Natural Cold Remedies for Infants and Children

I saw on the news yesterday that again they do not think it is safe for infant/children to take over the counter cold medicines. Many have even been taken them off the shelves. I wanted to take this time to give some natural remedies that are completely safe, have no side effects, and work very effectively!!

These remedies have helped my son tremendously when he has gotten a cold. For the first year of his life he got colds really bad and I did not use any homeopathic or natural remedies. I must admit that I even used some of the over the counter medicine that is now not considered safe. EEKS!!! His colds always lasted for weeks and also had bad lingering coughs for another few weeks. For this post I want to give you other options of great remedies for children's colds since it looks like it is your only option these days anyway.

Now that I am using natural and homeopathic remedies my son usually only gets colds for a few days, they are minor, and he has yet to get a bad cough again with it.

Here are my suggestions if your little one starts coming down with a cold that you will want to have in your medicine cabinet:


-Probiotics I give this to my son everyday, which is good bacteria that will build up and help fight off the bad infections when they come in. I actually give him a supplement as I think it is the most effective, but you can find it in many yogurts as well. I will post later about the amazing benefits of probiotics and the ones I would recommend.

-At the first sign of a cold I give him things that will boost his immune system to fight the cold off. The top herbs to do this are Vitamin C, echinacea and eldeberry. In most cases I have done this by giving him Buried Treasure, Children's ACF, ideal for cold and flu season. Click on link to see details and all of the wonderful immune boosting ingredients. This is amazing stuff and if my son is sick this is one of the first things I start giving him to help his body fight it off. One of the ingredients that I love is Collodial Silver because it is basically a natural antiboitic and helps fight off infections. You can also get children's Vitamin C, echiacea, and eldeberry extract, etc. in individual forms at most health stores that are also a great option.

-Homeopathy Medicine to fight the infection and relieve symptoms. Here is a list of items you will definitely want to have in your medicine cabinet when you need it. You can buy these items at your local health store or online:

Aconit + Ferrum Phosphoricum for the first onset of symptoms
Belladonna for fever
Allium Cepa for runny nose
Kalium Bichromicum (+ saline drops) for thick mucus
Eupatorium + Oscillo for the flu

One item that has many of the above ingredients and more that I prefer to use is Newtons Nothing but Natural for Kids fever aid and infection fighter. Then I give Allium Cepa or Kallium Bichromicum depending on the stage of cold.

Natural antibiotics to Fight off infections
If I sense that there is an infection or virus involved I would suggest: Garlic, Collodial Silver, Oregano, and Grapefruit seed extract. These are all WONDERFUL natural ways to fight infections. (I will have another post later with more details about these amazing natural antibiotics. The best thing is that they don't harm the good bacteria and also cause Bacteria Resistance that prescription antibiotics cause).

--WORD ABOUT FEVERS--
One other thing that I must mention is that a fever of 100-102 is a VERY good thing!! 103 is when you need to watch it closely and consider possibly a call to the doctor for advice. 104 is a definite call to the doctor and meds to lower it. If you have a young infant you should seek a doctor for most fevers, but many times these remedies are still very helpful in lowering it instead of the other options. One pet peeve I have is giving Tylenol and Motrin to lower a fever of 100-102. This is doing much harm in fighting the infection. Bad bacteria and infection strives and grows in the normal 98.6 temp range. This is why the body rises so that the bacteria and infection will die off from the heat. If you are stopping the body by lowering the temperature you are not allowing the body to fight it off effectively. Newtons Fever aid or Belladonna is a much better option for stabilizing a fever naturally from getting too high.

May we all have a wonderful winter with colds not being a stress for our families! :)

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. Any medical advice should be answered by your highly trained and qualified pediatrician. This information is only my advice and opinion from experience at what I have found helpful for my family.