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!

My father's old remedy is brilliant: a tablespoon of cider vinegar with honey topped up with hot water. Especially good for bad coughs.

I'm also a big fan of grated fresh ginger with manuka honey and hot water. Aldi sell very good manuka honey for a lot less btw.

When you're wiped out, have a strong hot whisky (with lemon, cloves and sugar) and get a very early night.

DH doesn't tolerate flu - Lemsip cold&flu and carrying on are his recipe - although he does make a lethal mean hot toddy occasionally. That and a nice big open fire are my favoured options when very ill feeling sorry for myself.

For DC, duvets and bears on sofas in front of Disney films are the ultimate treat.

My mother, OTOH, swears by ginger for any ailment you can name colds and will stuff ginger soup accompanied by ginger tea into you at the slightest excuse .

To stop the night-time hacking coughs put vicksvapour rub (or similar) on the soles of your feet and cover with socks. It does bizarrely seem to be remarkably effective.

Just seen Mackenzie got my top tip in first

WHen my nose is blocked I put olbas oil on a tissue and hold it on my nose at all times. Love the smell of it!

Don't waste money on crap from Holland and Barrett.

Ibuprofen/paracetamol, Otrivine, hot drinks, soup and as much rest as you can get.

Karvol capsules on a tissue under the pillow, and then a new one to carry around and sniff to clear sinuses a bit. Day nurse in the morning/night nurse in the evening. Electric blanket on in the bed and a big stack of hoodies/scarves to layer up. TV boxset to doze through.

Alternating hot ribena and cold ribena throughout the day to keep fluids up. Tomato soup in a mug (preferably still in bed). Avoid tea and coffee.

At bedtime (assuming no nightnurse), hot ribena with a shot of gin in it always sends me to sleep - my friends call it magic ribena. It also works by adding hot water to some creme de cassis in a mug (thanks Granny for that tip ).

For a cold, we just get on with it, but DS gets Sudafed liquid as his lungs get v congested and he is vv prone to chest infections. He also gets a Karvol room plugin at night

For flu (which I've had twice in 39 years), I lay under the duvet or in the bath. Anything else is unimaginable

Dh has to look after himself :)

The dd's have menthol vapourisers in their rooms which are a Godsend, and dd1 often has a squirt of nasal drops to clear her passages. Other than that, lots of rest, fluids and early nights!!

Red sage tea with honey and lemon is very soothing for sore throats....

Venture outside and pick a sprig or two of red sage, rinse, stick in teapot and pour over boiling water. Steep for 5 mins. Put a teaspoonfull of honey in the beaker and pour over sage tea (nice pink colour) then perform magic and turn it yellow by adding a squirt of lemon juice to taste (or a slice of fresh lemon).

Extra strong mints , Vic rubbed on upper chest and hot water bottled, tucked up in bed with a drink of hot chocolate with marshmallows to round off the therapy!

Son is off school today with a heavy cold.
He's had homemade chicken soup with sweetcorn, spring onions, noodles and slivers of ginger; fleecy blankets on the sofa, reruns of all his favourite films with the cat doing shift work as a hot water bottle!

My DH has asked me to write that man flu is just worse than colds that women get. Have to say that balsam tissues recently got me through a job interview when I had an awful cold - also lots of fresh and healthy food works for me!

another mnetter once advised me to put karvol on a sanitary towel and put it near dd2's cot so she would get the benefit of it but it wouldn't be overwhelming for her.

the younger dc get calpol and duvet days.

older dc and adults get a lemsip topped up with lemonade or a spoon of sugar, good tissues and day in bed.

Why is it that some men, oh alright, my DH, will always refuse to take anything to make themselves better and insist on the 'I'm fines' when we know they're not?

The constant sneezing, coughing, moaning, blowing of their nose loud enough to compete against most wild boar, and pathetic snivelling kind of gives it away! It's a little bit obvious that they need more than just the TV remote to avoid certain death from this mutated strand of the plague make them better.

I make sure, each and every winter, that there are all manner of medicines in the house to accommodate even the most genuine horrible of colds and coughs.

Alas, my DH would rather hack his lungs up than take a couple of spoons of medicine.

Well, this winter I've decided to let him.

He's 43 FGS! I am NOT his mother. He is big and daft enough to look after himself. I have provided the tools for the job, what more does he need?

[heartless witch emoticon]

DISCLAIMER - My children are both nursed around the clock, lovingly fed, cuddled and snuggled when poorly, be it a cold or any other ailment.

Lots and lots of steam followed by pounding chest-sort of gorilla style-really works to loosen up mucus in chesty coughs. I do it to my baby son too and on the back (avoid spine), v effective. Oh and never use loo roll for nose unless want it dry and peely! Vaseline is v good for preventing this and nipple cream for healing it!

Camomile tea is the best for colds. Apparently it helps to shrink mucous membrames.
I make a cup of camomile tea, add the juice of half a lemon and a spoon of honey and use that to wash down paracetamol. Tastes much nicer than Lemsip and more effective, IMHO.

Olbas oil here too, it's great if you can't sleep because you're stuffed up.

Sucking ice is lovely if you've an irritating cough.

Smoothies are great too - bananas, frozen fruit (those cheap berry mixes are great) straight from the freezer and apple juice whizzed up together - lots of vit C and the cold liquid is lovely on a sore throat.

When I was young and suffering from a cold and sore throat my mum would give me a spoonful of honey, the set variety. So soothing, I could make it last for ten minutes, just sucking little bits off the spoon.

Now I'm considerably older I still find honey soothing when I'm feeling rotten but it is more likely to be as an addition to a hot toddy with lots of whisky.

I always make up my own honey and lemon drinks as I'm allergic to an ingredient in lemsip. It works just as well!

For my little one I swear by saline solution up the nose to clear it out and then a bowl of boiling water with olbas oil in (safely out of reach) to fill the room with olbas steam. Karvol on the pillow/sheets is also good.

I used to be allowed ice lollies when I had a sore throat when I was a kid. Homemade with orange juice for the vitamin C. Not sure it works but was a nice treat!

To avoid colds and flu i recommend getting into bed with a laptop, some good books and a fully stocked fridge and not emerging until April.

When I was a child, my mum used to peel a white onion, thread a long piece of string through the middle and make us sleep with an onion around our neck it definitely helped me sleep better though

We tend to work through colds unless we feel really rotten in this house. Then you can't beat a duvet day. Honey and lemon for the kids, a nice hot toddy for me, snuggling in PJs under a duvet with Olbas Oil in a bowl of water on the radiator releasing a lovely smell. If the cold is more flu-like, a hot bath with plenty of steam using a nice bubble bath- there is a baby one that helps ease congestion that the adults use too.

DH doesn't get colds though, it's man-flu all the way and he needs extra care.
:)

Roast garlic soup made with garlic, onions and leeks.

Grated ginger in hot honey and lemon.

HIJACK - ZombieC great name change!

It depends who has the cold
DH - Blackcurrant Lemsips, soft tissues, a pat on the head and isolation sent to bed
DS - Night nurse, day nurse, paracetamol and anything else the pharmacy can offer (he does stick to appropriate dosages etc)
DD - Nothing - she is hard
Me - Hot lemonade, a touch of honey and a paracetamol. Just get on with it.