Coughing and colds in children: medication or home remedies?

Coughing and colds in children: medication or home remedies?

Free-selling cough and cold medication can cause serious damage to small children. The risks in taking these medicines are greater than the possible help in relieving the cold symptoms.

• under 4 years: free-selling cough and cold medication are not recommended for infants and toddlers.
• at the age of 4 to 6 years: coughing equipment should only be taken on the recommendation of your child's doctor.
• from 6 years: cough medication are safe to use. Just make sure to follow the instructions on the pack that specify the right amount of medication.

home remedies for cold symptoms

A good home remedy is safe, doesn't cost much and can help your child feel better. They can also be found in almost every household.

with a running nose:

Sow (e.g. with an onion syringe) to pull the liquid out of your child's nose, or ask your child to clean your nose. When your child's nose runs like a tap, it gets rid of the viruses. See the video for why your child has a running nose.

with a clogged nose:

for children aged 3 months to 1 year: infants with a cold may take up slow food or do not feel like eating because they have difficulty breathing. Try to suck off the child's nose before trying to breastfeed or feed it with the bottle.

Breastfeeding is still recommended for cold infants. If it is difficult for your baby to drink on your chest, pumping breast milk into a mug or a bottle can be an alternative.
Use salt water (saline solution) as a nasal spray or drop to loosen the dried mucus. Then you can ask your child to clean your nose or suck the liquid out of your nose with a bucket injection. If you don't have a nasal spray or no drops on hand, warm water is enough.

Put 2 to 3 drops in each nose opening. Do this on one side. Then suck the liquid off or let your child clean your nose.

You can buy saline -containing nasal drops and sprays without a prescription in the pharmacy or produce your own saline solution.

Do nasal rinsing whenever your child cannot breathe through your nose. In infants that are fed or breastfed with the bottle, use nasal drops before feeding. Teenagers can simply spray warm water into the nose. Perform the nasal rinses until the nasal discharge is free.

How to produce your own salt -containing nose rinsing:

Give ½ teaspoon not iodized salt and ¼ teaspoon of baking powder in 1 cup of warm water. Stir around to dissolve the salt and baking powder. For nasal rinsing you should use sterile, distilled or previously boiled water.

with tough, persistent mucus:

Use a damp cotton swab to remove tough mucus in the nose.

in cough:

give infants under 1 year no honey; It does not help against the symptoms and can cause an illness called infant botulism.

for children from 1 year : consider the use of honey, 2 to 5 ml, as required. The honey dilutes the mucus and loosens the cough. (If you don't have honey, you can try corn syrup.) Studies have shown that honey reduces the frequency of coughing and strength of the cough at night better than coughing juices from the store.

for children from 2 years : You can apply a thick layer of a menthol -containing frictional to the skin over the chest and neck (above the throat). As with all drugs, you should follow the instructions for use and keep the remedy after application outside the reach of your child.

Other options for alleviating your child's cold symptoms

they offer a lot of fluid

Make sure that your child consumes enough fluid. If there is enough water in the body, the mucus that the body produces becomes thinner, which makes it easier to cough and murmur. See signs of dehydration in infants and children.

humidity

When the air in your apartment is dry, you should use a humidifier. Moist air prevents the mucus from drying out in the nose and makes the airways less dry. A warm shower can also help to ensure that the air is less dry. Sometimes it can be helpful for your child to sit in the bathroom and to breathe in the warm fog of the shower.
Treatment is not always necessary

If the cold symptoms do not disturb your child, it is probably not needed medication or home remedies. Many children with cough or a clogged nose are happy, play normal and sleep well.

Treat the symptoms only if your child feels uncomfortable, has sleep disorders or the cough is really annoying (e.g. in a coughing cough).

Since fever helps your child's body to combat infections, you should only treat fever if your child slows down or causes him to be discomfort. This is usually only the case when your child's temperature reaches 39 ° C or more. If necessary, paracetamol or ibuprofen can be used safely to treat fever or pain.

Talk to your pediatrician if you worry about your child's cough and cold symptoms.

before using the home remedies

Our articles are always well researched and medically checked, but we cannot predict which allergies, medication and side effects can occur when combined with different means. Therefore, you should always enjoy all articles on home remedies with caution. We have also attached the corresponding warnings in each article so that you can also find out well.

trust in the home remedy, actually works, or not. For example, there are countless studies that show that the funds administered had a higher or lower mode of action, depending on how the patient's attitude was set to be effective.

Which home remedies really work?

To find out it is best to use our intelligent search function, or browse through the categories. We have always chosen our headings in such a way that they recognize from the outset whether it is an article on effectiveness, or an enlightening article against the effectiveness of the home remedy. Since we constantly publish new and updated articles, we cannot set the number of home remedies exactly, otherwise we would have to revise every contribution again. That is why we took the 10 as a nice sum. Sometimes there are only 4 or 5 aids and sometimes 20.

grandma's tips as home remedies

Listen to your grandma. In over 80% of the studies, “Grandma's tips” could actually be demonstrated as effective. Your first point of contact should therefore be either the grandma, or her memory of her words when it comes to home remedies.

home remedies and expensive products

they do not fall for exuberant advertising. There is a simple but effective way to find out whether a home remedy
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