NOW CLOSED: Share your tips for soothing colds and flu this winter with Kleenex Balsam and you could win JL vouchers!

[AnnMumsnet]

We've been asked by the team at Kleenex to help them build the ultimate resource for flu sufferers (or heavy colds) - bursting with tips to help soothe sufferers across the UK and Ireland back to health this winter!

So please share with us, on this thread, how you soothe your poorly children, comfort relatives with colds, deal with the dreaded man flu or even tips that have been passed on to you by your mum. Everyone who posts will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky winner will win £100 of John Lewis vouchers and two runners up will get £50 vouchers

For example, do you give your children certain food or drink which helps them feel better? Is there a classic film that you always let them watch to take their mind off their symptoms? When your DP/DH has "flu", are you sympathetic or do you find that a bit of tough love works best? Or are there any weird and wonderful things that your own mum used to do to soothe you, which you now absolutely swear by?

Please note - if you add your comments or tips on this thread - Kleenex may use your tips in other media - (for example: print (magazines/ newspapers) and online). They won't use your MN name. Tips may also be featured on the Kleenex pages on Mumsnet, coming soon.

For more information on the Kleenex Balsam range please visit: www.kleenex.co.uk/Balsam

and good luck!

The secret to getting over a cold? Hot Lemonade! 3/4 of a cup heated in the microwave, add a little sugar (careful, it fizzes!) then topped up with cold to make drinkable. Its so comforting and great for in between lemsips. It really helps my asthma too.

Other than that, its always soft boiled eggs and soldiers for the treatment of colds, you need soldiers to fight those nasty germs!

at our house DH and myself will have hot orange squash - we have tried DCs with it but they dont like it, so its plenty of water/juice for them.

lots of cuddles and the pillow/duvet on the sofa with childrens films is a must for a fast recovery .......... TBH i let the DCs eat whatever they want when they are really poorly.

oh yes, my dear mother used to give me Chicken Noodle Soup when i was small

vaseline is a MUST for dry/sore noses (it really works)

Olbas\menthol oil inhalation and drops of it near bed.
Hot toddy for grown ups and honey and lemon for the children.
Some paracetamol if needed.
Homemade chicken soup for everyone is always good for any illness or recuperation.

I also eat more garlic than usual when I feel a cold coming on.

Always hot honey and lemon. For the adults at whiskey - just remember not to do it during the day as it won't look good if you rock up on the school run a little tipsy.

Also special exemption certificate from sitting at the table to have lunch - always cheers up DS!!

I always drink Lucosade to keep me going (yeah, like I can take to my sick bed ) and it's funny cause I can't stand the stuff - except when I'm unwell.

And my favourate meal to get me on my feet at the other side of the cold/flu is white fish, parsley sauce, mashed potatoes and tinned garden peas - works every time!!

We must live in a "tough love" house: a cold is something you soldier on with, no special sympathy apart from the nagging to put the used tissues in a bin

The only thing I can think of is using an extra pillow to keep your head up at night to stop the couging/blocked nose. Sometimes dh will go through to the living room and sleep in there if he can't stop coughing but I am not as considerate

Do loike a hot toddy of whisky, lemon, honey and hot water though!

i give them my flu drink just before they go to bed, i use lemonade in a pan warm through i then add fresh orange juce for vitamin c a spoon of manuka honey or any honey to coat throat and help infection and some fresh lemon and simmer in pan serve warm and in a couple day should be fine with a good nite sleep!

If DC are poorly, they can bring their duvets downstairs, curl up on the sofa and choose what they watch on TV all day (the all day TV and the own choice are both treats!). Lots of warm Ribena, paracetomol and ibuprofen alternated all day and soup for lunch - Oxtail for DS and DD2, Chicken for DD1. They make the most of the first day of illness, because my patience wears thin with the nursing bit after about 24 hours.

If I've got a cold, I still do the school run and feeding them etc, but ignore all other housework in favour of laying on the sofa under a duvet. My soup of choice for lunch is tomato. If I'm really lucky, my mum may be free to administer the soup and distract DD2 for a couple of hours. If she does come, then I get to watch cookery programmes all day, if not then I'm stuck with Peppa Pig DVDs to keep DD2 entertained while I lie on the sofa. I am equally harsh with my own illness, 24 hours and it needs to be going.

I can't think of anything specific I do when dc or I have a cold. Just carry on as normal, they don't get to miss school just for a cold unless really bad with cough. None of us have had flu luckily (jinxed us this year now!) So I don't know how to deal with that one.

that should be "add whiskey" not "at whiskey"...

I have an amazing tip for stopping the onset of a cold. It has worked countless times for me.

You know how your body generates a fever to fight off some bugs? Well did you know that you can also fake it? As soon as you get the first of a cold brewing in your soft palate/ nose, make sure that at some point on that first day you do 5 mins cv exercise, until your forehead just starts
to sweat. You can run, skip, jump, dance - whatever you like.

That's it. Your elevated body temp will kick-start an immune response which whacks the crap out of the bugs before they get a hold of your system. If you're already sniffling it's too late - you need to catch them early.

Sorry Kleenex - guess I won't be winning those vouchers!

Humidifier. Regardless of the humidity of the room, if DD1 has a bad cold she will often get croup. A humidifier prevents the croup and eases her congestion from the cold too.

Mine are pretty much the same as everyone else's, have a hot bath or shower and then put clean pj's on. Retreat to the sofa with a freshly washed quilt and pillow and wallow. Sudocreme or Vaseline around your nostrils to stop them going red and sore, plenty of calpol and drinks for children. Horrible histories DVD on repeat.

Lots of Sudofed tablets plus one of those Vicks Inhaler things and continual cups of lemon tea.

No dairy.

Also, if you wake up with a sore throat (usually first symptom of cold coming), gargle with diluted TCP. Almost guaranteed to get rid.

We discovered "bottom medicine" last year. Dd1 had a terrible case of flu and was off her food. She had a high temperature and was full of cold. I couldn't get her to take Calpol. A friend recommended Paracetamol suppositories and they were fantastic. She was so listless, there were no arguments about putting them in and they brought her temperature down really quickly. Much quicker then any oral medicine has ever done. Now she always requests 'bottom medicine'

I got the dreaded swine flu when pg with dd, and other than paracetamol there was nothing that abated the pain in my chest. Till I discovered I could rest a hot water bottle on my chest well away from my bump.

We also have a "poorly cardigan", a old saggy monstrosity that wraps round the ailing person on the sofa

....and ds swears Vicks on his feet works

Well I can't compete with bottom medicine, but a recent revelation was those nose strips which open up your nostrils. They're better than Sudafed for clearing your airways at night, and the two combined work wonders. But I also make sure there's a big glass of water or lime squash, tissues and lip balm on the bedside table too.

Daytime, soldiering through seems to be the best way to deal with it. Getting up and about is the best way to feel better ime - especially if you've managed to get a good night's sleep thanks to the nose strips!

Hot squash definitely. Get Kleenex balsam as soon as my nose starts running or I resemble Rudolph in a matter of hours

If you have a tickly cough, sucking a square of good quality chocolate helps better than any cough syrup.

Drinking lots of tea, dose up with paracetamol and sleep as much as possible! I use a little olbas oil on a tissue to help me sleep. You can get baby olbas oil for little ones, and again I put a little on a tissue and pop it next to the cot.

And of course a menthol run on the chest of little ones, just like my mum used to do for me!

Plenty of fluids.
For grown-ups, a hot toddy (or two): whisky, lemon Juice, honey, hot water and maybe a little cinnamon.
Olbas oil on a tissue if you're bunged up.
Really good tissues. I like the Kleenex balsam ones best (other tissues are available)
Paracetamol for fever or aches & pains.
Comfort food: warm apple pie, crumpets etc.
And chocolate

For my older child and the adults, I always make up a hot honey and lemon drink (a bit of honey, some lemon juice and some lemonade - warm it up and let it cool down - passed down from grandparents). Always makes people in the household feel better when they have a cold.

Plenty of handkerchiefs at the ready, support the head on a little one at bedtime for runny noses and plenty of vapour rub on the tummies at bedtimes helps.

For colds I expect everyone to soldier on. Honey & lemon or hot blackcurrant high Juice for DD's & hot toddy for DH.

For genuine flu I have every sympathy & would be providing hot toddy/honey & lemon, paracetamol, duvet on the sofa in front of the TV, magazines, generally encouraging as much rest as possible etc etc.

Suffering with a cold at the minute - DH normally just ploughs on through and it is me that gets 'man flu'.

Normally I just dose up on paracetamol or beechams, use plenty of sinex, use kleenex balsam and drink lots of OJ. I also take echineacia and curl up on the sofa or in bed during the day and use Night Nurse to knock me out at night. I try to get plenty of sleep.

I have to try and keep my nose clear because for me, the absolute worse thing about a cold is not being able to breathe properly.

However this time I have a new born who I am BF'ing so it is paracetamol, OJ and Sinex only - no Night Nurse and not much sleep. Also, we only have horrible scratchy tissues in so it feels like I'm wiping my nose with sandpaper!

DD is like her dad, so normally just gets Calpol if she'll take it, TV and cuddles.

For me I stay in bed and make DH take the kids out all day. It's amazing how much better you feel when just LEFT ALONE.

Agree with everyone else that as a Mum you just keep going really... although I also agree with the person who said soldier on until it's a work day then phone in sick to spend a day on the sofa while DD is at nursery - bliss!

For DD it's Calpol and ibuprofen round the clock as she is prone to fevers when she is poorly. And at night I will take pity on her and snuggle up in her bed with her. Although I always regret it for abour a week afterwards when she thinks it's going to become a regular thing!

hot orange juice for sore throats