Home Remedies for Cough/sore Throat

To help control the cough at night I put Vick's Vapor Rub on the bottom of my sons feet, then put on a pair of socks. Sounds nuts, but worked like a charm! I also gave him 2 teaspoons of honey to be eaten slowly to coat his throat before bed. In the mornings I would let him cough for a bit to help get any mucus up and out then honey as needed for the cough. hope he feels better soon!

my grown kids still get in touch when they've got sore throats, wanting my home remedy.
garden sage is magic for sore throats.
i make a tea of it, adding a little mint, some thyme if i've got it fresh, and a lot of local honey (sage isn't horrid, but it isn't yummy either.) if there's also a cold and congestion involved i add candied ginger and a little cayenne.
khairete
S.

I have used Vicks Vapo Rub on the chest and feet (with socks).

I use hot tea and honey. Honey seems to be the trick.

Warm salt water and gargle it.
Saline sinus rinse helps as well.

There are cough drops that are "fruit" flavored.

Keeping the sinus' cleaned out is truly important. The sinus rinse will cut back on the post nasal drip - which might be causing the cough and sore throat. LISTEN to the cough. If it persists, it could turn into pneumonia - that happened to me in March - came on like gang busters.

At night, angle his pillow up slightly so the drip doesn’t collect in his throat as much.

Try a cup of warm water with about a tablespoon of salt dissolved in it, then have him gargle it if he’s able to (ideally until the cup is empty, but even just 2-3 gargles is effective). I used to tell my daughter that it was like a band-aid for her throat and she did pretty well at that age. Followed by a teaspoon of honey.

Btw, the salt rinse is also effective for any kind of soreness in the mouth, just swish and spit until the cup is empty. The salt is a natural antiseptic and helps speed up healing.

Our pediatrician said the same about post nasal drip and using allergy medicine like Benedryl. Definitely helped. During the day, a nurse said it’s the back of the throat that is irritated so some corn syrup helps. It did but I gave too much one time and my daughter threw up... So just a little. And hot liquids soothe but of course that’s not easy with a 4 year old. But maybe he can handle very warm.

How about pure honey drops? Unmedicated honey hard candies. Can often be found in organic food stores, Whole Foods, etc.

I never used cough meds. A spoonful of honey can help, local honey is best. Also, a warm tea with lots of honey and lemon to sip. Popsicles, I bought popsicle molds and make my own from juice. We had a snow cone machine when kids were little, it made great shaved ice and then I'd pour a little juice over it and they'd eat with spoon and straw.

I did the vicks vapor rub and socks at night as well. I does work. You can try cough drops that have a citrus flavor. Sometimes they aren't as spicy.

Still battling a viral bronchitis here. This has been the sickest I’ve been in decades. One round of antibiotics and two of steroids and I’m still coughing. Antibiotics didn’t help and the urgent
Care in Miami determined it was viral.

Anyways - ricola makes a lemon/honey drop that really helped me. Also warm lemonade. Delsym is a good syrup and doesn’t have a lot of the other worrisome stuff. If he can gargle, warm salt water helps too.

I went to primary care on 5/31 and still am having coughing from time to time. Not trying to discourage you, just making you aware if he’s on an antibiotic and it doesn’t seem to help his throat pain or other symptoms, more than likely it’s viral and can take 6-8 weeks to clear.

Another thing that helped me was upper body elevation. You could put some wood pieces under the top of his bed to slightly elevate him.

I hope he’s better sooner than later. Hang in there! ❤️

Our Walgreen has plain fruit pectin "cough drops" (totally approved by our pediatrician because they are like a lollipop, same stuff).

If he can handle hard candies these might be a solution and help him feel bigger and this throat feel better. I would think most drug sores would carry them.

At 4 yrs old I didn't have any problems teaching our son how to use a neti pot.
I got it ready and supervised.
He didn't always like it but he always felt better for a time after using it.
Rinsing out the nose to help clear out mucus - and the saline solution helps to soothe where the mucus is coming from so it seems to help it slow and eventually stop the running nose.
If your son can gargle salt water and spit it out (and not swallow it) - then that will help his throat.

Keep his fluids up - soup broth, and tea with honey feel pretty good on a sore throat.
Sometimes snacking on a salty snack might help for a short while - like pretzels.

He doesn't have to do cough drops - just sucking on any hard candy can help - so try him on butterscotch drops or any hard candy that he likes.

When our sons tonsils swelled up - he didn't have a fever so they were not infected - they swelled up so much they were almost an obstruction.
Shrinking them with steroids was temporary and didn't work.
So we had his tonsils and adenoids out right after his 4th birthday and it was the best thing we ever did.
Being able to breathe, swallow, eat and sleep without snoring was great for him and his rate of catching colds went way down to only once or twice per year.

I hope your son feels better soon.

Additional:
Vicks on the chest and throat works for me.
When I'm sick I like the smell of it.
I tried the putting it on the feet thing and for me it doesn't work but it's worth seeing if it will work for your son.

Don't they still make that throat numbing spray for kids with sore throats?

Lilapops. They are natural lollipops with marshmallow root to soothe throat and cough and I with honey in them as well I believe. I have used them with all three of my kids. They really help during the day and at night, I use Vick’s vapo rub.

Hi Ebird’s mom,
It is best to have your son drink a lot of water and rest his voice, because that is one of the ways to get better. I hope this helps.
Yara

I used to give my daughter honey when she was 4. It seemed to help....it did make her pretty delighted! She also would enjoy a cup of herbal tea with honey. I also found cough drops that were not "strong" but more fruity...I forget the brand. I hope his cough goes away soon.

Google a diy recipe for cough drops and try them.