My 10 year old son has had a bad cold for that last 6 days. I took him to the Dr’s office on the 3rd day because he was complaining of a sore throat, which for him usually means strep. The rapid strep test came back negative and we were both surprised. So the Dr asked him – my 10 year old mind you – if he wanted a prescription for his cough, which wasn’t even that bad yet. Again, he asked my son, not me! Anyway, my son got a prescription for Robitussin, which I didn’t fill…. until 2 days later when his cough was getting worse. He had about two different doses and we didn’t notice a difference at all, so we stopped using it. Tonight was an especially hard night, as he was coughing consistently all afternoon and evening. Despite my efforts with a hot shower and warm tea with honey (he wouldn’t touch it) his cough would not settle down. Most kids love honey, but not my finicky boy. I finally convinced him he needed to try honey.
Honey has many benefits and the benefit I needed was to suppress my son’s cough. Dr. Weil states that in “a study published in the December 2007 Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, which showed that a teaspoon of honey given at bedtime seems to quell coughs among young children and help them sleep better. In this study, honey worked better than giving kids cough medicine containing the dextromethorphan or giving them nothing at all.” Although this study focused on children, adults can benefit from the use of honey to suppress a cough.
So before bed I gave my reluctant son a spoonful of honey and set up the humidifier as an additional measure to help ease his cough. I tucked him in and…so far so good! I haven’t heard a peep from his room. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
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