Any good old wives' tales/tricks on keeping chesty coughs at bay?

[Somethingwicked]

My DD (2) has a near permanent mild but chesty cough. When she doesn't have it, she is a bit perkier and less tired, though it doesn't keep her up at night. Allergies run in the family and she has nothing specific as of yet, and she is one of three all very close in age so there are constant bugs going round. My instinct is that there is nothing serious wrong, she has never been very ill so far (touch wood) and only ever developed slight wheezing once, which antibiotics cleared up completely (but then another bug came along weeks later).

What can I do/try to keep her in better respiratory health this winter? Any good tricks? I am game for anything!

A humidifier or at least a vaporiser to sleep with at night, especially with the heating being on and drying out the air.

would that be preferable to just having the heating off and window open in their room? (They do have thick duvets).

I have been giving her a bath and then some olbas oil and then letting her have a quick session in the garden when it is chilly, as this seems to get her to do some very big productive coughs before bed. Is this a classic thing to do or is it mad and very ill advised?

Oh and she is having less and less dairy, she has oat milk now and I'm sort of avoiding other dairy a bit, not sure if I should be doing this religiously though... if she had a choice she would live on milk, cheese and ice cream I think though!

does she cough more at night?
I would have her checked out for asthma.

no sign of asthma yet, but her dad has it. She doesn't cough at night, but is always very phlegmy when she wakes up in the morning.

When DD has a chesty cough, I give her a bath which is warm enough to be steamy but obviously not too hot, I let her spend a while in it, adding more warm water. I keep the radiator off in her bedroom, and keep her warm but not too cosy, so two cellular blankets until later in the evening, then a summer weight quilt in place of the blankets.

The Karvol plug ins are good, but it irritates DD's cough more, but may be worth a try.

Warm juice rather than cold, and definitely limit her dairy intake as seems to be mucus making. I know some ladies on here recommend rubbing Vicks on soles of feet. If you google a reflexology guide, it will show which part of the foot coresponds to the chest and sinuses. Hope this helps!

well I'm not an expert but I think it's the moist air that actually helps, rather than just cold fresh air. We just came back from living in a hot country and I had to use a humidifier to counter-act the dryness of air conditioning. I actually never bought one never thought it would make much difference but my neighbour lent me one (dd had recurrent croup, felt like chronic croup to me!).
Now wish I had bought the humidfier years ago.
At the moment I am putting a wet towel on the radiator every night.... but that's my diy solution!