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Keeping Your Family Healthy
KEEPING YOUR FAMILY HEALTHY
Keeping your family healthy is certainly a challenge at times!Here are some tried and true simple home remedies, herbal remedies, and other health tips that I have found useful. I prefer to use home remedies when I can, and avoid prescription medicines unless necessary. Herbal remedies can be made at home and many simple home remedies make use of items you already have in the cupboard. Some of the following health tips do not require any medicines at all, just knowing a simple massage technique, for example, will clear up sticky eyes in a baby.
Sticky Eyes/Conjuntivitis
Wipe the eye from the end closest the nose outward with a cotton bud soaked in cooled boiled water, or saline solution (salt dissolved in boiled water). With the patient lying on his back, and using an eyedropper, drop 1 – 2 drops of colloidal silver into the eye. Wash your hands thoroughly. Try to keep other people’s faces away from the patient’s face, and keep his facecloth, towel, bedding etc away from other people, as conjunctivitis is extremely contagious.
If a young baby has a continually runny or sticky eye you can help clear the blocked duct (which is the cause), by quite firmly massaging under the eye in a circular motion. Start half-way along the lower eyelid and with two fingers massage toward the tear duct (in the corner of the eye nearest the nose), then downward toward the nose, and back up to the start again. The pressure does need to be quite firm, but obviously not enough to harm the child (try it on yourself first).
This worked for two of my babies (the second and the seventh), who had runny eyes which kept getting infected. Both babies had the problem from birth, it lasted about two months, and in both cases the doctor had mentioned an operation to clear the duct once the child was a bit older.
After massaging in the above fashion for a few days the eyes became normal. (With the second baby I had forgotten how to massage the eye, and had been quite ineffectively massaging from the nose down under the eye for weeks, until a friend suggested this circular method, and I remembered that was what I had done with the first baby).
Chesty Cough/Bronchitis/Croup
A child with a chesty cough and runny nose can be quite miserable, and can suffer from croup in the deep of the night. Make sure you keep the fluids up – extra breastfeeds for baby, or lots of water as soon as the child is old enough to drink it.
Vicks on the chest helps to relieve the congestion. For children under 2, or those with sensitive skin, put some on a handkerchief and place over the chest between the singlet and outer clothing. Vicks on the soles of the feet is also beneficial – the skin on the soles of the feet absorb the ointment into the body faster than other parts of the body. Put socks or tights on the child so you don’t end up with Vicks everywhere!
Make sure you keep the child warm, and try to avoid taking him outside if the air is chilly. However, watch for a fever – you don’t want him getting overheated. (see fevers)
Fletcher, my youngest, with a chesty cold, then better again.
A humidifier in the bedroom is fantastic, especially if croup develops – and especially if you put some Vicks or essential oil into it, so the vapours fill the room. If you don’t have a humidifier take the child into the bathroom, turn the shower on very hot to make lots of steam. When the room is steamy turn the shower to normal (or run the bath), and give him a nice playtime in the steamy room. This helps to loosen the mucous so his body can get rid of it.
Patting his back (like when you burp a baby) also helps to loosen the phlegm.
Elevating the head of his bed can sometimes help him sleep.
Fever
If your child feels hot to your touch, is red in the face, and has glazed looking eyes, he has a fever. Paracetamol, such as Panadol, is used to reduce fever, but recent research has suggested that the fever is actually helping the body to deal with an infection or illness, and using medication can prolong the illness. Use your discretion, and follow your gut feeling. Generally I don’t use paracetomol during the day (unless the child is in pain), but I do use it at night sometimes because it helps the child sleep peacefully.
Very high temperatures (over 40degrees Celsius) are dangerous, and can cause convulsions, brain damage and death. If in doubt take the child to a doctor or emergency department.
To bring down a fever without medication strip the child’s clothing (and bedding) off, and sponge down with luke-warm water. The water does not need to be cold, just as long as it is cooler than the child, it should reduce the temperature.
Plenty of fluids are essential so the patient does not become dehydrated. A sipper bottle is often easier for a child, so they can keep taking small drinks, rather than trying to drink a glassful of water at a time.
Jelly (jello) is often an easy way of getting fluids into a child.
Cuts and abrasions
Clean the cut, then dab with a cotton bud soaked in Friar’s Balsam. This will sting, but it stops any infection from starting. You can also use it to dab onto a cut or splinter which has festered (after cleaning it out).
Insect bites and acne
Dab with a little teatree oil, which is a natural antiseptic. It also takes away the itch of an insect bite.
Natural cold and flu remedy/preventative
Mix 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds (buy from a Health store), with 1 – 2 cloves freshly chopped garlic, and 1 cup boiling water. Add as much cayenne pepper as you can stand. Leave to steep for a while, and drink when ready – either hot or cold is fine. Leave the solids in the bottom of the cup and re-fill with boiling water. Drink as many cups as you can during the day. At the end of the day you can swallow the solids – use a teaspoon to put it in your mouth, then swallow with a swig of water.
Begin taking this as soon as you feel the symptoms of a cold or flu coming on. It tastes a bit like beef or curry soup – not unpleasant (if you like garlic). It works!
Sore throat
The best thing I have found for a sore throat is a drink made from 1 teaspoon cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon manuka honey (or any honey if you don’t have manuka – but the manuka honey has healing properties other honeys don’t have) in 1 cup boiling water. Or you can use lemon juice instead of cider vinegar.
Aching Legs at night
As a child I would sometimes get aching calf muscles at night. My sisters had aching knees. Occasionally one of my children wakes in the night with "sore legs". The best remedy I have found is a hot water bottle, which eases the aches and helps the child relax and go back to sleep. Deep Heat or similar can also be helpful, but do not apply to a child under two, or a child with sensitive skin.
