Category: Parent Talk
I read this recently and thought those of you with kids and babies might appreciate it. By the way, it is also supposed to work for adults.
Cough syrup can be dangerous for young children. So here is an alternative for kids with colds. Recently a study in Canada found that rubbing Vicks Vapor Rub on the bottom of the feet and then putting socks on will stop a bad cough within five minutes and allow the child to sleep through the night without coughing. Adults have found this to work also.
Thanks Becky. Very interesting.
I will have it in mind if my brother and my sister ever have a bad coff.
I'll have to try that, no matter how smelly that stuff is. lol
Thanks.
Did they say why putting the vix on the bottom of the feet does the trick? I wonder who first came up with that as a possible solution.
Very interesting.
Bob
My mum used to put Carvol (not sure of the proper spelling) just down the front of my pyjama top or nighty when I had a bad cough or cold when I was little. Also, try telling my cousin Joe cough syrup's dangerous for young children. He downed a blimming bottle of the stuff when he was two.
Wow. this is very interesting. I'll have to see if it works. I, too, wonder how it came to be known that it can be used as an alternative. Hopefully it works.
Bob and Leanne, the article I read did not give details about how it works, just that it does. It also didn't say how this was discovered. I remember my mom putting the stuff on my chest or right under my nose when I had a cold as a kid, but it wasn't really for a cough; it was for relieving a stuffed up head. But putting it on the feet and putting socks on over it is supposed to relieve a cough.
that sounds vary interesting. I'll have to let mom know about that!
I wonder if it would work for my mum, she is always coffing but don't know why. Then she is sick. I think it is with all the smoking she did over the years. But she has stop smoking now for over a year.
that is fascinating. when i was young my mom put it on my chest to stop it from hurting and being congested. it brings up blood circulation because of the warming effect, so that might have something to do with it.
I'll beleve that stuff works after i see it. It sounds rather questionable to me. Kind of like some old wivestails you here about and don't beleve
Good lord. a whole bottle of children's cough syrup? I hope they saught medical attention for him. That really is terrible. I hope he was entirely all right. I used to use vix, but now that I'm going all organic I've found more natural alternatives that work just as well, some better. Putting eucaliptis essential oil, mint oil, speerament oil or tea tree oil in the steem heumidifyer or on a lamp ring in the baby's room will quell the cough and will also help to disinfect the air, especially the eucoliptis oil. You can also put a drop on the front of the baby's sleep sac or night shirt or sleeper, which ever you use. Rubbing a bit of lavindar or mint oil on the bottoms of the baby's feet will also work well to cleanse the body, especially releaving sinus pressure, congestion, coughing and pain from teething. If you want increased circulation then cinimon oil or margerum oils work very well. You must blend them with a carrier oil of almond, camellia, saflower, sunflower or another vegetable based carrier oil, because those last two oils are classifyed as "hot oils" and could be unpleasant if put directly onto the skin with out beeing thinned. You should never purchase oils that are not essentials only. Many products say they contain this healing oil or that, but they may use it in such a small amount that it is worthless and it is only releasing it's scent not it's healing properties. Also the formulation might contain so many other nasty unnatural chemicals and or mineral oils that they are counter acting any benifits that you might otherwise get from the real oils. You should never use a mineral oil such as a patrolium derived product like vasileen as they actually do a great deal of damage to your skin's natural moisture balance and it's chemical balance. Essential oils come in very small glass bottles with dropper lids and are not too terribly expensive. You can even buy them at some grocery stores like Wegman's. Just be sure that the bottle says one hundred percent and also essential oil on it. Oricacia is one of the best brands out there. It is not too expensive and it is just a step below ingestion grade, which can usually only be purchased through suppliers and herbalists. If your mother is still suffering from coughing fits from smoking even though she has quit it can be for two reasons, probably both. One. there was perminant damage to her lungs that may or may not heal even in part over time. and Two. There may still be a lot of residual toxins in her tissues, mucus membranes, muscle fiber and fat deposits. This will compermise her health as long as it remains behind as a little at a time reenters her bloodstream. If you cleanse with spacific teas, herbs and natural chemicals found in certain foods she may remove most of it easily from her body. There are detoxifying teas that taste quite good, are perfectly safe and not at all expensive. You can find what is called detox tea in most healthfood or nature's market sections of large grocery stores. Just look for detox tea. Some foods have natural cleansing agents like capsasin, found in spicy peppers. I don't know enough about the foods to reccomend much other than lots of natural fiber which cleanses the intestins especially the large intesten, yogert with natural cultures that helps cleanse the stomach and both intestins and lots of water which moves imbedded toxins through the body and out as quickly as possible. You could consult a nutritionist or an herbalist. Drinking allo juice either strait or in tea or fruit juice may help heal any problems in her throat, esophigus, tonsils, adnoids, tung, gums or other related tissues that smoking could have caused. You can find allo juice and or tea with slippery elm in it in any health food store and at many large super markets. I hope this helps.
Aw'w'w yeah. He went straight to casualty, new baby sister an' all and they just made him sick so he brought it all back up.
Jen.
Huh? Sorry, didn't katch how that fits into the thread. Will go back and re-read.
No need. Basically, my cousin Joe drank a whole botle of cough syrup when he was two, just before Christmas 1994. My Aunt took him straight to casualty of course and the doctors just made him sick so he'd bring it all back up. (I'm not sure if they pumped his stomach though).
Jen.
Ah, I see. Poor little guy. That must not have been pleasant. Oh, that reminds me. Two of the most important items to have on hand with toddlers in the house; syrup of ipikack and acdivated charcole. I remember putting those on my list in tenth grade when I took a parenting class and we had to do a simulated parenting experience, and getting extra credit for thinking of those two items. Now I've remembered and I will put that on my real life baby list ASAP. Thanks for reminding me.
Activated charcoal. Wow, how do you give them that stuff. I've heard nurses in emergency rooms have a hell of a time administering it to patients without making a major mess of their clothing, sometimes.
I've used syrup of ipikac while babysitting and it worked very well, but fortunately I have never had to administer the activated charcole before. I'll put that on my list of questions for the pediatrition or the nurses at the hospital, to ask how to best administer it if the doctor or poison control instructs me to do so.
Ok well. I used the Vicks on my feet and it does work. It doesn't aleviate coughing completely for hours and hours, but it helped me fall asleep. It is a very strange concept, but I'm pregnant and have this terrible cold/flu bug and as many of you know I can't take a lot of the over-the-counter remedies. I am planning to look in to some all-natural essential oils to keep around the house for when my family gets sick.
i remember my roomate rubbed vix all over my chest 2 years ago cause i had a very nasty case of flu.
it was up to the point where i had so much congestion and started sounding like an old hag who smoked her entire life and suffered the consequences of emphesima.
that actually reminds me of my grandfather who passed away from emphesima from smoking his entire life.
anyway, i coughed up so much that i couldn't breathe and started weezing and my roomate got up scared.
and i won't go further because the rest is too much info, but she rubbed vix on my chest and snapped my shirt back on so i can sleep.
so yeah vix is your friend.
what is vicks paper anyway? lol
the reason for the socks on the feet is that in order for vix to work it has to sbe absorbed in to the skin through the capilaries. also it warms and this loosens up the crap in your chest. that's why when it is spread on the chest you should wrap something around it. also, i think the feet is because it stinks so much that a kid might tolerate it better if it was not so smelly.
I think it has something to do with circulation that makes it effective on the feet.
That's what I was thinking to that it is absorbed into the skin.
Vicks does stink, though. Lol. I've also heard that swallowing a tablespoon of honey can help a cough. I tried that too, and it was ok.
As far as the activated charcoal goes, you can buy it in capsule form. I've found that's the easiest way to administer it.
Thanks so much for sharing this. This is pretty cool.