Sore throats. Ouch! Many kids get them and we as moms of course want to manage their pain. It does not take a medical license for you to know what symptoms of a sore throat are, but how do we handle them?
Recently I’ve been hearing many moms in my kids martial arts class that their kids have been dealing with strep! It can be scary.
In this article I wanted to talk about sore throats. What type there are and how you can naturally support your child’s sore throats.
Causes
When you are looking to manage a sore throat naturally you will have to look deeper into the causes of the sore throat. Let’s face it you probably will not be looking further into a sore throat and its causes in the midst of a sore throat but it helps to know about the causes because it will effect how you will treat it.
There are three main categories you need to look at:
1. Viral: cold, flu, mono, mumps, laryngitis, croup
2. Bacterial: strep, diphtheria, infections
3. Irritant: injuries, low humidity, yelling, allergies, postnasal drip, acid reflux
Symptoms
A sore throat is a type of inflammation of the throat and tonsils that causes pain when swallowing.
The signs vary depending on the type of sore throat your child is having but common signs include:
– difficulty swallowing
– pain that worsens when swallowing or talking
– throat feels scratchy
– sore, swollen glands in the neck or jaw
– white patches on the tonsils or back of throat
– swollen and red tonsils
– hoarse voice
The most difficult to distinguish is the difference between mono (viral) and step (bacterial) because of the white patches on the tonsils. This is when a doctor can come in handy to get a proper diagnosis for your child to see what needs to be supported naturally.
Natural support
A lot of times you can use common sense and nail down which type of sore throat your child has. Has there been strep going around? Has your child had an injury? Is there environmental allergies your child deals with?
Virus
Hopefully you know that if you go to the doctor and your child has been diagnosed with a viral infection and has for example mono, antibiotics won’t help and it will have to run its course.
You don’t want to irritate the throat more but it is helpful to create a gargle or a sore throat spray to help the throat along.
For a child it’s best to use hydrosols (water from oils) and not essential oils themselves because you will be spraying this on the throat.
My favorite sore throat spray involves antiviral and antibacterial herbs like sage and echinacea as well as anti inflammatory hydrosols from chamomile and peppermint.
This is great to have on hand because it can help in either viral or bacterial sore throat.
Recipe: (safe for children 1 yr and older)
– ¼ cup peppermint hydrosol
– ¼ cup chamomile hydrosol
– 2 tbsp sage (salvia officinalis)
– 1 tbsp echinacea (e. purpurea)
– 1 tbsp raw unfiltered honey
Directions:
In a small saucepan on heat up hydrosols slightly. Take off heat. Add sage and echinacea and let steep for 15 min. Strain and add in honey and stir until it is dissolved. Pour mixture into a spray bottle and keep refrigerated when not in use. To use have your child open their mouth and spray directly onto the back of the throat.
For someone that is younger than 1, using lavender essential oil along with a carrier oil on the outside of the throat would relieve the inflammation. Make your mix with lavender and carrier oil and massage onto your child’s neck, lymph nodes, and chest whenever needed.
A special note on echinacea is that you do not want to use it longer than 3 weeks so your body doesn’t become tolerant to it and also do not use it if you’re allergic to ragweed.
Bacterial
What about strep! It’s bacterial. First things first, you will need to support your child’s immunity in any tips of infection.
Boosting immunity while child is sick means liquids a lot of the time like:
– vitamin c boosts (orange, strawberries , kiwis)
– bone broth
The sore throat spray recipe above would still be great to use because it has echinacea in it.
Echinacea is very active against strep.
Very often direct contact with the tissue at the back of the throat with an echinacea tinctures mixed with saliva has been shown to be an effective remedy against strep.
A tincture is often recommended for strep with a dropper full mixed with saliva and gargle a bit in the back of the throat. Repeating every hour until the symptoms lessen.
A salt gargle is also very effective and we’ve used this in cases where we did not have access to hydrosols or echinacea.
1/2 tsp salt per 1/2 cup warm water
When thinking of supplements or oils you want to look for things that have antibacterial properties.
Oils safe for kids which are great to have on hand are palmarosa and thyme linalool.
Irritants
Let’s look at helping your child when you know there are irritants involved such as allergies or post nasal drip. If you know which one your child is dealing with then the chances of relief coming sooner is more likely.
Injury – look at anti-inflammatory and mucilaginous herbs and lots of rest along with immune boosting liquids.
Postnasal drip – look into herbs with actions that are astringent or drying properties
Allergies – anti-inflammatory herbs, lavender and lemon essential oils, homeopathic such as this one
Yelling – mucilaginous and anti-inflammatory herbs rest the vocal cords
Low humidity – put a humidifier in their room or around the house if you’re running the heater during winter causing more dryness in the air.
Final thoughts
A lot of times it’s not the sore throat that’s hard but how uncomfortable and restless your child is because of the pain.
Many times having a sore throat spray will help. Along with soft foods or warm liquids.
It’s good to keep them hydrated and keep supporting their immune system.
Having a home made chest rub with some lavender and lemon can soothe the throat or having homemade cough drops will keep them comfortable.
Many times it’s a patience game for us moms. See if it’s progressing or moving into a different direction. Did you suspect bacteria and now your child is getting a fever?
Re asses and trust your judgment in switching herbal courses or taking them in.
As always, I’m here to help! Do not hesitate to reach out as I work on a sliding scale with moms that need it.
I hope this helps on your journey.
God keep you and protect you.
Krystina
