How To Help Your Child With Nighttime Coughing

Every time my toddler goes to a public kid place, you can almost guarantee a bad cold a few days later.  In addition to a horrible cough, congestion, fever, runny nose, sore throat and pure misery, she also comes down with a case of the Ornery McOrneryPants from lack of sleep.  The daytime symptoms don’t seem to bother her too much, but at night she literally coughs non-stop.  Cough medication is not recommended for children under 4-6 years old, and I generally try to refrain from giving my family medication if possible.


If you research nighttime cough remedies, you will likely find several sites telling you to apply Vick’s Vaporub to the soles of the feet.  When I first read this, I thought it sounded absolutely ridiculous.  When my child had her first bad cold and literally could not stop coughing, I decided to give it a try.  Since I was constantly slathered from head to toe in Vick’s as a kid, and lived to tell about it, I figured a little on the feet would be ok.  My poor little girl is miserable, and I must admit that her coughing is driving me nuts.  So at 2 am, my toddler awakens to me rubbing Vicks Vaporub on the soles of her feet.  I just knew it wasn’t going to help, but I figured at least her feet will smell minty fresh.  Five minutes passed, then 8 minutes and I was mad at myself for waking my still coughing child for this stupid remedy.  To my surprise, after 10 minutes or so, the coughing completely stopped, and she slept peacefully through the night.  She’s been sick 3 times where I’ve tried this remedy, and it works every time.  Amazing!  You simply rub a pea sized amount into the soles of the feet, put socks on, and wait a few minutes for relief.

Lately I’ve become more cautious about the products my family uses.  I found a product similar to Vick’s Vaporub called Congest Ease made by Morocco Naturals.  I’m more comfortable with the ingredient list, and it’s not as greasy or strong smelling.  My child is now recovering from her 4th cold and this time I tried the Congest Ease for her non-stop nighttime coughing.  It worked just as well, if not better than the Vick’s.  I applied it to the soles of her feet at 7pm and didn’t hear any coughing until 3am.  I then applied it again, and she slept the rest of the night without coughing.  I don’t think it’s a great idea to suppress a cough during the day, since it’s your body’s natural defense mechanism, but if it helps the family get some much needed rest at night, I’m all for it.  Congest Ease is a great product!  It’s a little more expensive than the alternative, but I’m happy knowing my coughing kids won’t be bathing in petroleum and unnecessary artificial fragrance/chemicals all night.



Ingredients in Congest Ease: palm butter, mango butter, shea butter, avocado butter, aloe butter, almond butter, eucalyptus, menthol, camphor, and tea tree essential oils.

Ingredients in Vick’s Vaporub: camphor, eucalyptus oil, menthol, cedarleaf oil, nutmeg oil, special petrolatum, thymol, and turpentine oil.

Turpentine, are you kidding me, that’s paint thinner?  And petrolatum (otherwise known as petroleum jelly), a cheap, potentially toxic complex mixture of flammable hydrocarbons.  I’m not comfortable slathering these chemicals on my child’s skin.


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