Along with the start of the school year and
the beginning of cooler weather, the winter also brings along the beginning of
cold season. However, even though it is
tempting to reach into the medicine cabinet the minute your little one falls
ill, it is also important to remember that there are lots of ways to help
control your child’s symptoms that don’t involve pharmaceuticals. Read on to
find out more.
Make Them Rest
Although your kids will not be too happy to
hear it, one of the best remedies for a cold is simply to rest. Why? Because it takes an enormous amount of
energy for your body to fight off an infection, which is one of the reasons why
fatigue is so common for people when they come down with this infection.
Resting allows the body to focus on its immune response to kill off the viruses
that are causing the cold to begin with.
Try making it easier for them to rest by
providing books, crossword puzzles, board games or other forms of
age-appropriate entertainment.
Humidify the Room
Another natural way to help treat your child’s
cold is to humidify the room.
This can be done with a vaporizer that you place in your child’s bedroom
or by having your child sit in the bathroom while you run hot water to get the
place steamed up. This steam can help
reduce swelling and inflammation in the nose and throat and make it easier for
kids to breathe. A similar effect can be had by using saline nasal spray.
Keep Them Hydrated
Hydration is probably one of the single most important
things you should keep in mind when you are fighting off a child’s cold. For one thing, it can help to reduce swelling
and pain in the nose and throat, two things often made worse when a child is
dehydrated. It also help to loosen the
mucous and phlegm and makes it easier for your child to cough up, thus easing
chest congestion.
The best beverages for keeping hydrated are water, clear juices,
clear broth (see below to learn about the benefits of bone broth) and clear
tea. Be sure to avoid any beverages with a milky base, caffeine or carbonation.
Feed Them Bone Broth
Bone broth – or broth made from boiling bones,
often with vegetables, herbs and other healthful ingredients to make a soup –
can help to strengthen the immune system. It does this by keeping the gut and
digestive system healthy and by helping to activate many important parts of the
immune, including natural killer cells.
It can also help treat a cold because of its anti-inflammatoryeffects. This is because many of the most uncomfortable
symptoms of a cold, including pain and swollen nasal passages is part of the
body’s inflammatory response; bone broth can help soothe these symptoms down.
Get Spicy!
There are many spices that moms can use in
their cooking (including their bone broths) that can help a child get over a
cold. These include:
●
Garlic. Garlic has a wealth of active ingredients,
including a chemical called allicin, which can help to strengthen in the immune
system and in one study, it was shown that those who took garlic reduced the
length and severity of both colds and flus. It is believed that, among other
things, garlic helps to stimulate the natural killer cells in the body immune
system to help fight off the viruses that cause colds to begin with.
●
Ginger. Ginger has also long been valued for its
ability to boost the body’s immune response and, even better, has strong
anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties to help reduce cold symptoms and
shorten recovery time. It is also a very
warming spice, which can help if your child has the chills.
●
Turmeric.
Turmeric is botanically related to ginger and shares many of its antioxidant
and anti-inflammatory properties. It also can make it easier for the body to
fight off infection by activating important parts of the immune system, include
T-cells and natural killer cells that help defend the body from microbial
attacks.
In short, when your child comes down with a
cold, there are plenty of ways that you can make them comfortable and ease
their symptoms without having to reach into the medicine cabinet. These simple
methods can help you – and your kids – get through the cold season in a much
easier and more comfortable manner.
Guest post provided by Healthline
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