Home Remedies For A Cold

The better half of the past two weeks have been filled with coughing, runny noses, and fevers here at our house. Trust me, this is not the way we wanted to spend our Holiday break. Luckily, the girls were well enough to go back to school today, they didn’t want to miss the first day back after Christmas break. Am I better? Not so much. I mean seriously…I could totally pull off being an extra on The Walking Dead.

I refused to medicate the kids with over the counter cough and cold medicine when this all started. It doesn’t work to begin with, and makes them all kinds of wacko…so what’s the point? I did try a few new home remedies this go around, and wanted to share my results.

1. Vaporizer/Humidifier

The cold/cough we had involved some massive post nasal drippage. I read online that keeping the humidity high thins out the mucus making it {coughs} more productive. Special Note: keep the vaporizers and humidifiers CLEAN! Rinse them out after every use with a bit of bleach. The last thing you want is to put MORE bacteria/mold in the air. I found these fancy cool mist humidifiers online, and what do you know? They worked great!

2. Vicks

Everyone knows to rub a bit of Vicks VapoRub on your neck and chest…but what about your feet? Seriously. An old wives tale says to rub Vicks generously on the bottom of your feet, put on socks {to keep your blankets from getting greasy}, and your night time cough will go poof! Now, I can’t tell you why this works, or how, but it did. It took some getting used to, especially when I had to get up and walk with gooey feet, but besides the fact that it helped our cough…our feet have never been so smooth!

3. Tea w/ Honey

There is just something soothing about a nice hot cup of tea with a touch of honey in it when you have a sore throat. We were practically mainlining the stuff, and it helped so much. I chose caffeine-free Green Tea, the kids were already having a hard enough time sleeping, no need to help the situation. The honey helps coat sore throats and the warm tea helps break up the thick mucus. Or so I read.

4. Water

Keep everyone hydrated! This should be a given, but just in case…drink plenty of water.

5. Sanitize, Sanitize, Sanitize.

I had a bottle of hand sanitizer in every room and my can of Lysol Disinfectant Spray in a holster on my belt {just kidding}. Every time someone used a kleenex it was immediately put into the trash can, not lying around on tables for the germs to spread across the surface.

6. Salt

I doubt you can get young kids to do this, but for the older ones…and for us adults…gargling salt water can help dry out and break up mucus. 1/2tsp in a cup of water is all you need. Also, a nasal saline solution can help alleviate nasal congestion. Avoid nasal sprays such as Afrin, I read they cause more harm than good.

7. Stay Warm & Get Some Rest

We all bundled up together in one room {lovingly called The Quarantine Room} and watched Disney movies all day. Rest helps the body heal itself, and who wants to be cold when they have a cold?

I am so glad my kids are all feeling better, and hopefully I will be on the mend soon. Do you have any other cold remedies you can share? I would love to add to this list {and quite frankly I will try anything right now}!

Disclosure. This is in no way intended to take the advice of a physician. You should ALWAYS seek the care of a doctor.