A runny nose is a nuisance that happens quite often even with perfectly healthy children. Usually he "signals" about some kind of disease, since it is not an independent disease. This is just a symptom. But every mother wants to help her baby start breathing fully as soon as possible, because a bad cold prevents the baby from playing, walking, feeling the taste of her favorite dishes.
Modern medicine is ready to offer dozens of types of drugs for relieving the symptoms of nasal congestion in children. But today we will not talk about them, but about the "grandmother's", centuries-proven methods of dealing with a cold.
Symptoms and Signs
It is rather difficult to confuse the symptoms of a common cold with something else. With the naked eye, noticeable external manifestations of rhinitis already in the first hours of its development:
- The baby has difficulty in nasal breathing. This is usually due to the filling of the nasal passages with mucus, but sometimes it is caused by swelling. If there is no liquid discharge from the nose, and the nasal passages are visually clear, but breathing is given with great difficulty, this is edema. Usually, such a runny nose is allergic in nature.
- Burning and itching in the nose. This is also an indirect sign of allergic rhinitis.
- From the nose "flows". A thin, clear discharge indicates a viral infection.
- The mucus in the nose is thick and green, dark gray, or purulent. This is a bacterial rhinitis.
When is it impossible to do with folk methods?
In traditional medicine, there are hundreds of different ways to defeat a runny nose and alleviate a child's condition, but there are some limitations when using alternative medicine. First of all, they concern newborns and infants. Only a doctor should treat nasal congestion in such crumbs. The danger of self-medication is too great and real, it is better not to risk it.
The widespread myth about the benefits of breast milk, instilled in a baby's nose with rhinitis, has long been refuted by doctors. Mom's milk is an excellent breeding ground for bacteria of all stripes and varieties, and therefore you should not drip it into the nose of a small child. This increases the risk of developing a severe bacterial infection, and then long-term antibiotic therapy cannot be avoided.
Alternative methods should not be used without consulting a doctor, especially if your child is allergic.
Treatment with folk remedies
Often parents ask how to quickly get rid of the child from rhinitis. I will say right away that it is impossible in principle to do this quickly. Until the true cause of rhinitis is eliminated, the symptom can only be alleviated.
As for the time-tested unconventional remedies, any treatment should begin with rinsing the nasal passages. Available table salt will help everyone in this.
Take a tablespoon of the product for 1 liter of boiled and cooled water to 50 degrees. The resulting solution can be rinsed with a small rubber bulb or a disposable syringe without a needle. The procedure can be repeated up to 6 times a day.
If the baby is generally in good health and does not have a tendency to allergies, table salt can be replaced with sea salt. A mandatory requirement - it should not contain aromatic additives. Do not use iodized salt for baby solution.
Rinsing will remove excess mucus from the nasal passages and help partially relieve congestion, as well as prepare the child's nose for instilling the main drug. In our case, these are also drops from the arsenal of traditional healers.
Beet juice
Take medium-sized beets, rub on a fine grater, squeeze the beet juice through several layers of gauze. You do not need to breed it. Bury the juice 3-4 times a day, 2-3 drops in each nostril.
Do not be afraid of the rich red color, in which the baby's nose will be colored after the first instillation. Natural beet dye will wash off quickly enough. Such drops act rather quickly.
Aloe juice
It is worth planting aloe at home on the windowsill in order to resort to its healing properties when required.
Cut off a scarlet leaf, squeeze out the juice. You need to bury it 4 drops in each nostril 4 times a day.
Propolis tincture
Turundas with propolis tincture also help to restore nasal breathing. Dilute the pharmacy tincture with boiled lukewarm water in a ratio of 1: 20. Dripping 2 drops three times a day.
Use this recipe with caution to treat nasal congestion in toddlers under three years of age. Propolis perfectly improves local immunity, relieves swelling and disinfects the nasal cavity.
Onion juice
The juice of the good old onion acts faster than many expensive pharmacy nose drops. Grate the onion on a fine grater, squeeze the juice through cheesecloth.
See how much it turned out and dilute the juice with exactly the same amount of boiled water or saline solution. You can drip onion drops 3-4 times a day, a couple of drops into each nostril.
Pharmacy chamomile decoction
Brew a tablespoon of dry herbal pharmacy with a glass of boiling water. You can prepare a decoction in the same proportions in a water bath.
Cool the resulting liquid, strain and drip as needed. This remedy helps very well with bacterial rhinitis.
Inhalation
Inhalation helps with a cold. But it's not worth making them over boiled potatoes under a blanket. This method is hopelessly outdated. It is quite traumatic - the child can burn himself, receive thermal injuries of the mucous membranes of the nose, larynx, eyes, lungs.
It is better to use a special device - an inhaler. For procedures, eucalyptus oil, chamomile decoction, string, calendula are excellent. You can do inhalations with medicinal table mineral water with a high alkaline content - "Essentuki", "Borjomi".
The main contraindication for any warming up of the nose is a bacterial infection. If the snot is green or purulent, inhalations should not be done. This is fraught with serious complications.
If in a child what is separated from the nose has a transparent structure, you can warm the nose with a boiled egg. Wrap a hot egg with a handkerchief and roll it along the nose and bridge of the nose for 15 minutes, grab the forehead area.
Tips
- Not all folk methods are good for children. You have to be more careful with laundry soap 72%, many representatives of the older generation advise to rub the inside of the nose with it. This is dangerous for the child.
- Dry mustard powder that is placed in warm socks and worn throughout the day is a great way to relieve nasal congestion, but is more suitable for adults. Mustard is also a pretty strong allergen.
- During treatment, it is advisable to use rosehip decoction as a fortifying agent, give the child half a glass a day to drink it. You can give a drink and a decoction of a series, but this remedy is possible only for children from three years old.
In the next video, you can learn another method of dealing with a runny nose for children.
