Please Help- Cough and Cold

by Simrita
(India)

My daughter is almost 6 months old, has bad chest congestion, cough and cold. She does not have a running nose as of now but she is sneezing.... what should I do? Please help!!!!

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Oct 05, 2009
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starstarstarstarstar 		Chest Congestion
by: Grandma

Hello Simrita,

I realize how scary it can be to have a child so young and see them suffering from chest congestion. The sneezing may be coming from the chest congestion, it's the infants immune system trying any way it can to get rid of the mucus.

When a child is that young it's hard to recommend a good home remedy because even honey can be dangerous. Honey contains a bacteria that can harmful to children younger than 1 year old, otherwise it's harmless to adults and children over 1 year old.

The first thing I'd recommend and the most important is a vaporizer. Keep a vaporizer running all the time around your daughter to keep the tiny hairs in her bronchial tubes brittle, they act as a brush to pull the mucus up out of her airways. Never use any kind of oils in the vaporizer because it will make the hairs oily and non-brittle, just use water with a pinch of salt. If you don't have a vaporizer you can take her into the bathroom and run a hot steam shower for her to breath. A warm bath is good too. Of course you can always boil a pot of water on your stove to get the moisture in the air (add a pinch of salt).

I'd also boil a quart of water and add 8 teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt and give it to her through the day to keep her from dehydrating. You can add some fresh lemon to the mixture to give it flavor and it will help relieve her cough. Children at that age seem to get dehydrated so easily. Once she gets a coughing spell it helps to rub her back to help bring the mucus up.

Another thing you can do is take some olive oil and add some eucalyptus oil or sage, rosemary, or peppermint. Rub it on her chest and back and wrap her in a warm blanket and let her body heat release the vapors. I'd recommend Rosemary since it will also help her sleep.

Licorice tea is also very good for children to relieve a cough and it has anti-bacterial properties while it soothes the throat and calms the respiratory tract. Give it to her warm but not hot.

Thank you for trusting in Grandma's Wisdom,

Grandma

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