Natural Ways to Keep From Catching a Cold

You know that antibiotics don't cure colds, right? Well, did you know there are natural ways to keep from catching a cold? It's true that the occasional virus might slip through all safety measures, but it's certainly within our power to reduce the number of times that we are laid low by the common cold. And no I'm not a doctor and if you are sick or need medical advice, you should probably call one. Now, onto my practical tips that (in my humble opinion) have helped me to keep myself and my family from getting sick so often.

HANDWASHING is perhaps the most important and well publicized means of avoiding illnesses of all kinds.


KEEP YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM YOUR FACE! My mom is a stickler about not touching our faces (nose, eyes, mouths) with our hands. She says that when she was a kid they actually had a place on their report cards where they were graded on keeping their hands away from their faces! Since this is a favorite way for germs and viruses to enter our bodies, we probably should start teaching this rule to school children again!

DRINK A HOT BEVERAGE! I read where it's a good idea to drink a cup of something like tea as hot as you can stand it at least once a day to clean out the cooties from the back of your throat. It makes sense to me, so my kids all get a cup of hot green tea a day.

GARGLE WITH SALT WATER Another way to keep those germs to the curb that lurk in the back of our throats is to gargle with very warm salt water.

SWAB OUT THOSE NOSTRILS! Soak a Q-tip with salt water and swab out your nostrils once a day.

SKIP THE SUGARY SNACKS AND YES...EVEN JUICE! Sugar is not good for the immune system. Even a glass of orange juice has a negative effect on its germ fighting capabilities. Cold and flu season is especially not a good time to load up on cookies, candy and other bad carbohydrates for this reason.

VITAMINS Eat vitamin packed meals to give your body the weapons it needs to fight its way to good health should one of the nasty viruses break through our line of defense. If you don't get out in the sun, pay special attention that you are getting enough Vitamin D.

Those are my favorite, natural ways to keep from catching a cold. If I skipped any, would you please be so kind as to drop a comment and tell me your favorite ways to avoid catching a cold or flu?

Swine Flu, Babies and Asthma

The word is that Swine flu and asthma is a nasty combination. But then every illness is further complicated when breathing problems exist. The numbers of reported cases of confirmed cases are increasing with every newspaper that hits my driveway. And my anxiety is spreading through my body faster than the virus is mutating because I have children who are in the high risk group that have allergies and can't take the regular flu vaccine much less the H1N1 vaccination.

It depends on how I’m feeling at the moment but I’m waffling between being worried about the actual illness and what might happen if one of my girls catches it which would be bad enough under any set of circumstances but even more so given their existing breathing problems and fear of the girls being a guinea pig. The reports that this vaccine has not been put to the test and could possibly be more dangerous than the swine flu in and of itself.

What’s a mother to do when put between a rock and a hard place? Should I roll the dice, keep my fingers crossed and pray that the H1N1 bypasses our family or trust the medical talking heads and put these little souls in line to get a vaccination that some doctors are on record as stating that in their opinions the swine flu vaccine is not ready for use in humans?

Return to Oooh Baby Baby Parenting, Family and Environmental Issues to find out whether we decide to vaccinate or not.

CHILDHOOD ILLNESSES, DENTAL PROBLEMS GETTING ME DOWN

This time of year I expect the common cold to visit at my humble abode. I might even accept that an off brand version of the flu virus might slip in under the protective covering that I've laid upon my little ones in the way of the latest round of flu vaccines. But I was not expecting dental problems. That's right, one of my kids has CAVITIES!

I've been so careful and mindful of letting them fumble around with the toothbrush to get the feel of it and then taking matters into my own hands for a good scrubbing. Up and down brushing as well as carefully prizing their little jaws apart for a half baked flossing. Apparently my efforts towards dental hygiene were all for naught because the oldest girl woke up with a toothache yesterday.

After a trip to the dentist, it was confirmed that indeed she had a rotten tooth. Or to be kind, she has a cavity in between two of her back teeth which was the reason I had not spotted the evil sucker. At least she didn't embarrass me by having a mouthful of cavities which would be a sure indicator that I was a complete failure as a parent. A few buzzes of the drill and some magic tricks with the hypodermic needle performed by my dentist and his technician and we were out of there.

Then to make things even more fun and fanciful, the youngest woke me up at two am. having thrown up in the bed. Cavities and viruses! How lucky can I be?

So what do you do for children's stomach virus symptoms but wipe up vomit and clean up diarrhea but wait it out? That's about it other than to give them Pedialyte popsicles and pray that feel like sleeping in between episodes. That's where we are right now, the little one is peacefully napping and I'm catching up on my mommy blog and hoping that the other two miraculously immune to this particular strain of stomach virus.

So what's your method of alleviating stomach virus symptoms in your kids? Please feel free to share!