Many cough medicines are not always the best to be feeding consistently to your children so before reaching for the medicine chest maybe you would like to consider trying a dose of organic honey. This natural sweetener is all natural and has been shown to exhibit the same results as some over the counter cough medicines when dispensed just as you put the child to bed at night.
Organic honey of course is your best choice was better at reducing the severity, frequency and disturbance from night time coughs of many children who were found to be suffering from upper respiratory infection. These same studies also found it also helped children’s sleep patterns.
In a study performed examining the use of honey in comparison to commercial cough suppressants, they compared honey to dextromethorphan (DM), the active ingredient in many cough mixtures. Scientists in Pennsylvania found that DM made no significant difference to symptoms compared with having no treatment for the 105 children aged two to 18 in the research. They were divided into groups receiving honey, a honey-flavoured DM medicine or no treatment about 30 minutes before bedtime. Parents rated honey as significantly better than DM or no treatment, according to the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
The researchers said that honey offered a “safe and legitimate alternative” to DM, which can occasionally cause severe side effects in children, including muscle contractions and spasms.
An adaptation to giving a large spoonful of honey of course is to heat up some all natural and organic lemon juice just squeezed with the honey and have the child sip this slowly.