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!

[moogdroog]

Not for the kids, but one to help the adults soldier on - super hot pickle, or chilli or curry. Blows the stuffy nose away and clears any sinus headache.

[Clcp1]

Olbis oil works great under the pillow to help with breating, also a damp towl on the radiotor, however I find if it do this before bed then turn heat off in room when they go to bed as if they have cough the dry heat makes it worse! At Bath time while they are in the bath run hot shower or hot tap from sink to steam the bathroom while they play. Nothing beats a good old fashioned Mummy cuddle and film with duvet on the sofa!!!!!!! :)

[ripstheirthroatoutliveupstairs]

Beechams powders, really old fashioned medicine that works. For me.
Before fancy pants tissues were invented, I had a couple of DDs tshirts that she blew her nose on and could be washed easily. Soft and knackered.
Prevention is the key, a top tip given to me by an epidemiologist was to think of your face with an inverted triangle on it.
Base of triangl over your eyebrows and the point down by your mouth. Nobody thinks of eyes as a good place for bacteria and virus' to enter, but they are. The Best apparently. Then nose, finally mouth. Wash your hands as much as possible, if you touch a pen that someone with a cold has then rub your eyes, voila, you have the virus, potentially.

[SLINKYDREAMER]

I burn essential oils of eucalyptus to clear the sinuses, fennel if nausea present and tea tree to fight against infections spreading throughout the household. I find dabbing few drops the oils onto a handkerchief and placing it inside the pillow cover at night helps too. The oils are also great in the bath or shower as the steam helps diffuse them and eases stuffy breathing. I am a big fan of hot water bottles for their warmth and comfort and home made chicken broth to give strength and nutrients back to the body.

[Minus273]

For sore throat, if you can take aspirin gargle with soluble aspirin before swallowing. Keeping to recommended doses obviously.

Steam inhalation and saline nasal drops although I prefer a saline nasal spray.

For children especially if their throat is sore ice poles or similar are great for getting fluids into them when they don't want to drink.

[jojo1975]

I give a spoonful of manuka honey to everyone in family for transitional periods, eg, between summer/ autumn and autumn/ winter winter/spring. We take homeopathic remedies; aconite for when that first sneeze starts, ferrum phos if it feels like it's heading for the chest, belladonna for fevers and gelsemium for shivery colds. Ginger and lemon tea is great, as is lemon squeezed into boiling water with spoon of manuka honey, cloves, cinnamon and maybe a wee drop of brandy! Don't bother with paracetomol; nature knows best! Food wise, anything with custard!

[emringer]

We use love to treat the kids when they have colds :)
Oh, and eucalyptus oil. A few drops in the bath with some lavender oil too at bedtime and a few drops on a favorite teddy to snuggle up to in bed. During the day it is stories and snuggles on the sofa mainly but also with a healthy dose of wrapped up warm in the fresh air too.
As for DH - well he gets sent to bed with whatever cold medicine is on offer at the supermarket as he doesn't believe in all the natural remedy nonsense that I do. My DH has been known to sleep for 48 hours straight to get over a dose of 'man flu' without even getting up to pee, his body just shuts down and repairs itself.
As for me - I am a mum, I don't have time to get ill!

[MrsMeow]

As soon as I get the slightest sign of a cold coming, I take a few vit c tablets and then one or two a day for the next few days. It's stopped colds in their tracks a few times :)

I also swear by honey for a sore throat. Mixed in to hot ribena it tastes lovely and really soothes.

[noyouhavehadawee]

for us its a hot lemon drink with a piece of fresh lemon in it (and southern comfort dash for the adults) and / or max strength lemsips combined with chicken soup when up to eating and always them balm tissues so they dont get sore nostrils .

[noyouhavehadawee]

oh we also lash vicks vapour all over the suffereers chest and if ds have a vapour machine on as he prone to croupe.

[sal1309]

I must admit we just soldier on as much as possible, big believer in your body can fight most things off.
If the kids are running a temperature then we give them calpol and lots of hugs under the blanket. I always try to get a bit of vasiline on the nose before bed and after breakfast to help to stop it from getting sore.
Hubby does like his lemsips if he is really bad :)

[moonbells]

I try and stay away from drugs as much as possible: DH tends to go through a box of lemsip every cold, though I refuse to use it now it's got aspartame in. (Wish they would go back to either a sugar formula or no sweeteners AT ALL so we can choose what to add!)
If I get so bad that I feel shaky and have trouble being supermum :) I resort to bog standard paracetamol.

We have a bottle of Karvol which gets dripped onto some tissue if DS gets the sniffles: have to admit I do this for me too! That and keeping a box of the eponymous Kleenex Balsam by the bed (one of the few products out there that I will buy no matter what - hate sandpapery tissues) and the wastebasket to drop the used ones in!

[SpareRoomSleeper]

I smear some Vicks on the hanky I'm using, or the tissue, so every time I blow my nose it opens up even more with inhaling the Vicks

[Chulita]

My mum made a special quilt, floral fabric on one side and red satin on the other and she embroidered the big flowers from the one side through to the shiny side. When we were little and got ill she'd tuck us up under the "silky quilt" with a big glass of orange juice (and dire warnings not to spill on it) and some homemade peanut butter sandwiches. I've inherited the quilt now that we're all grown up and it's stored in our linen box for whenever my LOs need it!

[kellestar]

I always have hot blackcurrant squash and honey when I have the lurgy, it's so syrupy that it soothes that annoying tickly cough. Vaseline is an essential product as my poor nose gets so red and sore, just before going to sleep I slather it on and it keeps the redness at bay.

Gone are the days of curling up on the sofa with a mug, fluffy blanket and the ER entire DVD boxset, DD has high entertainment standards and will quite happily destroy any boxes of tissues left unattended.

DH just likes to lounge on the sofa and pretend that he is dying, yet refuse any rememdy I try and come up with, so often ignored and advised to shush up.

[iMemoo]

I swear by Echinacea! It works by boosting your immune system so it is better able to fight off colds. I always start taking it at this time of year and up the dose if I feel a cold coming on. I've nit had a bad cold since I started taking it, and even the little colds I do get only last a short time.

For children the best thing I ever did was by a humidifier. If they're full of a cold and cough I put it in their rooms at night and it makes a huge difference, really helps them breath better and so they sleep easier.

[onebigchocolatemess]

DH defiantly has a 'poorly' outfit which consists of his biggest sweatshirt and jogging bottoms

and without realising, when DS is poorly I always put him in joggers and a comfy jumper - its all about feeling comfy, warm, - like your clothes are giving you a cuddle!

Once my cold has been established I always buy the balsam tissues because by then my nose is sore and they are so much softer

use Vaseline under my nose and on my lips to stop the soreness and cracking

With the kids its medicine, duvet on the sofa and watching cartoons
With me and DH its tablets - beechams all in one - vitamin tablets and suck it up!

Dinners need to be hearty and full of veg. soups, casseroles, chunky bread, etc

[AnnMumsnet]

Thanks for all the tips - do look out for the Kleenex pages coming soon on MN.

Winners of the vouchers are Saltire (£100 JL) and £50 runners up ones to Abgirl and nogoodusernamesleft - have PM-ed you for your addresses so please let me know! Well done.

[Saltire]

I have replied, thanks