An intense cold virus has been floating around my community. Kids (and some adults) are having intermittent bouts of coughing, sneezing, nausea and sore throat. Each round is relatively short lived, but each round returns again and again. Both neuro-typical and atypical kids are really struggling with self-regulation of mood and behaviour.
My own son had been shoring up quite well, but two nights ago, his breathing was so strange it reached into my subconscious, woke me, and triggered me to bring him into my room. The next day he was well again, but last night was a whopper.
He had fallen asleep happy and reasonably well, but shortly his breathing shifted to the previous night’s sandpapery sound. He woke coughing, then screaming. He was panicked and, in some moments, even in terror. I did my usual “big cough” trick, which is to incline his upper body by either raising the head of the bed or angling pillows. (Steaming the room is also a huge help, but I had nothing to steam the room with. I was too outrageously tired to create a bed and sauna in the bathroom.)
Despite this, shortly after falling asleep, the symptoms again flared. My heart just tore when his terror set in again and again. I wondered, too, how my neighbours were going to cope with all the noise. As for me, I felt utterly incapable of being up half a night for the third night in a row. I decided to buy cough syrup.
There was one problem: I could not buy cough syrup. I have no car and, I suddenly realized, no key for our complex’s nighttime gate. Oh. While holding my panicking child and meditating on who I might dare phone at 130am to ask for cough syrup, it occurred to me to Google ‘homemade cough syrup’.
I found magic!
Minutes after my son took this remedy, he was asleep. He slept for several hours, coughed once, then continued sleeping. I’m blown away. The simple version?
1. Take a 2″ piece of ginger. Peel and finely grate.
2. Squeeze out its juice. You’ll get about 1/2 tsp.
3. To the ginger juice, add 1 tsp honey.
4. Mix thoroughly.
5. Offer 1 tsp each morning and evening.
My son complained that the remedy hurt his mouth, but when I explained that it would help his cough, he very willingly took the second spoon.
Here is the gentle video from which I learned this technique:
As we head into winter, bookmark this tip! And let’s all remember to take our echinacea and/or elderberry juice.
For another remedy for general sickness and/or coughing, click here.
Hi, We have been doing the same thing except we make ginger tea sweetened with raw honey. It might be easier for your son to drink a cup of tea than straight ginger juice and honey. The heat of the tea is soothing on the throat as well. I think the I got the idea from the GAPS book and it has been a lifesaver since we have been sick.
What a lovely conclusion to an unpleasant event!
I have spent many of those nights, especially with 3 of our kids recently having whooping cough, and I know how I would have given anything for a simple remedy that works. Thank goodness for the Internet . . .
I am so glad that you were able to get some sleep as well–it’s easier to be there for our kids when we are rested.
I’ll be memorizing this one. I’ve never had cough syrup in the house and intend to keep it that way.
Hi Baden,
one way I like to prepare ginger and honey is thusly:
using a spoon, scrape the thin brown skin off of a good size piece of fresh ginger root (5-6 inches long, don’t know how many cm,
) By scraping you don’t lose too much of the ginger;
using a vegetable peeler pare the ginger root into thin slices (like sushi ginger/gari). Sometimes the center of the root can be fibrous so cut this thinly with a paring knife;
put shredded ginger into a small, clean, wide mouth jar (pint sized?) and fill the jar with raw honey. Add a piece or 2 of lemon peel (the yellow part without the white pith);
Allow to stand at room temp., shaking gently over the first few hours to distribute the honey around the ginger. Over time (2-3 hours) the honey, which is hygroscopic/water attracting, will draw the juice out of the ginger. You end up with preserved ginger slices and ginger lemon infused honey. Use in tea, hot water, or straight for sore throats and coughs. Especially good with sage tea for sore throats.
Delish!
I have had this ferment a little in the jar – seems an added benefit!
enjoy!
Sheila
What wonderful remedies to have on hand!!! Thank you so much for sharing!
Sheila, how long can you keep your cough syrup? I would like to make a batch here before the nasty colds set in!
Thank you, everyone!
Lorrie
Baden,
We tried your ginger recipe for our daughter. It worked great! Thanks so much for the tip.
Jackie
This is fantastic. I just tried this with my daughter that was coughing so much she couldn’t sleep tonight. It worked like a dream and she is sleeping now. Thanks for sharing!
Eileen
Hi,
I tried this one this evening and waiting for the results. Just now I saw in the video clipping that the ratio is
1/2tsp ginger juice : 1 tsp honey
But the version specified in writing says
1/2 tsp ginger juice : 1/2 tsp honey ( I gave to my kid in this ratio)
Which is the correct one?
My kid is 4 and half years old and I just wonder should we need to change the amount of ginger based on age?
Regards,
Usha
Hi Usha,
Please do follow the directions in the video. I merely recorded them wrong and have now updated the post.
Thank you so much for letting me know about this discrepancy
Best,
Baden
your link to the page about what i assume is the ginger bath at the bottom is broken. It says click here, but there is no hyperlink.