It's that time of year again...cold season...ugh! With three young kids, one of which is in elementary school and one in preschool, it's inevitable germs will be passed around. I have given all of my children probiotics since they were babies and my girls get Shaklee's Incredivites and Mighty Smart Chews every day. But nothing can completely prevent occasional colds. Over the years, I have tried about every kind of cold medicine out there. None of which seem to help much. So I decided to look for a more natural way to treat their colds, especially for Archer, who is too young for over-the-counter meds.
That's when I came across No Ordinary Homestead. I love this blog and have gotten all kinds of natural remedies from it but since this post is about colds, I'm just going to share the Soothing Natural Cough Remedies for Kids and the Natural Cold Remedies for Kids. There is a list of what essential oils you will need on both links but where to find them proved harder than I would think. We have a Vitamin Shoppe here so I went there thinking I would find everything I would need. I only found two of the oils there, Lavender and Tea Tree. Instead of driving around checking other stores, I jumped online and got the rest of what I needed (Neroli, Ravensara, Thyme Linalol & Eucalyptus Radiata) on AromaLand. I searched a few other sites before I found this one and it was the only one (I tried) that I could find all four of those essential oils and all for a decent price. Shipping was only $2.99 and if you order $50+ it's free. My grand total ended up being $39.78 + shipping = $42.77. I know you might be thinking that's a lot for four small bottles but you only use a few drops at a time so they will last for a long while! Plus, think about how much you spend on a few bottles of cold/cough over-the-counter meds...even the store brands are several dollars a piece and that adds up quickly!
While I was waiting on my oils to be delivered, I came across a more natural version of Baby Vick's chest rub. I needed something to help bring some relief to Archer and was excited when I found Maty's All Natural baby chest rub. I found it at CVS and it cost $6.99. It was about a $1 more than Vick's but it is petroleum and menthol free. And it worked a lot longer than Vicks. I was rubbing Vicks on Archer's chest at bedtime but when I got him up in the morning, I couldn't smell it anymore. When I put Maty's on his chest at night, the aromas worked all night and I could easily smell them in the morning. He also slept better that night.
As soon as I got my package in the mail, I put the oils to use. I added the appropriate amount of drops and carrier oil in the kids' bath as well as added a few drops to an old burp cloth for Palmer to sleep with and a few drops on Archer's sleep pal. (Check out the links for the correct amount of drops to use because it varies by age.) Archer slept until his normal wake up time and the first words out of Palmer's mouth when she woke up were, "Mommy, I didn't cough all night!"
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| This is what I used as my carrier oil. |
One VERY important thing I learned is you CANNOT substitute regular eucalyptus or thyme essential oils for the eucalyptus radiata or thyme linalol when using them on children. The regular oils are much too powerful for small kids!
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