MNHQ needs your avoiding/surviving winter sniffles advice and tips.

Nibbling an apple in the night when I wake with a tickly cough works for me.

Propolis is brilliant for avoiding colds in the first place. Get capsules because it smells exactly like you'd expect ground up bees to smell.

not joking

My life has been so busy for the last six months since giving birth to my sixth child that i have barely socilaised - being on the ocd end of a normallish spectrum (!) i wash my childrens hand s a lt and touching lots of wood we have been pretty sniffle free all winter

stay in

vit C + zinc(1000mg)
Echinacea

And some throat wsweets which the name escapes me - made from inside the beehives (not honey)

honey and lemon.

Get someone to look after the children for the duration of illness chance'd be a fine thing!

Vicks cures all known ailments.

I read an article by a boffin from the Cold Research Thingy said that when you feel a cold coming on have a hot bath.

Wear a scarf.

Wash your hand a lot to avoid colds and other bugs

Those of you who catch a lot of bugs are clearly not doing enough hand washing you filthy beasts

stay away from children!!!

vapour rub on the feet works so well with snuffley little ones. Its the only way i can get mine to sleep through the night.

Menthol crystals
50 p form that weirdy section at your local pokey pharmacy with the woman who smokes too much behind the counter.
get said crystals, put in bowl of hot water, towel over head and prepare for take off.
they will BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF

vit C (1000mg) daily, either prophylactically or at the first hint of a sniffle.
Echinacea - tea or tincture
Sambucol if a cough or sore throat included
Lots of garlic (I mean LOTS!)

If really desperate, syrup of onion - cut an onion in half, add a tbsp of sugar to each cut side and stand them in a bowl, cut/sugar side up. the sugar will slowly pull the onion juice out of the onion and form a thick sticky syrup. It sounds vile but doesn't taste too bad and works very well for bronchial coughs and sore throats

lots of fluid
DON'T go to work if you feel ill - stay at home and get rid of it.

For bunged-up nose - best advice is to keep breathing through your nose - sounds mad but it does work! The second you give in and breathe through your mouth, your nose will block completely.

Essential oils: eucalyptus, rosemary (not at night, can make you cough), ravensare - use in an oil burner or steam inhalation.

Stay AWAY from the GP surgery - that's the biggest hothouse for catching new germs!

as someone earlier suggested, become a hermit!

Wash hands after every time you come back into the house from outside. Keep nails very short. Ensure everyone in the house blows their nose into a tissue and throws it straight in the bin. Wrap up well (hat, scarf, gloves, thick socks) when you go out to avoid variations temperature. Wash gloves, scarves and hats very often. Stay inside in the warm if you get a bug.

Eucalyptus is great for coughs, in fact it's the only thing that works. Send them to bed with a glass of warm water mixed with honey, and put 2/3 drops of eucalyptus in a bowl of steaming hot water near the head of their bed so they can breathe it in during the night.

A hot bath with eucalyptus in it works too.

Also tonic - once the kids are ill they don't eat, it can take them ages to get back on their feet, tonic helps put the vitamins and minerals they need in their bodies to build their immunity back up again.

And during winter - make sure they drink plenty of water!

Start taking a multi-vitamin in late September (bit late now but it does help ime)

Wash hands regularly, don't use tissues until they are sopping wet with snot - throw them away!

Keep warm, buy a couple of wheatbags for when you are shivery or your chest hurts if you have a bad cough.

Karvol capsules/olbas oil sprinkled on a muslin and placed over the headboard (or tied round cot bars for older babies) helps with breathing if you are bunged up.

And glycerine mixed with lukewarm water is good for when your throat is really irritated by a hacking cough (and cold drinks are better than hot ones for an irritated throat)

Assume your dc and dh will get better before you, so make sure you get plenty of rest! [hollow laugh]

Echinacea. I take it for a month around September time to boost my immunity. You can also get the drops for children.

I haven't had so much of a sniffle all over the winter!

Saline water (1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp bicarb in 1 litre tepid water) breathed up to clear sinuses

Vit C

Chicken Soup

Get the flu vaccine, it is not just for grannies you know!

than when I don't. obv

At the first sign (if I remember) I take 1G of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) daily. I'm sure when I do this, it's a 'lighter' and shorter cold than when I do.

Nothing more than honey and lemon drinks for the DCs, a good cold builds their immune system

Like MCKenzie, I also use Vicks on the soles of feet over night to ease irritating coughs for me and Dcs.

don't help in a school.

WASH YOUR HANDS and everyone else's religiously.

Loads of garlic, VitC, elderberry extract and sleep.