My little preemie that I blogged about back in the early days of this blog started his first day of kindergarten today. Crazy how fast time flies! Having kids makes time go even faster. Last year he was in preschool. He loved it, but I think he was out sick more than he was there. He would get sick, then his brother would get it and then I would get it. I'm really hoping we're not sick as much this year as we were last year. At his 5 year checkup he was sick and the doctor discovered he had an ear infection. Put him on amoxicillin and guess what? He's allergic. Yup, developed hives about an hour and a half after the first dose. When he was about 2 he had taken it for a possible strep infection, but stopped it when the test came back negative. Just had diarrhea then.
After the amoxicillin reaction, the doctor put him on cephalosporin and guess what? Yup, allergic to that to. He developed hives within the first hour that were even worse. Apparently, 25% of those allergic to a penicillin, are also allergic to cephalosporin. Had to give him Benadryl for a few days to control the hives. Azithromycin was the next ordered antibiotic. He was ok with it. Ended up with another ear infection when I took him in for really bad canker sores. They were all along the bottom gum line. Poor kid. He couldn't even eat. I've never seen them like that.
Anyways, after the amoxicillin/cephalosporin allergic reactions, I started to do some serious looking into home remedies because he was able to take azithromycin two different times, but who knows if someday he will develop an allergic reaction to that.
A few things I discovered: apple cider vinegar, honey, juicing, vitamins, and Hyland's homeopathic remedies. I'm really hoping we can get through the next cold/flu season without antibiotics, but we will see.
To prepare myself for this years cold and flu season, I've started drinking the juice of one lemon per day. I started that about 2 weeks before school started.
I didn't try this last year, but am going to this year. At the onset of a fever, I am going to try Hyland's Flu Care for Kids. I'm going to switch over to Hyland's Cold n Cough medicine once the fever breaks. I used that ALOT last winter and I think that is what saved us from even more antibiotics. For the first 2 - 3 days after the fever breaks, I'm going to give it every 4 hours, then cut down to 3 doses per day for the next 2 - 3 days. Based on how they are feeling, I may give 2 doses per day for the next 2 - 3 days. I took it myself a few times when I was sick and it really does make you feel better. It just gives you this overall feeling of betterness. Hard to explain, unless you take it yourself.
Hyland's also has Vitamin C tablets for kids. Vitamin C is very important when you are sick. Each one is 25 mg and quickly dissolves in the mouth. My kids hate taking anything, so I would dissolve a tablet in a teaspoon of water and squirt it into their mouths with a medicine dropper. That was a little easier.
Emergen-C also has a 500 mg powder for kids. You add it to a cup of juice or water and drink it, or squirt it into the kids mouths a little at a time throughout the day. I'm not so sure it tastes the greatest though, so adding it to juice is probably the best bet.
Zinc is also important when you are sick. Little Remedies has a Vitamin C with zinc lollipop for kids. They are great, but my complaint with them is they contain high fructose corn syrup. Not a good thing, but I haven't been able to find a better zinc alternative, so I stuck with the lollipops. I cut off the stick and dissolved the lollipop in 2 tablespoons of water and squirted a few teaspoons at a time into their mouths. Kind of a pain, but they tend to take a few licks and waste the rest of the lollipop. You go through a bag of 18 pretty quick when you have 2 sick kids, so dissolving was much less wasteful, and the water helps with hydration.
Apple cider vinegar. Apparently it is a cure all for just about everything. I discovered it's usefulness from a website called earthclinic.com. Great site. I highly recommend checking it out. I add 1/2 tsp to a half cup of apple juice several times a day. I also put a half tablespoon of honey, which is helpful for coughs, 1/8 tsp of apple cider vinegar to a tablespoon and fill it with water. I squirt that into their mouths a few times a day up to 2 - 3 tablespoons per day.
Juicing is also great when you are sick. Apparently, juicing helps the body absorb the nutrients quicker than eating the fruit/vegetable. I bought a book called The Big Book of Juices
. AWESOME! Has just about any juice you can imagine, over 400 recipes. A nice colorful picture of every recipe too. What's great about it, is it tells what each juice recipe is good for. There is a section where you look up the ailment to see the corresponding juices which work best. There's also a section where you look up vitamins to get the juice recipe with the most amount of that vitamin. I've only made a handful of the recipes, but they've all tasted very good. If we don't drink all of the juice, I make popsicles out of it. Great for kids and no high fructose corn syrup like the store bought popsicles. I'm hoping to make many more of the recipes once I get a juicer. I bought a little juicer, which is great for citrus fruits like oranges, lemons and limes, but I need a big juicer that can handle greens and other fruits.
I also have the boys on a multivitamin and 800 mg of Vitamin D. Research has shown that maintaining a Vitamin D level of 50 - 80 helps ward off colds and flus better than a flu shot.
I'll keep you posted if I come across anymore helpful cold and flu home remedies this winter.
After the amoxicillin reaction, the doctor put him on cephalosporin and guess what? Yup, allergic to that to. He developed hives within the first hour that were even worse. Apparently, 25% of those allergic to a penicillin, are also allergic to cephalosporin. Had to give him Benadryl for a few days to control the hives. Azithromycin was the next ordered antibiotic. He was ok with it. Ended up with another ear infection when I took him in for really bad canker sores. They were all along the bottom gum line. Poor kid. He couldn't even eat. I've never seen them like that.
Anyways, after the amoxicillin/cephalosporin allergic reactions, I started to do some serious looking into home remedies because he was able to take azithromycin two different times, but who knows if someday he will develop an allergic reaction to that.
A few things I discovered: apple cider vinegar, honey, juicing, vitamins, and Hyland's homeopathic remedies. I'm really hoping we can get through the next cold/flu season without antibiotics, but we will see.
To prepare myself for this years cold and flu season, I've started drinking the juice of one lemon per day. I started that about 2 weeks before school started.
I didn't try this last year, but am going to this year. At the onset of a fever, I am going to try Hyland's Flu Care for Kids. I'm going to switch over to Hyland's Cold n Cough medicine once the fever breaks. I used that ALOT last winter and I think that is what saved us from even more antibiotics. For the first 2 - 3 days after the fever breaks, I'm going to give it every 4 hours, then cut down to 3 doses per day for the next 2 - 3 days. Based on how they are feeling, I may give 2 doses per day for the next 2 - 3 days. I took it myself a few times when I was sick and it really does make you feel better. It just gives you this overall feeling of betterness. Hard to explain, unless you take it yourself.
Hyland's also has Vitamin C tablets for kids. Vitamin C is very important when you are sick. Each one is 25 mg and quickly dissolves in the mouth. My kids hate taking anything, so I would dissolve a tablet in a teaspoon of water and squirt it into their mouths with a medicine dropper. That was a little easier.
Emergen-C also has a 500 mg powder for kids. You add it to a cup of juice or water and drink it, or squirt it into the kids mouths a little at a time throughout the day. I'm not so sure it tastes the greatest though, so adding it to juice is probably the best bet.
Zinc is also important when you are sick. Little Remedies has a Vitamin C with zinc lollipop for kids. They are great, but my complaint with them is they contain high fructose corn syrup. Not a good thing, but I haven't been able to find a better zinc alternative, so I stuck with the lollipops. I cut off the stick and dissolved the lollipop in 2 tablespoons of water and squirted a few teaspoons at a time into their mouths. Kind of a pain, but they tend to take a few licks and waste the rest of the lollipop. You go through a bag of 18 pretty quick when you have 2 sick kids, so dissolving was much less wasteful, and the water helps with hydration.
Apple cider vinegar. Apparently it is a cure all for just about everything. I discovered it's usefulness from a website called earthclinic.com. Great site. I highly recommend checking it out. I add 1/2 tsp to a half cup of apple juice several times a day. I also put a half tablespoon of honey, which is helpful for coughs, 1/8 tsp of apple cider vinegar to a tablespoon and fill it with water. I squirt that into their mouths a few times a day up to 2 - 3 tablespoons per day.
Juicing is also great when you are sick. Apparently, juicing helps the body absorb the nutrients quicker than eating the fruit/vegetable. I bought a book called The Big Book of Juices
. AWESOME! Has just about any juice you can imagine, over 400 recipes. A nice colorful picture of every recipe too. What's great about it, is it tells what each juice recipe is good for. There is a section where you look up the ailment to see the corresponding juices which work best. There's also a section where you look up vitamins to get the juice recipe with the most amount of that vitamin. I've only made a handful of the recipes, but they've all tasted very good. If we don't drink all of the juice, I make popsicles out of it. Great for kids and no high fructose corn syrup like the store bought popsicles. I'm hoping to make many more of the recipes once I get a juicer. I bought a little juicer, which is great for citrus fruits like oranges, lemons and limes, but I need a big juicer that can handle greens and other fruits.I also have the boys on a multivitamin and 800 mg of Vitamin D. Research has shown that maintaining a Vitamin D level of 50 - 80 helps ward off colds and flus better than a flu shot.
I'll keep you posted if I come across anymore helpful cold and flu home remedies this winter.
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