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.



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