What Is Safe to Give for a Cold?

I don't put any of that in my boys' bodies. I learned to give them oatmeal without sugar, but put in water, and if he can eat apples, but I peeled apples and cut up bite size that fit in his mouth and lots of fluids, couple or three times throughout the day of juice which I don't normally give, I give a little bit in the morning and the juice I give never has sugar in them. I want to flush out their system and if breathing through nostrils, clean it outwith suction bulb and listen to his chest to see if he's congested. The main thing you want to do is flush the cold out of his system. Applesauce is good. Don't get the sugar kind. You don't want to make the cold worst, you want to flush it out. You may want to google what foods are best to give for a cold to add to what I have here. Many times, when they have a cold, they don't want to eat which is fine, as long as they have a lots of fluids to keep them hydrated and flushing out their system. Also, have lots of diapers on hand if you get what I'm saying ;) (wink)

Unless prescribed by your doctor, there is no safe cold/cough over-the-counter medication for your son. The best thing to do for your child if he has a cold is to give him tylenol and/or ibuprofen for fever/aches and pains and to use a humidifier in his room. You can also use saline nasal spray to loosen up the mucous in his nose. My son is 2 and a half and this is what his pediatrician has told us to do for him when he is sick.

Hi Beata,

The first reply on here is dead-on! There are no safe cold medicines for children. Getting the flu shot is an excellent idea and your child will be old enough for that. Tylenol or Motrin is also fine for misery (fevers, etc.). Hydration, humidifiers, and rest are the best things. Children will get colds. The symptoms to watch for are anything that might indicate ear infection or respiratory infection or virus. Mild cold symptoms though are to be expected. Hopefully you won't have to worry about it and will have a healthy winter!

Beata
Over the years many over the counter medicines have been ruled out as unsafe. i ever heard about tylenol recently. so to answer your question saline nasal spray is good to use if your son has a stuffy nose (also clears the fluid from his nose, preventing possible earaches or ear infections). vics gel, the one that you rub on his chest if he has a bad chest cold. humidifier. that's pretty much it. unless he comes down with an infection for which he will need antibiotics, and unless he's running a fever for which you'll use tylenol, nothing else is recommended by doctors. i have never used cold medicine for my kids. i have, however, used tylenol and/or motrin (my kids are 5 years old) when they were running a fever.
good luck

Hi Beata -
I usually start with a humidifier in their room. I've also used those Vick's plug ins. I used to sell pediatric decongestants and I can tell you that they really don't work all that well. Push lots of fluids (esp water) on your son to thin the mucus and that will help his body get rid of it. Also, nasal saline helps too for decongestant purposes. Sore throat - I've tried everything in the drug store with not much luck. This year I'm going to try honey. Finally, the runny nose - I will usually give Benedryl. It works and it helps them sleep -which will help them get better faster. Last year my 3 kids and I started using a neti pot w/ salt water (You can get them online or in any drug store) before cold season and I was amazed how well it helped prevent colds. That said, it might be challenging to get a 17 mo to do it since it does feel funny. We also take extra vitamin C and wash our hands A LOT!!

Good Luck,
D.

Hi Beata! The best things for a cold are plenty of fluids, nasal saline drops and a cool mist humidifier. That is it! It is better to not give small children any OTC cough and cold meds as they do not work very well for a lot of kids, and they can cause harmful side effects. Hope this helps!

Saline spray really helps clear the nose and it's not a medicine. It's a salt water spray. Ayr makes one for children that I've found helpful. The baby will hate you doing it, but it's worth the struggle because it really helps.

Beata,

Every doctor is different. My doctor (and a couple others in that office) do NOT recommend decongestants for any child under age 4. They had told me to just use Saline Drops... that will moisten his nose and loosen everything else up. They said that if you give a decongestant to a baby that young it can dry him/her up and hurt them.

Just letting you know what my doctors practice said.

Hope your child feels good over the fall / winter season!

We've gotten through several winters on nothing by Tylenol (for the inevitable sore throat) and humidifiers (we love the Crane brand ones available at Target or Toys r' Us in the baby section.)

If you read the children's medicine boxes, there is nothing "safe" to give to a child under 2. If your child suffers from a cold the best and safest bets are the natural way; a cold mist humidifier, plenty of liquids (water not juice, use an aspirator on a stuffy nose but use the saline drops for children sparingly as they could cause inflammation of the nasal passages.

Colds will usually cure themselves and medicine can help make your child more comfortable but they are usually not recommended for children under 2 because of accidental overdosing. If your child is really bad and seems to be suffering alot, despite the non medicinal methods, then you should ask your dr, what is safest.

I am sure you will get some specific answers to your question - however I would like to spin it. What can you do to prevent yoru child form catching colds, etc?

There are steps you can take to keeep you little one's immune system in tip top order so he won't catch every little thing.

There is a Free E-book available on my blog www.nosickvisits.com , that discusses options for raising Healthy Kids.

L.

Preventative measures are the best in my opinion. I run an all natural preschool and we follow this method when the cold starts to set in.
1. Wash hands often, I can't say this enough. Everyone should be washing before and after they eat and before and after playing with toys.
2. Elderberries in your diet. I make elderberry tea from dried elderberries for snack every day! It is an immune booster that is safe and healthy for children.
3. Garlic in your diet. We have garlic added into our lunches.
4. Eating healthy whole foods. Lots of fresh veggies, seeds and nuts, beans, whole grains (like brown rice, quinoa, et cetera)

If and when they do become congested: saline spray to clear out their nasal passages, eucalyptus in the bath, humidifier at night in their room.

This has worked out very well for my children and myself without resorting to treating the aftermath of getting a terrible cold.

My daughter has gotten croup twice (once each winter) and hot steamy bathrooms worked for her to breath well. Once we had to go and get a nebulizer treatment. But other than that she had been healthy. No ear infections, or normal childhood issues except for the two croup issues.

For my family and myself, I make an elderberry syrup that we take each day in the fall and winter months. One tablespoon dried elderberries to a half cup water, boil gently on the stove with a lid for 10 minutes, let sit for 10 minutes, add local raw honey to taste sweet, put in a lidded glass jar in the fridge and take a 1/4 cup or more each day. When you feel a cold coming on, take about 1/4 cup each hour all day and the cold either doesn't amount to anything or you get a little congestion. Keep taking it whenever you can remember while you are congested.

I hope this helps.
P.

Edit: I would also like to add that the flu shot doesn't always help. We never get flu shots because when we have gotten them, at the request of our old doctor, we ended up being sicker over the winters. It has worked well for my friends son who is asthmatic in the past but he has been regularly seeing a chiropractor and no longer has asthma issues...something to think about.

As others have stated, Tylenol & Motrin type products for pain relief & fever. Saline solutions & aspirators for the nose. I would also give my girls, now 3 & 6, Vicks Vaporub on their chest. My 3 yr old would also request a "smelly tissue", a Vicks branded tissue, or a regular tissue with a little Vicks rubbed into it so it has a smell. She would smell it a couple of times, then lay it on her pillow next to her. If you don't want to apply anything directly, there are also plug in vaporizers that work.
There are no other medications that will work on, or are safe on young children. All you can do is make your child comfortable, with lots of rest, until they feel better.

A cold is a natural way of getting rid of toxins in the body. Don't ever suppress a cold or you will be working against the body's natural healing mechanisms. Avoid dairy and white flour and junk food and probably he will never get a cold. Feed him fruits like fresh oranges, apples, etc and he should be fine. Don't get into the drug cycle please! You can give him Vitamin D as well to build the immune system. We use a liquid called Quick D. One drop daily. Usually only vaccinated children get sick. It's probably too late for that now but the amount of vaccines given these days is nothing short of insanity and big profits for the manufacturers and stock holders of course.

To learn how to live without antibiotics you may want to consider reading this book: A world without antibiotics: http://tinyurl.com/lassnt

It comes with a bonus booklet about viruses too.

Use probiotics too. If you'd like some files about this just email me at ____@____.com. I had to learn all of this long, hard and expensive way but after almost daily illness for 13 years my daughter never gets sick anymore. She's now 17.

Tylenol is a liver toxin and more people die from this than any other drug if I remember correctly. Including street drugs! Fever is a way of the body burning up viruses and bacteria and is necessary. A fever is a good thing. Many really chronically ill people cannot get into a fever state and so they stay ill.

Of course severely high fevers can be dangerous so you need to measure the temperatures. There are ways to reduce fevers without drugs using cool compresses. Google it to see how it's done.

I find the best thing is prevention. There is a product called Isamune, made from cow's colostrum (what we also have in our breast milk to help build immunity in our new-borns). A spray of this can really assist in prevention. It works for me. You can read more on http://revive.isagenix.com/ca/en/isamune.dhtml

A.