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As the mom of 23 and 18 year old daughters, we did consume a lot of chicken noodle soup from the time they ate solids, often for breakfast. Steamy showers in allergen laden Savannah were prescribed by our allergist: twice a day, wash your hair before going to bed & change your pillow case to avoid breathing in pollen while sleeping. KY jelly is good in dried out nostrils. I hang bath towels or wet wash cloths at night in doorways for humidity. Not sure how young you can get a child to gargle saline, but a hypertonic (some salt left in the bottom of a warm cup of salt water) will help shrink swollen tonsils (that may increase snoring) and kill strep germs. None of these things are a replacement for needed medical attention. Our youngest is very slight in build and as recently as Dec. she was dehydrated from illness with 2 hospitalizations for this when she was younger. Dec. was overnight stomach virus, when I took her early am to the doctor she had strep, too. Please use all your resources, but do not hesitate to seek care from a health care provider that you are confident in when your child is sick or not responding to care. We fortunately have a doc and nurse team that are agressive in pursuing optimal health using tests. Our youngest during high school had pneumonia, strep, and mono all for the first time, usually about Feb. Our pediatrician would say he didn't think she had those things just from examining her, but he always ran the tests and was wrong at least half the time.
Patsy Munden
Savannah, GA
1) I recently read that petroleum jelly should not go in the nose or even under the nose because it can be inhaled and can coat the lungs.
2) I give my children (and myself) Black Elderberry extract at the first signs of a cold or virus. It seems to stop the virus or lessen it. It is available at Whole Foods in capsule form and in liquid form (sugar and sugar-free) for kids. There have been clinical studies on this berry that show positive results.
Aspirating (or inhaling) petroleum jelly could cause something called lipoid pneumonia, according to Dr. Lawrence Gibson at Mayo Clinic.
The good news is, that most of the time, the petroleum jelly rarely goes into the lungs. Typically, it's mixed in with other nasal secretions and swallowed. According to the doctor, it can take months and months for the jelly to build up in the lungs and cause lipoid pneumonia.
If anyone is concerned about it, I suggest they ask their doctors for some guidance on using petroleum jelly on the outside of the nose (to soothe those spots that get chapped from rubbing with tissue) and/or the inside of the nose.
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