Growing up, I remember being a pretty sick kid. I had frequent colds, ear infections and sinus issues that still plague me in adulthood. (Un)fortunately, my childhood was spent in Russia in the 1980s, where even basic aspirin was hard to come by, much less antibiotics and the remedy options we have for our kids today in the U.S., so my mom treated me and my brother the only way she knew how – homemade remedies made with ingredients we had at home.

When I became a mom nearly 3 years ago, I remember thinking about these remedies that I grew up with, and over the years, I’ve adopted a number of them with my daughter. As with any homemade remedies, please take these with a grain of salt (hah!) and do your research on what’s appropriate and potentially useful.

Awesome Ingredient #1: Black Tea

Russians drink a lot of tea, usually of the brewed leaf variety, but even using tea bags can help yield relief to a variety of ailments. The health benefits of black tea are widely published – antioxidants, etc. – but I grew up using black tea for ailments including:

  • upset stomach – whenever I feel nauseous or have an unsettled stomach, strong black tea and plain crackers are my go-to remedy. When Baby C caught a stomach bug a few months ago, I diluted some black tea with water and added a bit of honey for her to sip throughout the day. Something about the tea (ideally without any additives) really helps neutralize a grumpy stomach.
  • conjunctivitis – styes were very a common occurrence when I was a kid, and a towel or napkin soaked in dark black tea was a compress my mom would apply to our styes a few times a day. Although Baby C has thankfully avoided eye infections thus far, we have used a similar compress to help clean her eyes when she’s had colds and her eyes would get gunky from the mucous draining.

ADVERTISEMENT

Awesome Ingredient #2: Baking Soda

Baking soda is obviously a common household cleaning agent, disinfectant, etc., but it’s also been a pretty commonly used medicinal ingredient, when diluted in water. I use baking soda to treat:

  • sore throats – gargling with a mixture of water and baking soda (about 1 tablespoon to a cup of warm water) is my immediate go-to when I get a sore throat. This also works well with salt.
  • sinus congestion – many years before neti pots became a craze, a family friend who was a pediatrician taught me when I was fairly little how to rinse out my sinuses when I had congestion and sinus infections. For years, until I finally invested in an official neti pot (which I still fill with a baking soda/water mixture), I sprayed a syringe or bulb full of soda water into one nostril while tilting my head the other way (the idea being that the soda water will wash out onto the other side), then flipped my head to the other side, sprayed the other nostril, let the whole thing rest a minute (brushing my teeth in the meantime, usually) and then cleaned out my nose.
  • bug bites – like her mother, Baby C inherited a tendency for very aggravated bug bites. My mom taught me to use a mixture of baking soda and water to help reduce itching and lower the swelling of the bug bite.

Awesome Ingredient #3: Honey

We all know that giving honey to kids under 1 is not recommended, but once the kiddos are older, honey is a pretty great natural remedy for all kinds of things:

  • sore throats – adding honey to milk, tea, and even just a small spoon of honey helps coat a sore throat
  • coughs – growing up, I remember my mom and grandmother making a cough syrup that consisted of a black radish, with a hole carved at the top, and honey added to the hole. The radish would then be placed on top of a cup or glass, and a radish-honey “juice” would collect. The mixture served as an expectorant and cold “cure” all at once. (side note: I went to see if this remedy existed anywhere other than my mom’s memory and a number of sites and blogs came up with the same remedy). 
  • restlessness – another old wives’ tale but one I continue to try with my very active toddler is a mixture of honey and warm milk before bedtime. Among many other medicinal properties, honey (and milk!) also help release tryptophan, which can help slow kids down.
  • wounds – before we had Neosporin, we applied a thin layer of honey to burns to help cool the skin and prevent bacteria from gathering. It’s a bit of a messy remedy and works best with a bandage over it (which isn’t ideal for burns), but something that’s good to know in a pinch.

Awesome Ingredient #4: Heat

Heat is not really an ingredient, but I add it here because heat-based remedies have always been such a big part of our medicinal process when I was young. I use a lot of these remedies to this day, and they work well with kids (as long as they’re not too squirmy):

  • chest congestion, bronchitis, etc. – a few ways to use heat to help with chest congestion, mucousy coughs and bronchitis are to: a) create a steam inhalation system, which can be done by hovering over a sink full of hot water, a pot with boiled water, etc, and draping a well-sealing cloth, like a towel over yourself. Inhale the steam for 10-15 minutes (you will get sweaty and a bit uncomfortable, but I swear it works!); b) create a warm compress to put on your chest (my mom used mashed potatoes wrapped in wax paper and a towel when we were kids). The inhalation method is a bit risky with smaller kids, since the risk of burn is high if they aren’t careful, but the compress works well for all ages.
  • sinus congestion – whenever I’m severely congested, one of my go-to remedies is to put some kind of heat on the bridge and sides of my nose. It’s hard to find a heating pad that small so I use hard-boiled eggs wrapped in paper towels for easy holding or kid socks filled with a heated grain or beans, and tied at the top.

Do you use any natural home remedies from your childhood?