Here are a handful of home remedies that will help you soothe your sick child during cold and flu season.

Your young child has a bad cold and you’re struggling to make her more comfortable — you go to the medicine cabinet to find something to provide relief but quickly realize you have nothing appropriate to give her, given her age Studies have taught us that, for children under age seven, cough medications provide no benefit and for those under age four, the risks can outweigh the benefits. That’s why recommended experts say that you should never give children under four any cold medications. So, what are you to do now?

Actually, for both young and older children there are some good home remedies that you can use. And in most cases, these treatments have been found to be more beneficial than over-the-counter medications.  For example, saline washes of the nostrils and warm steam showers can help break up the nasal mucous and decrease cough spasms.  A warm steam shower increases humidity and helps to keep the nostrils moist but if the rest of the house or bedroom is very dry you might consider using a humidifier in those rooms. For infants, in addition to the saline wash, make sure to suction your child’s nostrils to help extract the mucous.

Give your child lots of fluids — including warm fluids — to keep him or her hydrated, which helps thin out the mucous. There is no evidence that milk causes thicker secretions so whatever your child wants to drink let him have it. Cough syrups with ingredients like dextromethorphan have actually been found not to be beneficial under the age seven. However, ‘good old’ honey can help, especially dark buckwheat honey.  Honey should only be given to children above age one because of the risk of infantile botulism. Infant botulism is an illness that happens when an infant digests contaminated honey with bacteria, Clostridium botulism, which produces a toxin inside the body. Older children have mature digestive tracts which can usually rid the body of the spores before producing any toxin.

So, for children above the age one, you can give ½ to 1 teaspoon (2.5 ml to 5 ml) as needed. The honey helps to thin out the secretions and loosens the cough.  Remember all of these are symptomatic measures and it will take some time for the virus to pass. However, make sure to check with your pediatrician if your child is less than two months old, has a fever for more than two to three days, has symptoms lasting for more than a week, is having breathing issues or has severe ear or throat pain.  The cough and cold season can be tough…keep washing those hands…sneezing in your elbow…and know your child may have up to eight to 10 colds a season. But rest assured, colds actually help build immunity…so there is a silver lining?

 Do you have any home remedies you use?

Plus, more from The Bump: 

Mom’s Intuition vs. Diagnosis

6 Easy Ways to Keep Baby Healthy

How to Keep Your Baby from Getting the Cold or the Flu

Because I’m a pediatrician and a mother, many people say to me, “it must be much easier for you to be a parent because you know everything about kids.” This is partially true in that, yes, if my children are sick I’m able to care for them with ease, and know the difference between a minor cold and an emergency. But, emotionally, I am like every other mom. I worry about being a good mom and whether I’m doing the right things to make sure my kids grow up not only physically healthy but also emotionally well-adjusted.

One thing all moms talk about is “guilt,” and when raising twins, most moms say that feeling starts on day one. When my twins were first born, I constantly worried about making sure everything was split evenly, from the amount of breast milk they were getting to the amount of attention they received. As a pediatrician, I knew they were individuals, not a “twins package” and that everything doesn’t have to be equal. But I was a mother first, and my maternal guilt kept nagging me. At the age of three weeks, my son became colicky, and needed my attention much more than my daughter. There were many nights when my daughter would play by herself on the play mat and fall asleep in the crib on her own while I was still trying to soothe her brother. At that time, although I’d felt a lot of guilt and it broke my heart, I had no choice but to give more of my attention to the child who needed it.

This experience taught me an invaluable lesson that, although I could not spend the same quantity of time with both children, I was able to give them the quality of time and the type of attention they each needed to feel loved and to blossom into healthy, happy unique individuals. As my children are growing older now, I feel more than ever the importance of one on one time. My husband and I make an effort to spend time separately with each child on the weekend and some weekdays. It could be as simple as one of the children accompanying us on errands, playing a game or reading a book together, to taking a class like gymnastics or ballet, where each child gets one parent’s undivided attention. Don’t get me wrong — we still do most things together as a family because we love to, and we don’t have the unlimited time to do otherwise. However, we do try to make a conscious effort to carve out our own special time with each child.

One-on-one time has many benefits for you and your children. These include not having to constantly juggle two children’s needs and being able to focus and create your own bond with each child, and understanding their emotional needs. For the children, the benefits include having a secure and special relationship with each parent and an opportunity to appreciate their twin sibling by having some time away from each other. After all, can you imagine being with someone 24 hours a day and having to share everyone and everything with them?

How do you fit in one-on-one time with your child? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.