5 Natural and effective home remedies for cough in kids

Natural home remedies for cough

Coughing occurs due to the reflex mechanism that is triggered when any foreign material invades the mucosa of the respiratory tract, mostly the upper respiratory tract,  the throat and the airways. It is a body's response to the irritants or foreign thing that is trying to gain the entry into our throat and airways. The nerve endings in the mucosa of our airway sends signals to the brain about the invasion of the foreign substances such as some pathogen, dust, pollen, foreign object, anything obstructing the airway. The brain responds by triggering a forceful coughing spell to force out the contents from our airways and clear it.   

Coughing in kids can worry the parents. The elders can manage their cough and at least understand what causes it and how to get relief from it, but the kids, they are not aware of all these. 

There can be many other causes of coughing such as allergy, infections, etc.

Coughing mostly occurs as a symptom of some viral infections such as flu. It is quite common to catch cold and cough. The kids and the elderly persons are the most vulnerable age groups to contract any disease faster due to the weak immune system. 

Five natural and effective home remedies for cough in kids 

Every kitchen in an Indian household has a mini herbal store n the form of the rich spices and natural ingredients. We are all well aware how our grandparents helped us naturally fight the cough and cold. Their methods, their techniques were far better than the bitter medicines we take these days. 

So let me share with you the top 5 natural home remedies for cough that are proven to give you effective results: 

1. Ginger tea

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Tea is one of the most largely consumed beverage globally, and when tea is made with ginger it adds to our health in a natural way. Why ginger? Not many of us would like ginger or its strong taste on the tongue, but ginger definitely is a saviour. A saviour from infections. 

Ginger is known to have great anti-inflammatory properties that helps to reduce the inflammation. Apart from this, it has a strong antioxidant property. Ginger when added to tea after crushing or grating adds a strong taste to the tea. This provides us great relief from sore throat or pain on the back of the throat. 

Ginger has antibacterial action. It fights the germs within our alimentary canal. Ginger has been used in most Ayurveda medicines and their preparations because of its broad nutritional and health value. 

If your kid has cough, half a cup of warm ginger tea can help get relief. Ask your child to take small sips of ginger tea. For infants and breastfeeding kids, mother's milk is the best treatment for any ailment because the breast milk has antibodies in it that help fight any infection/inflammation. 

Kids old enough to follow your instructions can get faster relief from ginger tea. You can also add Tulsi leaves in the ginger tea, if you wish. These are some variations that add even more taste and value to your warm beverage. 

So next time your toddler or older kid has any complains of cough, please don't rush for the antibiotics or antiviral medicines. Instead brew some hot ginger tea and enjoy with them. Tea has been attributed to have links with great communication. Either way you win. You get time to talk to your kid, and this in turn increases your mother-child bond to a next level. 

2. Golden milk

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A glass of warm golden milk at night is good to provide some relief from cough and sore throat. Golden means turmeric added milk. Add a pinch or half a teaspoonful of turmeric to a glass of warm milk and give it a nice stir. It turns the milk golden in color. According our ancient scholars and ayurveda experts, turmeric is one of the best natural ingredient that has great anti-inflammatory properties. Turmeric is a spice that is commonly available in everyone's kitchen. We can reap great benefits from golden milk apart from cough and sore throat. Golden milk keeps our immune system healthy and prevents us from infections. It helps in fighting infection present in our body, for example flu, or cold. 

Give your kid a cup of warm golden milk twice, one cup in the morning, and the other at night before bed. If you can't give it twice, make sure it is fed at least once before bed because at night this remedy works effectively, and helps in soothing the sore oro-pharyngeal mucosa. Make sure not to give water on the top of it. 

If you feel your kid often falls sick, you can continue feeding golden milk daily. It does not have any side-effects or disadvantages. 

3. Jaggery balls

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I learned this remedy from my mother who used to make small jaggery laddus/balls and feed us whenever we had cough or cold. And believe me this works wonderful. To prepare jaggery balls you need to take powdered jaggery in a bowl. Take some dry ginger powder and a pinch of turmeric. Add both to jaggery. Now mix all this three ingredients properly and prepare small walnut sized laddus/balls. Ask your kid to have one ball whenever there is coughing. 

Jaggery balls are not only tasty but also healthy recipe. You can give your child such laddus in cough,cold or sore throat. This helps to smoothen the sore mucous membrane and provide instant relief. Ginger and turmeric have good anti-inflammatory action and thus help to get rid of the cough problem. 

4. A herbal concoction

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Carom seeds, Tulsi or Basil leaves, ginger -these ingredients are boiled in one glass of water and water is reduced to half by boiling it continuously. The remaining mixture is then strained into a bowl and jaggery is added. This is a herabl concoction or Khada and this is a magical remedy to clear out cough or sputum. It helps loosen the sticky cough that is difficult to spit out. It has soothing, and anti-inflammatory action and helps relieve the nasal congestion too. Serve it warm to your kid before bed. It is a very useful home remedy and shows good results in getting rid of cough and cold as well as nasal congestion. It helps relieve the sinusitis and sinus headaches. 

You can replace jaggery with honey if desired. Both work magically to provide instant relief. There are also some ayurvedic mixture available in powder form and which are absolutely safe to use such as Mulethi powder, Sitopaladi Churna. You can take such preparations on doctor's advice to get quick relief from cough and cold. 

5. Steam inhalation or use of humidifier

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Kids are not always able to tell us how obstructed or how much sputum is stuck in their chest. It is only through the respiratory and cough sounds that we are able to understand that there is cough inside the chest. Using steam inhalation with any vaporiser balm or plain saline water can provide immediate relief from chest congestion and nasty sputum. Instruct and guide your child with the steps while taking steam inhalation. Make sure you take proper caution to avoid any scalding due to hot water. Humidifer or vaporiser remains the best option if your kid is very small. For older kids you can instruct them to take inhalation and how to take deep breaths and exhale out properly. 

You can add camphor tablet (kapur) and few carom seeds to boiling water and let it boil, and then have your kid inhale its vapor under blanket. This helps trap the heat inside and medicated vapors to. The vapors reach the airway and loosen the sticky sputum, dilate the airways and reduce nasal and upper airway congestion. 

Steam inhalation for kids must be done under adult supervision. It is an efffective and ancient home remedy that actually works faster than any other remedy, if done properly. 

The Bottomline

These were the 5 top most natural and effective home remedies that I know and have tried them on myself as well the kids. No doubt there are a lot of home remedies and all help to provide some sort of relief from cough and cold.  Home remedies are just a part of our life and great alternatives to modern antibiotic medicines. If your kids have only minor, or mild symptoms, home remedies may work effectively. Do not wait until the symptoms worsen. Always consult your paediatrician if you feel your kid has severe cough and cold. Give medications as prescribed by the paediatrician, because we all know we just can't be risking our kids' health, right. The above remedies do work great but always consult your doctor if you have any doubts concerning the health of your kid. You can drop down and comment what other home remedies do you know or you follow when you or your kids suffer from cough or cold. 

Stay healthy. Stay fine. 

Check the other blogs: 

Common cold: Know everything about common cold here.

What is flu? What are the symptoms of flu?  

Whooping Cough or pertussis 

About author

Sangita is a registered nurse, blogger, freelance medical writer and a certified medical transcriptionist. She also works as a translator and a general transcriber.