is back to his normal self. Some of the posts are quite alarming. I have not looked closely at potential side effects in the past but I will going forward.

I've heard of Vicks VapoRub on the feet with socks over it. Don't know why, but it's supposed to work. I haven't had the opportunity to try it yet, but it sure doesn't seem like it can hurt.

Vitamin D. You can give it to infants and anyone else. They make Vitamin D drops for infants and I'm sure a chewable for toddlers. Maybe look into EmergenC for Kids? I don't know the age on it but you can get it at a natural food store or department in grocery store. Good luck

When my 4 year-old is sick, I try not to give him anything during the day if I can avoid it. At night we plug in the humidifier that has vapor stuff in it, give him a bath and pour in the vapor bath stuff, and sometimes also plug in one of those vapor plugs. We give him a triaminic strip that's appropriate for his age as well but I really think all the vapor treatments help a great deal (and we think they smell good too!). Good luck!

Not sure if someone already said this because I didn't have time to read all them! But what we do is run a humitifier at night, then right before bed we give them a warm bath! Then I give mine a warm cup of tea with honey in it! The honey helps coat their throats so they don't cough as much and get a better nights rest! Rest is best medicine for the icky icky cold!! Good luck!

I always recommend running a humidifier especially when they are sleeping, elevating their beds if possible and using Vicks BabyRub on their chest and even on their feet. Hope some of this helps, also maybe check with your Dr about doing a half of a vitamin (like Flintstones) for your oldest.

Delsym is great! We use it as directed for the whole family

Zicam has now fixed their formula to prevent the loss of smell. It is safe to use after the FDA made them change the formula. I just researched this for a marketing class that I am taking in college... on why products fail. I love Zicam, even before the whole FDA stuff (plus, I don't trust the FDA, but that's another story).

If you can get your children to use the Neti pot or a sinus rinse, that will actually get rid of the germs.

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/sinus-pain-pressure-9/neti...

And don't forget to take your vitamins and probiotics still! Very important for the whole family!

Good luck!

the doctor is right. no cold medicine is recommended for kids under 6 now. the best thing to help is external. vapor bath and vapor plug-ins are great! sudacare makes a plug-in like an air freshener but you get little vapor tabs to insert and fills a room with menthol to help them breathe at night. lasts 8 - 12 hours then make sure and unplug when not using. vapor bath is just baby bath with menthol in it (made by j&j or generic) so just put it in their bath and it helps great but not for as long. they're still pretty young to put vicks or mentholatum on their skin but in the next couple of years that works under the nose, on the chest, and i've even heard on the bottom of the feet with socks on. tylenol only works for pain and fever so shouldn't be given for other reasons that it won't help anyway. tussin is only for coughs and kids over 4 years old. i know it's really hard to see a sick kid but they could have fewer colds as they get older, too. make sure their hands are always clean as well as the things they touch most like their toys. stay well!

S. m

To clear up the little one's nose, try Ocean (sp?) nasal saline drops. For both, when they're sleeping you can do a SudaCare or Vicks plug-in. Plug it in a few minutes before you put them to bed and make sure the door is closed if you can. It makes their whole room like a cough drop and helps them sleep. Good luck!

When mine gets a snot nose (like right now) I always give her a saline nasal spray to help clear out her nose - one time when me and her were sick we went into the pediatrician and she gave us mucinex - it was these samples that were little packets that you put on their tongue and they dissolve - now, these said not for use under 4 but she gave them to us when she was barely 3 - I figured the Ped. wouldn't give them to us unless she thought they were OK to use - so, I used them as needed and I just always gave her about half the packet to be safe - she has a horrible cough and runny nose now and I got some Mucinex to use again and I since this one is a liquid I can carefully measure it and give less than the recommended dose ... can you - yeah, probably...would I do this all the time for just any runny nose - no way...I only do it when it's really bad to the point she is clearly upset and emotional about being sick (like today) ...

Do not use the spray Zicam it can lead to nose problems like losing your sense of smell. The only things I used was motrin, tylenol and saline nose spray. My son was sick his first two winters, practically the whole winter. it was miserable. The saline nose spray helps tremendously and can even ward off future colds and sinus infections.

I always keep my kids (20 mo. and 4 years) full of tylenol and motrin. I used to give my daughter cold medicine before they started saying you should'nt. I was told by my doctor that they tell you not give them cold medicine because so many parents were abusing it. I don't personally give anything to my kids anymore. I know my sister in-law gives both her kids (19 mo. and 3 years) children's cold medicine. She just figures out how much they need for their weight on the box. And my they are just fine :). I think you just need to use your judgement. I hope those kiddies feel better soon!

When my son had a nasty cold a couple weeks ago (he is 3) we did Vicks on the feet with socks on at night and nap time, along with the humidifier. We've also successfully used the vaporized night lights. They have them in the cold remedy section at almost all stores. It is a plug in night light that has replaceable pads that have the same vapors as vicks and it fills the room and helps the cough and congestion. I really like that because i don't have to physically put something on or in him, but it is still giving him some relief. Good luck!

I've always given them a little tylenol or triaminic....I thought they had an infant product.......? Can you give Benedryl.....just a little to relieve syptoms?