Need a Children's Cold Medicine That WORKS!

Hi C.,

We don't use "cold medicines" but have found that elderberry extract you can get at the health store will alleviate symptoms and speed up the healing process. Most colds that last a few days with my daughter's friends seem to only be symptomatic with my kids for a day or less...

The problem with the OTC meds that you mention do alleviate symptoms but they also break down the immune system so the cold lasts longer than it normally would.

Hope this helps.

M.

Saline, a cool mist humidifier in her room at night, LOTS of liquids and Mucinex. Colds need to run their course. If it's been longer that 10-14 days, see the doc, she could have a sinus infection. Hope she's better soon!

Make a pot of hot chicken soup (or turkey since you just may have some leftovers at hand) with lots of fresh veggies, it's a miracle cure for a cold.
Colds suck, we all know that. There is no cure. Best thing to do is try to sleep it off. The body heals itself while at rest. Put some vicks on her chest, feed her some soup, make sure she drinks lots of water, and put her on the couch witha comfy blanket and pillow and let her sleep it away.
Not sure if your child likes spicy things, but a hot chili pepper or horseradish will definitely loosen up thick mucous. I'm also not opposed to using nose drops to clear out my stuffy nose, nor was I worried about using it while my kids were little, as long as it's used in moderation it's a great way to be able to breathe again.

Boil some ginger and garlic in water. Make a tea of it, sweeten with honey and add a tsp of apple cider vinegar. Repeat until she feels better. Skip the honey and vinegar if your daughter is under 1yr old.

Lately what seems to be working best for my kids is Children's Benadryl. I am not sure it can be used with Triaminic Multi-Symptom so either with a pharmacist or discontinue the Triaminc before trying it.

Squirt saline spray up each nostril. Did that for my 3.5 yr old little guy last week. he didn't like it, but it helped him get over symptoms quicker. We also upped his Vitamin C intake and gave him plenty of fruits and veggies. His cold lasted just a few days.

Since kids were dying from taking over the counter meds many medication companies have changed their formulas and they no longer work. I would suggest you talk to a pharmacist about what meds he thinks would treat the symptoms your child is having.

I give the kids real liquid Sudafed for sinus congestion. If the goo is sticky and not coming out it is draining into their lungs like that and that makes them sicker. The fake Sudafed does not work. It only gives these kids the shakes and they are still congested. I can only buy it at real pharmacy's, the ones that are not chains, a family owned one perhaps. It is available at 3 pharmacies in my town and Walmart told me they didn't even make it anymore, I showed them my receipt and the bottle. Then they said they just couldn't get it anymore.

I use Walmart brand Tussin for chest congestion. It is a Guaifenesin syrup that is an expectorant. It makes the goo in the lungs runny so it can be coughed up. It is the SAME med that is in EVERY cough med except Delsym which is all DM. It does seem to work to stop coughing but does not work in the kids here for more than a couple of hours.

Dry hacking cough:

So, if your child is not having a productive cough she needs to have moisture in her lungs to loosen it to get it up and out. She needs to cough so it will not stay and live in her lungs and turn in to pneumonia.

Take her in a hot steamy shower several times per day, make sure their is moisture in the home, maybe a humidifier, if you can take her to the doc he may prescribe some nebulizer breathing treatments. They are usually mixed half med and half sterile water. This will help her by opening up her airways in her lungs and then the sterile water part of the med with moisten the goo. She will cough and cough after this and should have a more productive cough. It might take 2-3 of them if she is really really dry. Sometimes the doc will prescribe a steroid too. This reduces the inflammation in the airways and keeps them open longer. They have side effects of insomnia and behaviors so give them a long time before bedtime if possible.

Moist runny cough:

She needs to get a prescription for a med like codeine or Tessalon Perle's ( can you say very very very expensive?). They both relax the longs and then stop the cough reflex. The codeine is also an expectorant so it helps both ways.

I don't have this kind very often so I don't know a lot about it, just don't do anything to dry it up too much or you end up worse off.

okay - i am married to a pharmacist, and as a rule, we keep NO multi drug formulas in our home. our cold med collection would be this: delsym for cough(there is not a generic, it's prob the only med we buy brand), mucinex for an expectorant(okay, i lied, i think this is brand also lol), sudafed(this is the important one - it comes in generic, but it is ONLY available behind the pharmacy counter, the brand is that way too, the "sudafed" on the shelf is phenylephrine, which is total garbage in my opinon, you need pseudoephedrine), generic benadryl(if you think it's allergies in nature or you just want some sedation effect if she's having trouble sleeping), generic tylenol and/or generic motrin for fever/discomfort. we dose them according to what their symptoms are, pretty much all of those can be given together.

Elderberry Syrup works well. Also, chicken soup and hot lemon tea will help her feel better. These have always worked for me.

I love musinex for my kids . not sure if that is how you spell it.

Lately, we've had luck with Target's generic Tylenol Multi-Symptom Flu and Cold elixir. It's in a blue and white box. Our kids had a knock down flu starting the night before Thanksgiving, and they said it worked better than the Triaminic, which is what we were using prior.

Sadly it seems not many OTCs are going to work for kids. Zarbees has some nice products that help sooth throats and cough, it's a honey based product so pretty safe to try. I usually give a dose of allergy tabs (target sells a chewable allergy tablet) before bed to help them sleep. It's an antihistamine which drys out the nose and helps with the post nasal drip, but the real plus is that it makes kids drowsy so they can sleep through the symptoms. otherwise, we use a humidifier and a vicks vapor ball (plug in nightlight thing that emits eucalyptus vapors) in the room to help with the coughing and congestion. Then cross your fingers and hope its over quickly. I'm feeling your pain though... my daughter's been coughing so hard she pukes. Doctor says this cold is going to last 2-3 weeks! Cold and flu season totally sucks.