What is croup? What causes it?
Croup is a situation that irritates your baby’s upper airways & causes them to swell up. As the airway below his vocal cords becomes narrow, your baby will find it hard to breathe. It is followed by throat pain & dry croup cough.
Croup usually occurs in children & infants. Most cases clear up with home remedies in 3 to 5 days after you start treatment. Yet special precaution should be taken to avoid croup virus from spreading. Mostly croup is caused by infection. There are 2 types of conditions: viral & spasmodic.
Viral Croup
It is caused by any virus that infects the voice box & windpipe. The virus that most frequently causes croup is parainfluenza. It might start out like a cold.
Spasmodic Croup
It comes suddenly, often in the middle of the night. Your child might wake up grasping for air. He/She might also be hoarse, stridor, and a barky cough.
Here are the top 6 Home Remedies for Croup in Children
1 Steam Treatment
One of the greatest home remedies to relieve symptoms & get rid of croup is steam treatment. The coughing tends to diminish when exposed to warmness. The steam reaches the bronchial tube in your gullet the virus tends to shrink. The widespread of the virus fall away in the form of phlegm coughing.
Steam treatment can be done with the help of bathroom running hot water supply. The warmness of steam also takes care of inflammation of throat if any. It soothes the mucus and reduces the thickness.
2 Moisten the Air
Moist air helps you to relieve breathing; hence you want to increase the stage of humidity in your home & especially where your child sleeps. Moist air can also help with congestion & diminish the intensity of coughing fits.
- Make use of a humidifier wherever possible in your home and especially in the room where your child sleeps.
- Another option is to place a bowl of hot water in the room to increase the moisture in the air.
- Whether you are using a humidifier or a bowl of hot water, be sure to place it in a safe place to prevent accidents.
3 Prevent Dehydration
When your child is suffering from croup, you must aim your best to prevent dehydration to decrease breathing problems in your child.
If child refuses huge amount of fluids at 1 time, give smaller amount more frequently.
- For small babies, water, breast milk is fine.
- For elder children, along with water, soup or frozen fruit pops assist a lot.
- Homemade bone broth or light soups made with bone broth are also good.
4 Sponge Bath
If child is suffering from fever, by doing sponge bath it can be cured. Sponge bath with cool water will help in control your child’s body temperature, & provide rapid relief from fever. It makes your child sleep better.
- Soak a cloth in warm water, squeeze out the excess water and then wipe your child’s armpits, feet, hands and groin. You can give a wipe bath 2 or 3 times a day.
- Additionally place a cold moist washcloth on your baby’s forehead & change it for every few minutes to reduce fever.
5 Essential Oil Massage
By using this essential oil massage to the body, it helps tight muscles to promote relaxation. It also makes your child breathing easier.
- Mix 10 drops of eucalyptus essential oil in ½ cup of warm water. By using this oil give chest massage to child. Especially before bedtime to help him/her to sleep better.
6 Upright Position
Keep your child on upright position, it helps child to breathe easier.
- Hold your child on lap or put him in a beloved chair or instant seat to help him/her to breathe easily.
- Raise one end of the bed it can help alleviate croup symptoms.
Prevention Tips
- It is contagious and it spreads by airborne respiratory droplets such as sneeze and cough.
- Also by physical contact like handshakes or hugs.
- Infection also triggers due to saliva exchange by kissing or shared drinks.
- Last, by touching a contaminated surface such as blanket or doorknob.
- Now let’s learn how we can avoid this problem at first place. Follow these croup treatment guidelines.
Tips for Babies and Children below 3 years
- Give your baby steamy bath thrice in a week.
- Cleanse infants clothing separately, to keep away from unwanted virus exposure.
- Keep them dry and wash baby hands regularly.
- Clean your house floor with natural antiviral ingredients.
- Give essential oil massage daily.
- Pick oils from lavender, olive or castor oil for massage.
- Focus on chest and upper neck for oil massage.
- Don’t let them drinks shared by adults to avoid baby with croup.
- Say no to kiss if you are infected.
Tips for Adults & Kids above 3 years
- Make a habit of washing your hands when you return back to home.
- Clean doorknobs & keep away from handshakes with flu inflected people.
- Use handkerchief for cleaning your nose.
- Drink herbal tea frequently.
- Take 1 tea spoon of honey before going bed.
- Keep your surroundings clean in freezing period.
- Take warm bath before going to bed.
- Drink lemon juice to detoxify your body.