Home remedies · Children & infants
No home remedy here replaces treatment, and none is talked down. What has done good for generations does good — even if no one ever measured it. Where something is well studied, it says so. Where it is only experience, it says that too.
Before feeding, one or two drops of saline in each nostril, wait briefly, then feed.
Infants breathe almost only through the nose; a clear nose decides whether feeding works. Saline loosens mucus gently.
It does not shorten the cold, it only makes feeding possible.
No adult decongestant drops, no essential oils, no menthol — dangerous for infants. If a baby stops feeding or draws in the ribs when breathing: see a doctor at once.
At once: any fever in an infant under three months, a child who is apathetic or has stopped drinking, skin bleeding that does not fade under pressure, breathlessness or drawn-in ribs. A first seizure is always looked at. Refusing to drink for hours counts for more than the temperature.