It seems this is the year of the unrelenting cough. Everyone has it. Some kids have been coughing so much they are vomiting. It’s painful to hear your child coughing incessantly.  We know that over the counter cough remedies aren’t the answer anymore, but your child isn’t getting any sleep (and neither are you!) There are some natural remedies for helping with a cough.

Paula Gardiner, MD, research fellow and family medicine physician at the Division for Research and Education in Complementary and Integrative Medical Therapies at Harvard Medical School in Boston says on American Baby:

1. Put eucalyptus oil on a washcloth and toss it into the bottom of a hot shower.  DO NOT put undiluted essential oils directly onto baby’s skin.  Take your baby into the bathroom and shut the door. The steam from the shower will loosen the mucus, making it easier for her to cough or blow her nose: the menthol from the eucalyptus will soothe her nasal passages and chest.
(FYI: we just did this 3 times a day for Birch for the last 3 days and it really works. Just be prepared with lots of toys in the bathroom to amuse your baby, and lots of kleenex for when you get out of your steamy bathroom.)

2. You can also put a few drops of essential oil containing menthol, such as eucalyptus or rosemary, in your cool-mist humidifier or vaporizer.

3. OR apply a few drops to a light bulb: the heat will make the vapors diffuse into the air.

4. Vapor Rubs (like Vick’s VapoRub) can soothe airways, but the active ingredient might be camphor, which at certain levels can be toxic for babies.

5. A squirt of saline nose spray is a safe, effective way to shrink nasal passages and help break up mucus so it comes out more easily.

If you have a solution out there that has worked for you, please share!

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