Mark has a cough. No fever. No runny nose. What started as a hoarse voice on Saturday progressed into a dry, irritating cough.

He is reluctant to drink tea with honey (though that remedy has always seemed temporary to me). He couldn’t stand the taste of the cough drop I gave him one afternoon, even though it stopped his coughing fit temporarily. I try to avoid over-the-counter cough suppressants because unless they’re gonna knock you out, they aren’t that reliable and I don’t knock children out. (I have no problem knocking myself out when I have a bad cough with an OTC cough medicine that starts with an “N” and ends with a “quil”)

I have an organic “healing vapor salve” made with olive oil, beeswax and a variety of essential oils which smells ok. I rubbed it on the bottom of Mark’s feet last night and put a pair of socks on him. That’s about as close as he can stand it to his face.

He had a few fits last night and the night before. I’ve researched natural cough suppressants before and don’t tend to keep “star of anise” and/or organic, unrefined honey around. Though, I’m sure those things are helpful, my natural remedies cupboard is lacking.

Finally, I remembered my NO FAIL NATURAL COUGH SUPPRESSANT! 

I rubbed his back. For some reason (which I suspect has something to do with nerve signals), it always works to calm a coughing fit when nothing else seems to work. Rubbing his feet had the same effect later in the night when he woke up again.

This rarely cures the cough all night but usually allows a tired kid to stop coughing long enough to fall asleep for a decent amount of time.