Emerging from Cold and flu season – survival tips!

I actually think I can see the light! Slowly but surely the haze is lifting and I am not chasing after the kids with tissues, the kids are no longer waking every five minutes as their cough is bothering them. We had our first foray into the primary school system this year and as predicated the notes home (and the colds!) just kept coming, from chicken pox to scarlet fever.  I’d open his school bag each day with trepidation wondering what weird and wonderful childhood illness could I expect next!! We got there and fingers crossed the run up to Christmas will be snot and cough free!

Some survival tips:

While I am by no means a medical expert some of the things that worked for us were:

• Get the right medication – sounds simple but its critical. My oldest has a terrible chesty cough and I was able to get the required diagnosis and recommendation for Benylin without having to leave the house.  Add to that Vicks on thier feet back and chest. I have no idea why the Vicks works on their feet but it really does. I did it myself when struck with colds.
• Baths and more baths  – while I don”t believe they get rid of the colds, they really helped relax the boys. I used a few drops of tea tree and lavender in bath as well as my current favourite Mustela products.  My pair still love to be massaged and the bath oil is divine, if like me you have kids who hate getting their hair washed check out their foam shampoo makes the hair wash battle so much easier.  My mother swears by he steam from the bath being great for those chesty coughs and she is right, before bed time it works great.
  

  Pic Credit: Pixabay

• Bedroom set up – When they are bunged up with head colds, elevating the pillow a little really helps. My own father suffers with coughs regularly and he insisted we try his Dyson hot and cold air purifier in the boys room for a while.  While I just couldn’t justify the spending on it, it really is fantastic – it removes 99& of allergens and pollutants from the air and keeps the room at a lovely warm consistent temperature. We are just finished building our extension and I was attributing the cough to dust etc so I was keen to use this is in their room as a preventative measure. Not only that I think the gently hum of the fan and the consistent temperature sent them off into a deep sleep!
• Food – I am a firm believer in food aiding all ills and when any of us grown ups or the kids are struck down with the dreaded cold, my go to recipe for the Vit C laded soup is One Yummy Mummy’s Carrot and Orange soup.  Seriously tasty and good for you too. I am also a firm believer in juicing however it takes a little more coaxing to get the juices into them!   Not forgetting water and ,more water. Thankfully the boys like drinking it so this one isn’t to much hassle.
• Hygiene – I am a tad freaky about this. I am forever preaching to the boys about hand hygiene – keep those germs contained!!!

 

Note: this is collaborative post