The Leen

Well, Annie, your plea worked. I’m going to try to finish out the month, posting every day. It will be a good exercise for me in posting more regularly, I hope.

Today, since we are victims of a cold at our house (even our houseguest Nate has caught it…I feel awful about that), I’m asking for your favorite natural cold remedies, especially ones to help kids who are too young to take OTC medication.

Here’s what we’ve been doing: Brett and I have been using slippery elm lozenges alternated with elderberry/zinc lozenges, drinking tons of tea with honey in it as well as other liquids (like elderberry juice), and eating lots of garlic. I’ve also done the apple cider vinegar mixed with honey drink, which seemed to help.

He and I are holding up okay (in fact I feel better today than I have all week) but poor Elanor is just not doing so great. She’s really congested, and now she’s coughing a ton. I just got her down for a nap and in the 30 minutes she’s been down she’s woken up twice because she’s coughed so hard she started to gag.

For her, I’m trying to push fluids, too (juice, tea with honey, water, nursing), give her warm baths in a very steamy bathroom, and try to prop her torso up while she sleeps. But other than that, I’m kind of at a loss. I’ve been trying to get her to just eat honey off a spoon but she won’t…I may try to have Brett do it later. Maybe if he tries she’ll do it.

I’ve heard that Eucalyptus Radiata oil, put into a bath, can help. I may run out and get some tonight. I’m also toying with getting (or borrowing, if I can find someone with one locally) a vaporizer.

Does anyone have a tried-and-true remedy that’s safe to use on little ones? I’d really appreciate it if you’ve got any ideas for how I can help her. I hate seeing her feel icky.