Last October, both the American
and Canadian health authorities issued strong advisories warming
consumers not to give over-the-counter cough and cold
medications to children without first consulting a doctor. The
result was a recall of most children's cough and cold products
on the market. The warning told the consumers that children
under the age of two should not use decongestants and those
under the age of six should not be given antihistamine
medicines. Both are commonly used to treat colds in children.
One concern regarding these products is that many of them
contain pharmaceutical ingredients that if combined by taking
more than one product at the same time, they could lead to an
overdose in children.But
what can you do to help your child fight a cold?
As many know, the common cold
is a viral infection. About 80 per cent of the case of the
common cold in the fall and winter are caused by the rhinovirus.
This nasty virus can live on a door knob for three hours or
longer. Viruses enter your body from direct exposure (touching
an infected person coughs or sneezes near you).
Once in your throat, a virus
will try to infect one of your cells. You have a natural mucous
layer in your airways that acts like sticky tape to trap these
viruses. However, in the winter, furnaces dry out the air and
this protective mucous layer can become dehydrated and crack.
Once attached to your cell, viruses use your cells to reproduce.
An infected cell in your body eventually dies, and virus
microbes find new cells to infect and multiply in. The white
blood cells of your immune system are the only thing that can
stop a virus from infecting and replicating in your body.
Nutrients found in fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds can fuel
your white blood cells and help them find and destroy viruses
that are making you sick. Antibiotics only kill bacteria and are
no use against the common cold. Heading to the doctor cannot
help you treat a common cold.
Considering the importance of
the mucous membranes (inner skin) in the immune system
integrity, it only makes sense to assure that we strengthen them
regularly during the winter months in order to protect us from
foreign pathogens.
What keeps these mucous
membranes healthy and vibrant are the good bacteria- good
flora-that inhabits them.
Limiting your child's sugar,
junk food and dairy intake is one way toward healthy mucous
membranes.
When in trouble (having a
cold), you can speed up this process by supplementing with good
bacteria (probiotics) in pill form, like Acidophillus, Bifidus,
etc.
Through hand washing your hands
is helpful to ward off colds, it is almost impossible to prevent
exposure to viruses every minute of every day. When virus enters
your body, be armed and ready with a healthy immune system.
Herbs such as atralagus and echinacea are commonly used by
adults to help boost their immunity and prevent colds, using
varying dosages which depend on the strength of the product and
its format (capsule or tincture). Studies have not been done to
determine whether astralagus can be safely used in children.
There is some evidence that an echinacea juice extract is safe
for children aged two to 11 when used for up to 10 days. Eating
a healthy diet that is rich in nutrients to boost immunity is a
great way to safely prevent the common cold in children.
Multivitamins designed with dosages safe for children may also
help boost the immune system. Probiotics have been used in
children in many research studies without safety concerns and
may offer some immune boosting benefits as well.
One class of safe-for-children
cold remedies are homeopathics, prescribed according to the
child's constitution and manifesting symptoms. Homeopathy has
demonstrated success in treating respiratory infection as
effective as aspirin in relieving cold symptoms.
No matter how well you prepare,
you can still end up sick with acold. The body will produce
mucous in response to the infection. It attempts to slow down
the ability of viruses to attack your cells, and as a result,
also causes you to have sniffles, a stuffy nose, cough and
congestion. These symptoms are natural reactions that are good
for you and your child, even though they're annoying. The safety
warning issued last October was about over-the-counter products
aimed to treat these symptoms.
Suppressing symptoms is
modern's medicines way of treating illness-not necessary the way
illnesses should be treated. Quite often, when suppressing
symptoms, the disease process goes more internally, only to
manifest at a deeper level later on.
We all know there is no
allopathic cure for the common cold... Which makes Naturopathy
the only alternative luckily, naturopathy offers many working
solutions. Along naturopathy, using a humidifier, ensuring that
your children eat foods packed with nutrients and keep well
hydrated by drinking water can help fight off a cold. In
addition, chicken soup is more than just your mom's remedy.
Scientist have found that chicken soup acts like a decongestant
to give minor relief from a stuffed-up nose and positively
affects the immune system. With the growing concern over the
potential risk of using over-the-counter cold medications for
children, it might be time to go back to these time-tested
natural remedies.
