★★★★★
I am a new mom and two days ago my 15 month old woke up with a cough I'd never heard before. It didn't respond to any of my usual remedies and he coughed so much he didn't nap at all. Upon going online I realized it must be croup (he never had a fever though). I tried a number of things and yesterday he had a 3 hour nap and slept 12 hours through the night last night. I don't know what worked, but here is what I did:
*1 tsp molasses in warm water in his bottle for dehydration, once/day
*The garlic salve described on this site applied to his chest and feet. On the 2nd day I noticed he was getting a rash from it though so I stopped it.
* 2 drops of oregano oil mixed with a small amount of carrier oil, applied to soles of feet at bedtime
*humidifier in room with a small amount of hydrogen peroxide in it
*few drops of oil of echinacea in crib at bedtime
* cut-up onion beside bed (I mix a bit of honey into it so that it makes "syrup" over night)
*onion syrup - I give the juice that collects by dropperful- I'd say about 1.5 tsp a day but you could give more than that. It breaks up congestion and helps with cough
*because he doesn't always want to take straight honey I mixed about 2 tsp with 8 oz water in his bottle and he had a bit over the day - my theory is it helps with the sore throat, cough, and also with dehydration.
I also gave ibuprofen after a warm bath at bedtime.
The first night we were up twice sitting in the bathroom with the shower going on hot, his cough was so bad. Yesterday he still had the croup cough but last night he didn't cough at all during the night and today it's broken to a normal "wet" cough and he's sleeping well.
