Perhaps your child has tummy aches, maybe a slightly sore throat, or perhaps they’re feeling a little fatigued and dizzy from playing in the sun for too long. While modern medicine has advanced to a stage that we have kid-friendly treatments, nothing beats gentle home remedies that have existed for hundreds of years. They rarely have side effects, they’re cheap to produce and can be done quickly, and they have similar if not better effects to that of regular medicine. So without further ado, here are a couple of simple remedies that will help you manage a sick child.
Bug Bites
If you have a lot of pets at home then the sight of bugs and other insects might not be new to you, but it can lead to nasty insect bites on your children. You would typically smother on some kind of gel or itch cream following a bug bite, but you can just as easily use baking powder. Simply mix a teaspoon of baking powder with a couple drops of water to create a paste. Smooth it over the bug bite and it will quickly soothe the itch and reduce inflammation. Once it has dried, leave it on for a little bit and then simply wash off in the shower. Baking soda has many different uses, but using it for medical purposes is probably the most surprising to people.
Coughing
There are a couple of simple (and delicious) ways to help you treat your child’s cough. Firstly, honey has a lot of wonderful properties that make it perfect to soothe an inflamed throat due to excessive coughing. Simply feed your child a spoonful of honey before bed and treat it like regular cough syrup. However, you shouldn’t feed honey to any children who are below 1 year because it could cause some harmful side effects. In addition, you should stick to regular honey when possible and not honey cough syrups. Going all-natural is the key to effective home remedies, so avoid as many artificial additions as possible.
Another great way to soothe a cough and a sore throat is to use steam. You can simply run a hot shower and sit with your child in the bathroom for about ten minutes and let your child inhale the steam. This works best before going to bed. Alternatively, you could fill a bowl with hot water and help your child inhale the steam to clear chest and nasal congestion. You can amplify the effect by adding a couple of drops of eucalyptus oil. Keep in mind that helping your child with steam could lead to your own nasal problems such as dryness, so here is a list of remedies for your dry nostrils to prevent you from catching the same thing as your child.
Constipation
If your child is having trouble going to the toilet, then it might be the result of a problematic diet. Make sure they are drinking plenty of fluids such as water or fruit juice, and ensure they are eating high-fibre foods such as cereal and bread in order to assist with their bowel movements. If that isn’t helping much, then try to gently massage your child’s stomach area to ease pain and discomfort, or place a mildly hot water bottle on their stomach and use heat to relieve the pain. If your child has pains when going to the toilet, then let them soak in a warm bath to relax the muscles before they try again.