[Warning graphic post!]
Not another blooming cold!
We’ve just got the family out of it, had a week of no sniffles and it’s attacking again. Grrr!
After pooey nappies, my next pet hate is runny noses.
I hate it when parents let their kids run around with a landing strip of snot on their baby, toddler or older! Sorry, it’s just unhygienic! And yes, I do constantly wipe my littlins noses when they have a cold! Because despite the name a cold is not caught by becoming cold (that just acts as a conduit to weaken the immune system), but is most often caused by viruses having a field day in the nasal cavity. So the snot, designed to expel the little buggers is full of them and spreads them. So please just keep an eye on your littlin, especially when out and about and playing with or around other children, and wipe that nose!
Ok… enough of my rant.
Besides packs of tissues I also have an arsenal of things to help fight colds. This has helped us get rid of colds quicker and avoid earaches too (the ear is connected by a little tube to the nasal cavity and snot can travel up than and cause all sorts of pain… I know, as I, personally, have suffered from this a lot.)
So here’s my little cold-fighting box of tricks:
- Wipe, wipe, wipe: Tissues. The little handy packs are great, as they are generally thicker. Personally with children I don’t like the mentholated ones, as it’s too easy to wipe the eyes with it. Ouch!
- Loosen the discharge: Saline. In the UK you only used to be able to get the little droppers with saline, so we were getting our supplies from France through a friend. Proper disposable tubes of saline that you’d squirt liberally into the nose. I used that for the first couple of years with the Littlins. Now, I totally adore Sterimar, especially since they’ve introduced the baby version too. My kids have got used to it, so do it willingly. I talk them through what coming, always using the same words with baby in a calm voice “we’re going to clean the nosey-nosey. One, two, three, brrrr” Little Man has even invented a song for it. You know the song Raindrops are falling on my heads? Well our version is Raindrops are squirting up my nose. 😀
- Clear the nose: my nose hoover. Once loosened it’s best to get the discharge out through the nose instead of swallowing it. Now babies can’t blow their noses. But forget that useless bit of thing that has the little rubber ball on it! There are better options. You can suck it out yourself via a little tube. Ewww! I could not do that! But it suites lots of people. Or even better, a clever Hungarian has invented a nose vacuum that you attach to your vacuum cleaner. .…and no, it’s doesn’t such your brains out too, even if you attach it to a Dyson! This little contraption is designed to reduce the suction to an optimal amount through it’s design.
I get the kids to switch on the hoover themselves and encourage them to do it themselves. - Keep the nose clear: Methol. This helps open up the airways, by cooling the inflamed sinuses. I used to use Vicks till I attended a workshop organised by Olbas. Now I’m a convert, especially as Olbas has a baby version now too. I like that you put a couple of drops on the clothes or the bedding or a toy, instead of smearing it on the baby.
- Hydrate: water, water and chamomile tea with honey. I avoid milk, other than breastmilk, if at all possible. (Milk is associated with increased mucus production)
It’s very important to keep hydration levels up, because the body is excreting more fluids through the runny nose. I give the Littlins warm Chamomile tea, which has a antiseptic effect and, as far as I know, is safe to use for newborns too (exclude the honey for littlins under 1 years old). - Pain and fever relief: Baby paracetamol. This is my last tool in my box of tricks to outwit colds and I try to rarely resort to it, but it is always in my bag now (since I forgot it once and had to ask a stranger for some).
At a Olbas roundtable event last year I had the pleasure of meeting sleep expert and child paediatrician Kathleen McGrath. She has a wealth of knowledge in the area and confirmed most of the things I was already doing were spot on.
Here’s what she said on the matter:
What are your tips and tricks for getting rid of the cold quickly?
If you have written a post about this please include your link below in the comments. I’d love to learn what works for others. :
Disclosure: These are my genuine tips and although I did get a small bottle of Olbas at the event mentioned, but have since bought some myself too. I guess I was sold. 😉
Leave a Reply