Vick's VapoRub: My New Friend

It's been a rough week out our house.  Really rough.  It all started when Grace came down with a cold on Sunday.  Her nose started running, and I was hopeful that would be it.  But then the infamous cough came.  I woke up to incessant loud coughing coming from her room around 2 a.m. Monday morning.  The only way I could get her to stop coughing was to sit with her in the recliner downstairs, which she thought was really fun but meant no sleeping for her...or me.  Then, this entire scene repeated itself Monday night.  I knew I couldn't survive another night like that, so I started researching what to do for a cough for a 2-year-old.  Unfortunately, pretty much all cough medicine is not recommended for kids under 6.  The only other remedy I read about was to put Vick's VapoRub on the soles of your child's feet.  This supposedly works wonders for coughs and congestion.  Yeah, right, I thought.  Sounds like an old wives' tale to me.  But, when Grace woke up Tuesday night hacking up a storm after only an hour and a half of being asleep, I raced to Kroger at 9:45 p.m. (only 15 minutes to closing time) in my pajamas and bought some Vick's VapoRub.  I hurried home and opened it up.  I felt rather ridiculous slathering it on her feet, but I did and then put socks on and tucked her back in.  She slept until 9:45 the next morning...no coughing!!  I will now sing the praises of Vick's VapoRub.  If you have a toddler with a cough or cold, try it, and hopefully you'll be as amazed as I was!  I will say, I used it on her feet again last night and she was up at 5:00 a.m. coughing, but that's still much better than being up at midnight (and 2 a.m. and 4 a.m....). 

Now, I have a 3 month old who is really congested.  We've been running a cool mist humidifier, but unfortunately, it really isn't helping, and Vick's isn't recommended for a child under one.  So, if anyone out there knows of a good remedy for an infant cold, please share!  Just when I get one child under control, the other one keeps me up all night.  Here's to hoping we get rid of the sickness in our house soon and Momma can get more than 4 hours of sleep a night!