Honey: The Natural Cough Syrup

Cold and flu season can be miserable for a mom with young kids, because it seems the kids just get one cold after another.  We just finished our third straight week of breathing treatments for little Andrew, with no end in sight. 

But nowadays cold and flu season can be downright confusing.  All cough syrups have been recalled for children under 2, and most are no longer recommended for children ages 6 and under.  Some folks aren't familiar with the new "rules," and I nearly flipped my lid when I visited a doctor's office out of town and the receptionist advised me to go home and give my 10 month old Triaminic or Dimetapp.  Check out this article on Dr. Sears' website for more information on the recalls. 

So what do you do when your kid has a hacking cough?  First, keep in mind that a cough is a good thing! It gets junk up and out.  So you really don't want to suppress the cough if you can help it.  But when you keep hearing your child's dry, hacking cough over the baby monitor and you know they're not sleeping well, there's got to be something you can do.  In desperation one night, I reached for the honey, but I googled it first before giving it to my 2 year old. 

As it turns out, research shows that honey works better than cough suppressant syrups!  Here's one article that you might find interesting.  Of course, you want to make sure your honey isn't old, because then you could give your child botulism.  Not cool.  It's also not advised for children under the age of 2 (or 1, depending on what you read). 

Just give up to 2 teaspoons of honey at bedtime and their coughing should improve quite a bit.  Cough syrup companies are starting to catch on, and now they're making honey & lemon juice coughs syrups.

My pediatrician brought this up at Andrew's last appointment.  He and I have really gotten to know each other well over the past year.  He and his nurse give me the gold star treatment and will do anything for my baby boy.  They are sweethearts!

Anyway, we were discussing coughs and colds.  He said he doesn't take anything during a cold, he dosen't think children should either.  We talked about the only cough syrup that their office recommends for toddlers, which is guaifenesin, the active ingredient in Mucinex and Robitussin.  It's supposed to help thin mucus and get the junk out.  But he also told me about the research on honey, with a little lemon juice, and how it's just as effective for coughs.  I was glad to hear that the results of my googling were supported by our MD! 

But the best part about giving honey to Isabelle, at least in her mind?  She gets to be just like Winnie the Pooh.      

This is part of The Humbled Homemaker's Healthy 2Day Wednesday Link-up.