Sore Throat Congestion and Swollen Glands

Perhaps you have noticed how much easier it is to breathe in a warm, steamy shower when your lungs or sinuses are congested. This is because the steam itself opens constricted air passages. To relieve a sore throat, combat infection and reduce sinus and lung congestion, you can have your child steam with essential oils of eucalyptus , tea tree or the children's favorite, lavender. These same essential oils can also be added to a bath or put into a commercial humidifier (first make sure they won't harm your machine). When steaming is impractical—say, while traveling—use one of the herbal nasal inhalers sold in natural food stores, or place one drop of essential oil on a cloth, cover your child's nose and have her inhale.

Herbal Steam

1 quart water

3 drops eucalyptus , tea tree or lavender essential oil

Heat water in a pot until it boils. Remove from heat. Add essential oil. Place child's face over the steaming pot, put a towel over the back of the child's head and tuck the ends around the pan to create a mini-sauna. Caution: Make sure that the steam is not too hot—it should be comfortable for the child. And make sure she keeps her eyes closed so that the essential oils do not sting. Some children think steaming is fun, but others will object. If so, it may help to eliminate the towel. What is important is to have the child breathe the steam twice a day, or as needed.

Covering your child's chest and throat with a vapor rub of these same herbs is another way to reduce congestion, fight infection and increase blood circulation in the chest area. If you read the label on any commercial vapor balm, you will notice that it contains components of many antiseptic essential oils, including thymol (from thyme), menthol (from mint) and eucalyptol (from eucalyptus ). You can buy a commercial balm that contains these essential oils at the natural food store, or you can make your own. Once you apply the Vapor Rub, you can increase its warmth and action by laying a warm piece of flannel on your child's chest.

Vapor Rub

¼ teaspoon eucalyptus essential oil

1/8 teaspoon each peppermint and thyme essential oils

¼ cup olive oil

Combine ingredients in a glass bottle. Shake well. Gently massage onto chest and throat.

A sore throat can also be soothed with preparations of licorice and slippery elm. To stop your child's coughing, add anise, peppermint or eucalyptus to these treatments. As useful as coughing is to breaking up congestion, it can interfere with breathing or sleeping and can irritate the throat. The herbs discussed above are thought to work by suppressing the brain's cough reflex. As an added benefit, they are also antihistamines (which relieve sinus and lung congestion). Two more herbs, rose hips and lemon grass, provide the "anti-infection" vitamins C and A, respectively.

These herbs can be taken as tea, but cough syrup or lozenges will work better to soothe your child's sore or ticklish throat, since they coat the throat. You can purchase herbal cough syrups and lozenges at natural food stores and most drugstores. Or you can make your own herbal cough syrup.

Soothing Cough Syrup

1 tablespoon each licorice root, mullein leaves, thyme leaves, rose hips, slippery elm bark and lemongrass leaves

1 quart water

¼ — ½ cup rice syrup or fruit syrup (or honey, for children who are at least 2 years old)

Bring herbs and water to a boil in a large uncovered saucepan. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain out herbs. Return to heat and simmer, then turn off heat. While still warm, stir in syrup or honey. Let cool. Give a suffering child 1 tablespoon, as needed. Store in the refrigerator.

Inspired by the Chinese honeyed licorice, I have developed a recipe for soft Honeyed Licorice Sticks that children can suck on. These are so good that you will need to remind your child that the licorice stick is medicine and not candy; limit him or her to an inch or two a day.

Honeyed Licorice Sticks

½ cup water

2 pieces of licorice root, about 5 inches long (available at natural food store)

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon lemon extract or 5 drops lemon essential oil (optional)

Place water, licorice and honey in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the extract or essential oil, if desired, and let sit 5 minutes. Strain out sticks and let cool. Store in refrigerator. Note: Remember not to give honey to children under 2 years old.

You can also do what Don does for his nine-year-old daughter, Libby. After taking a number of my classes, he learned how to make all sorts of elaborate herbal concoctions. However, when he or Libby comes down with a sore throat, he sticks to his tried-and-true method: sage tea. He learned of this treatment during his vagabond days traveling across the United States. A man offered to drive him to Don's next location, and Don's throat was so sore that he could barely manage a "thank you." The stranger told Don that a tea of common garden sage would soothe his throat. It worked so well that Don never forgot this simple remedy. Because this tea is fairly bitter, he sweetens it with a little honey before giving it to Libby; she readily drinks it, knowing that her sore throat will soon be gone. You probably already have some sage in your kitchen spice rack.

Sage Tea

1 cup boiling water

1 teaspoon garden sage leaves

¼ teaspoon honey (optional)

Pour boiling water over leaves and steep for 15 minutes. Sweeten with honey to taste (remember not to give honey to children under 2 years of age). For a 50-pound child, give at least half a cup (if she wants more, that's perfectly okay).

Although incidences of whooping cough, an infectious illness marked by a spasmodic, convulsive cough often followed by a noisy intake of breath, have greatly decreased with the advent of a vaccination against it, some children still contract this bacterial disease. According to the Merck Manual, the United States began seeing more cases of whooping cough in the 1980s, and in the early 1990s an epidemic of whooping cough spread through parts of the Pacific Northwest, hitting children who had been fully vaccinated as well as those who had not been. The Manual also says that the disease is rarely serious in children over two years old, but the characteristic high-pitched, "whoop-like" cough is enough to worry any parent. For whooping cough, follow the treatments suggested for coughs in general. Be sure to use the Vapor Rub (see above), since thyme has long been considered an effective treatment for whooping cough.