Natural Recipes: Cough Syrup and Minty Chest Rub

Our wee man was sick for the past week! Goodness it's hard to watch your children suffer with an illness. This particular illness was a really intense cough and chest congestion. I gave him his homeopathic constitutional remedy along with several others that seemed indicated as his illness progressed, tissue salts, plantain/thyme/raw honey and lemon tea, lots of rest, plenty of liquids, healthy food and a little bit of my favorite natural herbal cough syrup Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa. I also made up a couple of homemade remedies that I want to share with you.

The first recipe I made was a homemade cough syrup because I didn't want to give the Nin Jiom too often. This recipe is really easy to whip up in a jiffy.

Yummy Homemade Cough Syrup 

2 Tbsp raw creamed honey (I always have a huge bottle around)

squeeze of lemon juice

1 drop peppermint essential oil

1 capsule of bee propolis (do not give if there is any concern about allergies to bees and bee products)

I just stirred this all up and gave it to my son (and my daughter because she had to try some too). This will keep for a couple of days in a sealed container in the fridge.

Minty Chest Rub 

2 Tbsp coconut oil (I'm going to use beeswax next time!)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

15 drops eucalyptus essential oil

7 drops peppermint essential oil

7 drops wintergreen essential oil

1 drop thyme essential oil

The second recipe I made was a minty chest rub, reminiscent of the Vapo Rub that my mom would have used when I was small. I was pretty excited to do this for Eamon because I thought it would be so soothing and I have such fond memories of my mother caring for me when I was ill as a child. Instead however, he was far too grumpy to let me give him a chest rub, so my daughter who wasn't ill got one instead. She loved every minute of it!

I think this recipe would be better with beeswax instead of the coconut oil so that the rub would solidify at room temperature. Once you've melted your coconut oil (or beeswax) in a double boiler, mix all of the ingredients together and pour it into whatever container you're going to store it in. If you try using beeswax and you don't find your final recipe to be a consistency that is to your liking, just gently heat it up again in the double boiler and add more or less oil and beeswax to the mix before cooling again. This smells lovely and will keep in a cool dark place for a long time. Lots of experimenting can be done with this recipe. Camphor, pine needle, balsam fir needle or a number of other essential oils would be very nice in this recipe too. Just please be sure to do your research so that you are aware of any cautions that may come with some essential oils- I added some clary sage essential oil to a bath once and it didn't end well.

I am so happy Eamon's feeling so much better now!

♥ Andrea ♥

*The information in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be used as a substitute for medical advice from a qualified health care practitioner.*