Safe, Natural Cough and Cold Remedies

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Written by Dr. Lawrence Rosen

There’s lots of coughing and sneezing going on at the Whole Child Center—and probably every other pediatric office in the world—this month. “ ’Tis the season to be wheezin’ ” we used to lament back in my residency days. I would spend hours in the ER asthma room—yes, a dedicated room for kids with asthma—administering oxygen and nebulizer treatments until MY head was spinning from all the medication floating around in the air. I kept thinking, “There has got to be a better way.”

It turns out there is. While medications can be life-saving and do have their place in acute treatment, there are a number of natural approaches that can help prevent and soothe many common childhood ailments. A lot of the questions I’m asked are about these natural ways to prevent and treat viral illnesses and symptoms, and I really try to help families focus on the prevention aspect: Staying well. An ounce of prevention…Well, you know how it goes. What I primarily counsel parents is that fever, cough, and runny nose—these things we think of as “sickness”—are not necessarily evils to be completely suppressed and stamped out. Human bodies, especially children’s, have a marvelous tendency to rebalance when left alone.