Hellobee

We’ve been lucky when it comes to illness in our household. Mr. Carrot and I are rarely sick, and despite being a daycare kid and living in a house that’s less than great about remembering to wash hands, Baby Carrot has made it through 20 months of life with just a few sniffles and one minor stomach bug. This past week, though, she came down with a pretty icky cold, and we quickly found that the best medicine (since there is no medicine to cure a cold virus) was a combo of “old country” tips from Bubbe Carrot (my mom) and some easily accessible, everyday must-haves to make the symptoms better.

1) Saline. Since stuffy noses are pretty common even when they’re not cold related (air dryness in the winter, allergies in the spring, you name it), we have a bottle of baby saline in our bathroom at all times. Baby Carrot had a particularly nasty bout of stuffiness and snottiness with this cold, so we used saline every couple of hours to wet her stressed-out nasal passages and clear them out with our must-have baby tool, the Nosefrida. Baby Carrot, as I’m sure most toddlers, absolutely hates the snot sucker, but this thing is magical (once we manage to wrestle the angry toddler into a hold) in clearing all the gunk out of her nose. My one word of caution is not to use the Nosefrida more than every 3-4 hours, as it is pretty powerful when compared to the hospital bulbs, and can cause nosebleeds if used too often.

2) Humidifier. Moisture helps a lot when it comes to colds, both in preventing them and making the poor afflicted kiddo feel better. We have a cool mist humidifier running every night throughout winter in both bedrooms, and while Baby C was fighting off her cold, we kept the humidifier on 24/7 in her room to help her breathe a little easier, especially at night.

3) Washcloths. Tissues can be incredibly coarse, even the super soft ones, especially on babies’ noses, and because you’re likely to wipe a toddler’s nose at least a dozen times an hour when they’re battling a cold, tissues create an epic mess too. This is where all the washcloths we received when Baby C was born (and haven’t used since her early baby days) came in handy. They’re a lot softer than most tissues, easy enough to stick in a pocket and all around the house to always have one under hand, and handy to toss in the wash to avoid spreading the germs.

4) Steam. When I was little, growing up in Russia, actual medicine was hard to come by, so I grew up treating my own colds with natural remedies. One of those remedies was to inhale steam when I got respiratory infections, which I was very prone to as a kid (thank goodness I grew out of that one!). I clearly remember sitting over a steaming pot of freshly cooked potatoes, thick towel draped over my head, as I inhaled the steam to help decongest my lungs and my nose. Since suspending a 20 month old over a pot of potatoes is not quite an option, we went for the next best thing – steaming up a bathroom and putting her inside to open up her nasal passages. Thankfully, our master bathroom is tiny and windowless, which makes it very easy to create a steam bath, but it’s a bit tricky because it has to be completely dark in there (our light and fan are connected), so we enlisted a bit of help from Baby C’s friends – Elmo, Barney and Curious George, on an iPad carefully wrapped in a plastic Ziploc bag to avoid steaming it too.

5) Milk with honey. Another “old country” remedy from my mom is a little bit of honey added to milk to create a soothing effect (and there’s some evidence that honey can help suppress coughs). Baby C loves milk, and while she was sick, I warmed it for a few more seconds to make it lukewarm and stirred in a few drops of honey, especially before bedtime, when coughs are more likely due to flat sleep positioning.

6) Vaseline/petroleum jelly. For colds, Vaseline comes in very handy for all sorts of uses. We dabbed tiny bits around Baby C’s nose to avoid dry patches caused by frequent wiping. We also swiped a very thin coat on the inside of her nostrils before bedtime to prevent mucus from drying and crusting, and thin swipes on her lips and corners of her mouth, which can be prone to drying and cracking due to increased drooling and mouth breathing.

7) Comfort. We tried to follow Baby C’s suit on what made her most comfortable when she was sick. On days that she had a bit of a fever, we put her in rompers to minimize on clothing and help her stay as cool as she could get. Her appetite wasn’t that great, so we kept Cheerios and puffs nearby so that she could snack as she needed to, and we spent a lot of time curled up together watching her favorite TV shows, since she really didn’t feel like playing. We tried not to worry about increased screen time and lack of variety in her diet – after all, I’m not likely to do much more than watch Real Housewives of New Jersey and eat toast when I’m sick, so kiddo gets a pass too.

What are your favorite sick time remedies for little ones?