How I treat a cold in my kids. It works for me too.

So when my kids get fever and congestion, and I make sure they don't have anything dangerous of course, I like to treat with as little medicine as possible. I admit that I don't typically worry too much but easy for me to say right?

First of all, I do not use acetaminophen or ibuprofen for fever and never aspirin in a kid.  I must digress a little here...  Fever is a natural process that shows the body is doing its job.  Acetaminophen and ibuprofen stops or slows down that process. I could do a whole complicated blog on this one but trying to keep it simple.  I swear my kids got better faster when I learned this!  If your child is under 3 months of age, be sure to see your doctor right away. Babies can be tricky recognizing signs of serious illness.  Depending on the doctor, you may not want to treat the fever in your infant prior to seeing the doctor so they can verify it prior to doing potentially more extensive evaluations.

My favorite treatment is the Wet Sock Trick.  I learned this from my naturopath. It works well alone but I like to add my Young Living RC oil to the feet and chest.  Be sure the feet are warm first.  My favorite way is to do a very warm epsom salt bath with some apple cider vinegar.  When they are out, put the oil or a natural form of Vicks Vapo Rub to the feet.  Then the crazy part but it works.  You you wet some cotton socks with very cold water and wring it out.  Put them on and then put some wool socks on top.  Use grown up socks on the kids since it is hard to find little wool socks.

The wet sock or "magic sock" treatment usually takes care of most things.  Other things I use are the homeopathic honey cough syrups that you can find at health food stores or even surprisingly at CVS pharmacies.  I will do vitamin C chews four to five times per day.  For infants, you can do lipospheric vitamin C which is sweeter and do a little pinch in the cheeks 4-5 times per day initially.  Diarrhea would mean that you need to hold off although I have never had that problem at that dose.  I like to increase probiotics to several times per day.  Be sure they have adequate vitamin D as well.  Be sure they are getting at least 400 IU daily of vitamin D3 although doses higher are often used during illness.  Consult your holistic doctor for appropriate dosing for various remedies.  

For kids willing to drink hot teas, you can make teas using honey, lemon, garlic, ginger, and a pinch of cayenne.  Obviously, the younger they are, the milder it will need to be.  Honey really helps kids overcome the taste of the other ingredients.  The older you are, the bolder you can make the tea.  Add honey when cool enough to touch the water comfortably to avoid damaging the good properties of the honey.