For the last 3 weeks, my daughter has been sick (so have I, but this isn’t 10 ways to comfort a whiny mom with a cough, it’s 10 ways to comfort a child with a cough–LOL!). She just coughed and coughed and there was no end in sight. I was getting kind of desperate. We’d been to the doctor and were treating the underlying cause (pneumonia), but that didn’t change the fact that the cough was just making her miserable. That was until I found these 10 Ways to Comfort a Child with a Cough and then, then, our misery turned into gentle fun while we got all better!
A Child with a Cough can be Comforted in at Least These 10 Ways
- Backrubs. My back KILLS when I cough a lot and I bet my baby girl’s did, too. So, when she’d let me, I would rub her back and try to ease some of that ache.
- Feet rubs – with Vicks. This is something crazy, I know, but she liked having Vicks Rub massaged into her feet. The doctor said this helps with nasal congestion more than a cough, but, honestly, I did whatever baby wanted and this was something she found fun.
- Playing in water. Specifically, we played in the sink (to get the steam). But we may have played there for longer than necessary just because her coughing was a little lessened. Which was the point.
- Head rubs. I assume she gets a headache when coughing a lot like I do. So, rubs with the baby hairbrush, OK!
- Warm showers. Even if we weren’t in the shower, we had the hot water on. Made for a happy girl. But we did play in the shower a lot. Sometimes 3 times a day–just because it seemed to make her happy–not because we were doing silly things like running around in the rain while sick. (see picture below)
- Warm socks. We don’t generally wear socks around the house, but being cuddly in some warm, fluffy socks made her a little happier (if a little slippery on the tile).
- Warm rice bag. We have a giant sock filled with rice that we pop in the microwave for a couple seconds. She loved just playing with it (rubbing in on her face, actually). Whatever. Made her happy.
- Play dough. Specifically, we played with this awesome lavender play dough that we made. Something about it was really comforting to her and her coughing seemed to settle a little for a while during play and then also for a while after she was all done. I’ll post the recipe soon and update this post.
- Calming lotion. I made this lavender lotion for my hubster a while back and he really liked it. My daughter found the little tub of it on my counter and was pretending to put it on her feet. I decided we’d just do that. And it seemed to make her happier and calmer when she was coated with this stuff. And it was fun-times rubbing it on her little hands, face and neck.
- Cuddles. No amount of repeating this will be enough to explain how much cuddling my daughter helped. She was more happy on my lap than doing anything else. So, we just cuddled. And it was good.
So, there you go. I hope you’re not dealing with a coughing baby. But if you are, I hope these ideas can help.
