- By Tela
This came to me from a friend as an email forward. Definitely worth a try when you or your child has a cold-related sleepless night!
I wish I’d known this when my family was young during winter colds and coughs. I am going to try it myself. Share with young parents. Isn’t life strange. When we had a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can ‘taste’ it. Some of us have used Vicks Vaporub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I’ve never heard of this. And don’t laugh, it works 100% of the time although the scientists at the Canada Research council (who discovered it) aren’t sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vaporub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly. I heard the head of the Canada Research Council describe these findings on the part of their scientists when they were investigating the effectiveness and usage of prescription cough medicines in children as compared to alternative therapies like acupressure.
Just happened to tune in A.M.Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened. It was a surprise finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly. If you have grandchildren, pass it on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be absolutely amazed by the effect.
On October 19th, an official opinion was posted to WebMD that basically says no cold meds for children under 6 as they are ineffective and pose a health risk. So the Vick’s remedy is a great option!

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This warning to parents has been on the nightly news all week. Parents were cautioned not to give over the counter cold meds to children under 2 years of age. After pediatricians and the FDA met it was decided to pull many of the well known cold meds off the shelves and the recommendation was not to give cold meds to children under 6 years of age. This was on channel 4, WIOD, in Broward County, Oct 16- 10/19. Apparently there was at least one death related to giving an infant cold medication.
This really works!! My daughter has a cold and her cough sets in at night. For the last two nights I’ve used Vicks VapoRub on her feet both times and she was cough free almost immediately and was able to sleep comfortably.