Homemade Garlic Salve for Coughs & Colds.

March 25, 2013 - 115 Comments

You know those moms that can lift up a car if their child is pinned beneath it?

I'm totally one of those moms.

Well, I think I am anyway.

My children, praise God, have never been pinned under a car to test the theory – but I know that blood boiling feeling I get about protecting them and loving them.

So, assuming they were pinned under a car, I am positive I could absolutely dig deep into the very core of my being and inch by inch, lift it off. Ain't nothin' standing in the way of this Mama Bear and her cubs.

And thus, when the hobbit came down with a cough and cold last week, it instantly brought out that gladiator inside of me.

[su_note note_color=”#FFD760″]Note before we begin: This is one of my more popular posts. And because of this, I actually created a downloadable recipe card just for readers of this post. That way you can refer back to it next time you need it! If you want it, You can click here and I'll send it right away![/su_note]

Sure, it was just a small cough and cold. But still, seeing that sweet pitiful look on his face, and hearing that sweet little cough, and feeling his warm little cheeks on mine – it just broke my heart.

I pulled out my guns and prepared for battle.

I choose to save Doctor's visits for very, very important matters and I knew that due to the nature of the cough, I would try my hand with home remedies to start helping first. So after a little research in a home-remedies handbook I picked up in a second-hand-bookstore a few years back, I decided to rely on old faithful: garlic.

Raw garlic has incredible health-boosting properties, but obviously we can't request our infants eat a clove of garlic. Heck, the hobbit doesn't even have teeth! Hence the salve. Isn't it cool? The health-boosting properties of raw garlic can be absorbed through the skin!

Sweet, sweet, garlic.

Actually, stinky, stinky, garlic.

But regardless of its pungent nature, I cannot stress how wonderfully this treatment helped. After only a few hours, the coughing had lessened. After 24 hours, the cough was all but gone, as was the fever and pitiful baby. And after that 24 hours, Owen was completely normal – perky, bubbly, smiling, and frickin' cute.

Why am I continually amazed at the incredible power of nature? I should know by now – it works wonderfully!

But back to what's at hand.

Homemade Garlic Salve for Coughs and Colds
You will need:
– 8 cloves garlic, peeled
– 1/3 cup coconut oil
– 10 drops lavender oil (used for a soothing and calming scent)

Combine the ingredients together in a food processor or blender. Blend for about 3 minutes, or until it is a perfectly smooth whipped butter of sorts. You may need to scrap down the sides of the food processor to get all the garlic completely worked into a paste.

When it is finished, you will have a nice, smelly, salve.

Put into a small mason jar or other container and refrigerate (you can use it right away, but refrigerating helps it to set up and keep long-term).

How to use:

– Rub onto the soles of baby's feet. Apply generously. Put socks on to help hold the salve in place.
– Rub on baby's chest.
– Repeat every 2-3 hours until condition improves.

I only used the treatment about 7-10 times total – Owen is now sleeping for 12 hours and I didn't want to wake him to reapply the salve, so I left him alone through the night. But the next morning, though he still had a slight cough, it greatly improved further after a few more morning treatments. And by the next night, he was almost completely clear of all symptoms.

After he was feeling better, I stopped rubbing it on his chest (and yes, he totally smelt like a roast Italian chicken dinner for a few days) and only put it onto his feet.

That sweet, little stinky hobbit. What would I do without him!

It's a difficult thing as a mother, to watch your little one be ill. But I'm very thankful I now have a batch of this salve made up in the fridge to start using immediately when I suspect a bug coming on.

Garlic is incredibly powerful gun for the home-remedier (how do you like that word?) to have in their holster.

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