Childhood cold is a common illness that causes a lot of distress for many mothers. After getting sick, it is important to seek timely and appropriate treatment and care, with traditional Chinese medicine being a common method.
1. Taking Chinese patent medicine
(1) Wind-cold cold: This type of cold is characterized by mild fever, lack of sweating, aversion to cold, and a preference for being held by the mother. The child may also have clear runny nose, occasional cough, easily expectorated thin phlegm, and a thin white tongue coating. Chinese patent medicines such as pediatric cold remedy, Wushi tea, and Chaifang oral solution can be used, following the recommended dosage.
(2) Wind-heat cold: This type of cold often presents with high fever, excessive sweating, red lips, sore throat, yellow nasal discharge, heavy and muffled cough, and a greasy yellow tongue coating. Chinese patent medicines such as pediatric heat-clearing and detoxifying oral solution, and Banlan root oral solution can be used, following the recommended dosage.
2. Using food therapy for cold
① Radish and scallion soup:
One radish, six scallions, and 15g of ginger. Boil the radish in three bowls of water until cooked, then add the scallions and ginger and simmer until one bowl of soup is left. Drink the soup once, including the residue. This soup can help relieve lung congestion and cough, as well as treat cold with symptoms of excessive phlegm, aversion to cold, and body fatigue and soreness.
② Ginger jujube soup with brown sugar for treating cold with cough:
30g of brown sugar, 15g of fresh ginger, and 30g of red dates. Boil in three bowls of water until reduced by half, then drink in one go. This soup can dispel wind and cold, and treat cold with cough.
③ Coriander soup:
30g of coriander, 30g of rock sugar, and 100g of rice. Wash the rice, add water to make a soup, then mix three tablespoons of rice soup with coriander and rock sugar, steam for 10 minutes, and drink while hot. This soup can induce sweating and relieve symptoms of cold and cough caused by wind-cold.
3. Performing Chinese medicine massage
Massage techniques such as pushing and gathering bamboo, rubbing the temples, and clearing the Tianhe River can be used to treat childhood cold. Pushing the San Guan acupoint can be added for wind-cold cold, and pushing the spine can be added for wind-heat cold. The techniques are as follows:
(1) Clearing the Tianhe River:
[Location] Along the middle of the forearm, from the midpoint of the transverse lines on the back of the hand to the elbow crease.
[Technique] The child should sit or lie down, and the parent should hold the child's four fingers with one hand, with the child's palm facing up and the other hand using the index and middle fingers to apply water from the Laogong acupoint on the palm to the midpoint of the transverse lines on the back of the hand, in a single direction, for about 100-200 times.
(2) Pushing bamboo:
[Location] Along the line between the eyebrows to the hairline.
[Technique] The child should sit or lie down, and the parent should use their thumbs to push alternately from bottom to top, about 30-50 times.
(3) Rubbing the temples:
[Location] At the indentation behind the eyebrows.
[Technique] The child should sit or lie down, and the parent should use their thumbs to push from front to back on the outer side of the temples, about 30-50 times. Then, use the fingertips to rub the acupoint in the direction of the ears, about 30-50 times.
(4) Pushing the San Guan acupoint:
[Location] Along the outer edge of the forearm, from the transverse lines on the wrist to the transverse lines on the elbow.
[Technique] The child should sit or lie down, and the parent should hold the child's hand with one hand and use the thumb or index and middle fingers on the outer side to push from the wrist to the elbow, about 100-500 times.
(5) Pushing the spine:
[Location] Along the midline of the back, from the first thoracic vertebra to the tailbone.
[Technique] Use the fingertips of the index and middle fingers to apply pressure, pushing from top to bottom on the acupoints along the spine, about 100-300 times, known as pushing the spine.
4. Using home remedies
(1) Boil 15g of coriander root and 15g of scallion root in water, then add an appropriate amount of rock sugar to replace tea.
(2) Boil 20g of cabbage root, 3 slices of ginger, and 60g of brown sugar in water, and drink it hot.
(3) Boil 30g of fresh reed root in water and use it as a substitute for tea.
(4) For babies with phlegm-related cough, boiled pear water can be given to drink.
