2 year old congestion/cough remedies?

Jennifit

Cathlete
Hi!

I have 2 year old twin who are so congestion - coughing, coughing gunk! I have given them mucinex (for kids), but wondered if there was anything I else I could do...poor things! Thanks Moms!!
 
Ouch, I remember those days.

Have you tried standing in a hot shower with them? I know it's a pain, but sometimes it works.

I hope they recover quickly!
 
I know how you feel

I sympathize with you; I have a 6mo granddaughter with really bad congestion and a cough, come to find out the doctor's are telling us to rub her down with Vicks and use a vaporizor at night. Poor thing she is so miserable. For some reason they aren't giving her anything because of her age. Thank goodness you can give your little ones somethingl you might want to try the vaporizor.
 
I was going to suggest a hot shower as well: not standing in it (burn risk), but sitting on the edge of the tub while the hottest hot water runs, to make a make-shift steam room.

My mom always used to rub my back and chest with Vicks and put two clean cloth diapers over it (to keep the Vicks on me and not on the sheets!)
 
Thank you!!! I went and bought some Vicks - my mom used to do that, too! I will give them a steam room tonight. Thanks so much. Winter stink sometimes...
 
Awwwww, i hope they feel better soon! Good luck with the vicks and hot steam. Its so hard when our little ones are sick.:(
 
I'm not a mom but

What works for me is salsa. Spicy food seems to relieve the congestion. I don't know if that little one is eating salsa yet though.:(I know how they feel though, I've been a big sicko for weeks. Definitely warm baths with epsom salts to help the rest of their little bodies feel better. The massage cream with lavendar that says it calms babies really does work. I used to use that on a premie that I worked with a couple of years ago. After the warm bath a little rub down with that can help sleep.
 
For us, just being in the bathroom with the door closed wasn't enough. Being just outside the shower with the shower door open didn't work either. I needed to actually stand in the shower with the kids.

As Kathryn mentioned, obviously you can't subject either them or yourself to scalding water, but I would stand there with the water hitting my back, my little one with her head on my shoulder (not in the path of the water, of course)...exhausted. Eventually she would stop coughing, fall asleep, and with Daddy's help, I could transition the both of us to the rocking chair for the night. Lying flat aggravated the situation, so we slept sitting up.

A nice warm bath is a good idea too, Rapid. :) My 10 y/o still does that sometimes.

Hang in there! Once they get older, you'll be able to use heavy-hitters like prescription cough medicine. Now we have a whole cold/flu routine that includes Rx cough medicine and inhalers, and it works beautifully. No more hacking up half a lung and sleepless nights.
 
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I also read somewhere that to quiet a cough you should rub vicks on the soles of the feet and put socks on. This may be a urban myth or it might work. Who knows?
 
What works for me is salsa. Spicy food seems to relieve the congestion.

I used to work in a food coop in the 70's, and I was responsible for the herb and spice section. One thing I did was empty the bagged herbs into big glass jars. When I would get to the red pepper, I would almost invariably start having a runny nose: just inhaling a bit of it cleared my sinuses right up!
 

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