Cold Season and Ear Infections

Well, it's been a long and painful start to the year. The Smitty household has been dealing with cold after cold after cold. And now Toddler is dealing with an ear infection. Here are a few of our home remedies that have helped us deal with the cold symptoms.

1. Liquids. Water, tea, orange juice, coffee (for myself). And lots of it. Room temp or hot, keeping the fluids going helps clear your body out. Toddler has been running around with a water bottle and asking for me to fill it several times a day. She asks for tea and OJ every morning. Baby Girl has been nursing like crazy. Almost every hour during the day and she's even been waking at night to eat (which is unusual since Baby Girl has slept through the night since month 2).

2. Pepper, Garlic and Ginger in our food. Hubby has taken over cooking this week since I've been sick and taking care of the girls day and night. He's been sure to get a lot of pepper, garlic and ginger into our food.
- Pepper ... clears out your sinuses. Try eating something heavily peppered without your nose running. Perfect for anyone who is completely stuffed up.
- Most people don't know garlic is actually an antibiotic. It's practically an antibacterial for your innards. While it's true that garlic works best as a preventative in colds, it can't hurt for us to up our garlic intake for awhile. We usually eat a ton of garlic anyway so it's par for the course for us.
- And ginger has long been thought to have healing properties. I'm not well voiced in the subject, so I'll just link to some information HERE. In any case, we eat a lot of ginger on a regular basis so this is also par for the course for us.

3. Steam showers. 2-3 times a day, we've spent 30 minutes in the bathroom. Toddler and I sit under the steaming hot water while Mr. Smitty holds Baby Girl. It definitely helps.

4. Honey. Toddler has been loving this one. Once a day, I allow her to have half a tbsp of honey. She practically inhales it, but I know it's coating her sore throat, and thus, soothing it. If I wait for bedtime, she has an easier time falling asleep too!

5. Cuddling under the blankets. There's no other way I can get the girls to actually rest. They're tired (overtired) and restless (i.e. fidgety). Cuddling not only comforts them, it keeps them warm and rested. And if I'm lucky, they drift off for half an hour of really good rest and I get a few minutes to relax too!

As for her ear infection, Toddler doesn't show any symptoms during the day. But at night, it's nearly impossible to get her to sleep. We were able to sooth her pain by squirting breastmilk into her ear and giving her a warm rice pillow to fall asleep on. The milk soothes the skin surface in her ear and the heat makes the pain bearable as she falls asleep. But now she's getting antibiotics and on her way to mending, as long as we keep handling her symptoms alright, it should be over in a week!