Bye Bye November!

..And make sure to take the worst of the cold/coughs with you. :)

Thank you, members of DMC who shared your trusted, tried and very valuable natural remedies. As Bird's Eye View suggested, those of us who would like to use them need to print them out, organize by ailment type and keep it handy at all times.

If you have other thoughts that you couldn't share or if you come across new remedies, feel free to post about it anytime. Don't forget to use the label 'Home Remedies' or 'Theme for November' so others can find it quickly.

Thanks, Sandeepa, for giving me free use of the soapbox for all of November - it was fun :)

A new month, a new theme starts tomorrow. Wonder what it is...

Kai Vaidhyam/Paati Vaidhyam - Grandmother's remedies

When Kodi’s Mom chose the topic of the month as ‘Alternative medicine’ the first thing that came to my mind was my Paternal grandmothers home made remedies for common illnesses like the common cold, stuffed nose, headaches, cold and sore throat. Winter is looming around the corner, the temperatures are dropping pretty fast and toddlers and preschoolers bring an assortment of germs back home from their day care/preshcool. There is gloom in the air and everyone around the house has a blocked nose, cough or fever. My grandmother was an expert in brewing up some home remedies for certain illnesses like these and I would like to share them with you.




Stuffed Nose: One of the most frequent problems during cold weather – for this my grandmother used to resort to a treatment called ’pathu’. This is a paste like preparation that is applied to the nose, throat and forehead and clears up blocked noses in a jiffy. There is a staining potential involved so make sure that your toddler (over 1 year) is wearing an old dress and protect the pillow cases also by laying some old towels on it. On a rough stone, rub a piece of turmeric and collect the paste on a ladle as shown. Mix a teeny bit of sunnambu (calcium carbonate? taken with betel leaves and betel nuts) with it. Heat the watered down mixture until it boils and you are left with a thick paste. When it is still warm apply on the child’s forehead, nose and throat. Let it dry up for a few hours. You can later take this off by wiping with a wet towel. It does involve some work but I can vouch for its healing power. I have tried it many times with my twin daughters and it offers great relief to stuffed nose and head colds in toddlers in the age group of 1 to 3.

Cough: For dry coughs drink a glass of warm milk mixed with panamkalkandu (Palm sugar crystals). I usually stock some during India trips but I am sure you can find palm sugar here in some of the Asian markets. For coughs accompanied with phlegm – mix a pinch of turmeric powder and add some crushed black pepper (2 or 3 pepper corns is sufficient) to a cup of warm milk. For toddlers you can skip the peppercorns and just add some turmeric powder to the milk they drink.

Mouth ulcers: This one is a constant problem in our house with hubby getting mouth ulcers very often in the winter. He is one of those types, who hate going to the doctor or taking pills. It is actually easier for me to get medications into my daughters than trying to make him take a B-complex pill. My MIL had an excellent cure for this. Manathakkali (Black nightshade –courtesy wikipedia) leaves when used along with our regular spinach in cooking is a wonderful way to get rid of these painful ulcers. It grows in abundance in our garden but is generally considered a weed here in USA. My MIL also makes manathakkali vathal (a pickled version of the green berries of the Manathakkali plant). This has a longer shelf life and can be shallow fried with a little bit of ghee and can be eaten as a side dish with curd rice. My granny’s cure for mouth ulcers is to rinse the mouth with a little bit of gingelly oil.

In her post Kodi’s Mom mentioned fenugreek seeds as a cure for menstrual pain and I use it often for that purpose. Recently I read an article about the effect of fenugreek in lowering cholesterol (elevated cholesterol levels is scary but is becoming quite common in the Indian community living here). I use it daily in my sambhar seasoning and also add a spoon of fenugreek to the urad dal/rice that I grind weekly for my idlis/dosas.

Garlic: This is another thing that is commonly found in our kitchens and is renowned for its cholesterol lowering properties. My Mom, used to add this regularly in my post partum diet as it increased milk production in lactating mothers.


I hope you find some of these remedies helpful!

Assorted remedies..

Here I am listing out common remedies from my family that I can recall off the top of my head. They are for a variety of common ailments that we may run into.
As always, please use caution and common sense before adopting any of these. If you feel wary about any of the ingredients or methods, just don't use them.

Nasal congestion
With an eye-dropper or syringe, insert a few drops of sesame oil into the nostril. It might be slightly uncomfortable for the kid, but eases congestion fairly quickly.

Constipation in infants
Typically when solid food or formula is introduced to a breastfed baby, there is some amount of constipation to be expected. I read in assorted sources, and have confirmed from personal experience the use of four P fruits - pear, prune, peach, plum. Fresh form is best...quantity varies depending on infant's age. Start with half of what you would give as a meal and adjust as required. This has been effective for my toddler too - especially pears.

Soak teaspoon of raisins in warm water overnight, and feed infant 2-3 spoons of the water the next morning. According to my mom, this has been a regular diet to all babies in my family - constipation or not, it is healthy and helps build resistance.

Menstrual cramps
I used to get horrible, debiliating monthly pains. Ones that would leave me close to tears. Tylenol would help but I wasn't comfortable taking it every month. So I resorted to my mother's simple and easy trick. Take a spoonful of methi seeds (Fenugreek) and swallow it whole. I treated them tablets - would gulp them down with water. Pain would usually fade away in about 15-20 minutes. If it persisted, another spoonful did the job.
Not recommended for other kind of cramps.

Postpartum water retention
This is a brilliant remedy from my grandma. Apparently, in my mother's postpartum days, new moms would recieve a dry heat pack treatment twice a day on the limbs and tummy area. It served to improve circulation and to heal muscular pain from labor. For me, the problem was bloated legs and feet for nearly a week postpartum. The doctor suggested regular walking and that would have worked, except I was so sore that I could barely put one foot after another. Here, my grandma's suggestion came handy. My mom would iron a thick terry cotton towel folded into layers and dab it on my legs and feet, reheating the towel each time it cooled. This went on for about 20 minutes, twice a day. Three such sessions, and the water drained away completely. (leaving my skin there limp and lifeless, but we will not talk abt taht! Skin was back to normal in a few days.)

Barley water is also known to ease water retention during pregnancy. Cook barley in water on open flame (not pressure cooker), once cooked, separate the water from the grain. Drink about 1/2 cup at a time. No more than 1 cup in a day. And find a spot next to the bathroom! ;)

Hope these help you or someone in your family!

Passed on from generation to generation!

Post by Rachel

I have several..no actually many remedies regarding colds and flu passed on right from my great grandmothers, grandmothers, mother, mil, aunts and so on.. Everybody considers it their right to pitch in with their remedies.. Some of the remedies work ..some don't and neither of them are amused when you tell them that their remedy didn't work..

Anyways if your child or for matter even an adult is suffering from cough, what you need to do is to roast a few cloves of garlic and then mash it..and apply the paste on the throat..It does cause a relief…

For a nose block, roast a pepper corn and let the child inhale the smoke.

A spoon of honey a day is healthy for the child. And now since L is three, I mix a little turmeric powder in the honey when she has a cold or any other symptoms.

I soak two almonds the previous night and get her to eat them the next morning. This has increased her immunity. If it has to be force fed..do it..I powder the soaked almonds and mix it in the honey and make her have it.

Ginger mashed mixed with honey is also another remedy to prevent cold.

If the child has trouble sleeping because of a congested chest, mash garlic into ghee and massage it onto their chest and back before they are put to sleep.

There are more and it would take days to type it all in..

These are some of the most useful and very productive at that..

Alternative Medicine:Home made remedies for cold and cough

(This post is by Swapna Susarla for theme of November)

As Kodi's mom said The November will be chilly and will come with cold and coughs in children as well as in adults.My daughter and my hubby are suffering with these problems.My mother in law knows home made remedies for almost everything.She told me some for cold and cough.These will help controlling it.

1)Cloves powder:Shallow fry the cloves in a pan or keep the in microwave for about 2 minutes.Powder them finely.Give this, just a little bit ,with a drop of honey for kids every morning when they are suffering from cough.It really helps to control cough.You can give this children from 9 months.

Adults also can take the clove directly without use of honey for cough.Just chew one clove if u are getting severe cough.It really gives a better feeling.

U can see some more uses of cloves HERE.


2)Allam(ginger) Pulusu:This is the recipe for adults and kids as well.It has to be taken with white rice when it is very hot in the morning time as break fast.

INGREDIENTS:
Ginger...1/4th lb
Shallots.............5
Garlic........2
Red chilly......2
Coriander seeds....1 tbsp
Cumin seeds....1tsp

Grind all the above to a paste.

Tamarind juice.......1/2 c
Salt....as required
turmeric....1/2 tsp

METHOD:

• Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan.Fry the paste until oil comes out.
• Add tamarind juice ,turmeric and salt.
• Boil with the tamarind juice for 15 minutes or until the tamarind juice evaporates to half.
• take it off from the stove and Serve hot with white rice as told above.

For kids u can give just two to three spoon fulls of rice with this stew every morning when they are suffering from cold and cough.Because of its spiciness kids can't eat more than that.But it is enough if they take daily.U can keep this in the freezer.

3)Vamu java(ajwain rice): this is another recipe from my MIL for controlling flu.

Ingredients:

Rice flakes........1 c

Onion..................1 small

Garlic...................a small pod

Ginger.....small root

Green chilly....4

Ajwain......1 tbsp

Tamarind juice......1/4 th cup

salt........as required

turmeric........a little bit

Curry leaves.....some

water.....2 cups

METHOD:

• Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan .add garlic cloves
  
• fry them for a minute.Add chopped onion,green chilly,curry leaves and ginger.
  
• When the onion fried add ajwain and fry for 1 min.
  
• Now add the rice flakes ,water.Cover and cook until the rice flakes are cooked well.
• After that add salt and tamarind juice .
  
• Cover and cook for more 5 minutes.
  

Remove from the stove and serve hot with a tsp of sesame oil on the top.It has to be taken as a a break fast.

These all will really help control the cough which comes from cold.
To all the moms...Take care of your kids and yourselves from the whether changes.

Hello, November!

Tharini brought the October discussion to a close with the words "confusingly warm and getting chillier November." Interestingly enough, that phrase sets the perfect path for the November theme I have in mind.

I picked the theme for this month to represent a snapshot of what most parents, at least those living in chilly climates, might be battling with this month, thanks to the aforementioned oscillating weather.

Hint: Itchy throat, stuffy nose, rising body temperatures, ear infections...

Yes, yes, all these make their ugly appearance around this time and so I have decided to label November as the season to be sniffling!

Not at all pleasant. Yet, not at all avoidable. Especially among kids, and all the more if the kids are in contact with more kids.

If we can't avoid it, can we make it any easier on them?

That is the intent with which I picked the theme for November - Alternative Medicine.

So we can share remedies that offer relief to the common cold/cough. Remedies that go beyond conventional, doctor prescribed or OTC medications. It can be anything from herbal concoctions, natural non-invasive treatments (like steam inhalation), Grandma's potions(paati vaidhyam) - anything that you've used in the past to success.

Don't forget - food is medicine too. Regularly adding certain foods that are rich in Vitamin C to your kid's diet helps them build immunity year long. What foods do you consider medicinal?

And finally, medicine for the soul - laughter, music, meditation, prayer. Have you used any of these to help you or kids during downtime? Have they worked?

While cold/cough/flu is the primary 'illness' this season, your posts don't have to be restricted to just that - relief for any common ailment in kids/infants - eg: constipation, indigestion - are also welcome.

Oh, and, if there are medical doctors (or doctors' wifes ;) ) and skeptics in the audience, I would love to hear your perspective...what do you think of alternative medicine? Do you practice it outside of your profession?

The intent of the theme is for us to share our experiences, not as advice, but as a compilation of resources. For the benefit of parents who want to look beyond allopathy. And since these tips will be based on personal experiences, it will go unsaid that whoever adopts these remedies will do so with common sense and precaution.

With your active participation, we can make the November dicussion a resourceful guide for all parents. (Then, Sandeepa can find a publisher, print it as a book and make us all famous ;))

Here's to a Healthy November! and To a United Battle against the Germs!