It's cold and flu season. Last week I was an unwilling participant. I am now better. I was just starting to think we were in the clear. Night before last, oh, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1am, I woke up to a strange sound. Is there a seal in my kids' room? I thought to myself. No, come to find out, it was Rowan coughing and crying. Poor little guy had croup. For those of you who have never heard the cough of a child with croup, it is actually kind of scary and sounds really terrible.
So I gave him a dose of cold meds, then wrapped him in a warm blanket and took him outside where we sat on the porch for about a half hour. The cold, brisk air instantly made the cough better. Since it was in the mid 30s, we couldn't stay outside forever and the moment we came in (literally, within seconds) Rowan was again sounding like a barking seal.
Then I tried something that I remember reading on the internet a long time ago: I rubbed Vick's Vapor Rub on the bottom of his feet, put socks on him and zipped him back into his jammies.
It worked. I don't know who figured this out or how it works or why it works. It just does and it turned my barking 2-yr-old into a peacefully sleeping baby.
Last night when I put him to bed I did the Vick's trick, skipped the cough syrup, and not a peep out of him. I hope none of you get sick kids, but if you do, give it a whirl!
I just tried this last week with my daughter. She wasn't coughing too much, but was so congested that she'd wake herself up constantly from what I guess was post-nasal drip. The Vick's seemed to clear stuff out without having her nose run all night. It was awesome!
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