Plant coltsfoot for children cough

A spe­cial place among med­i­c­i­nal plants with anti­tus­sive effect belongs to colts­foot. This herbal rem­e­dy is pop­u­lar­ly known as “cash­le­gon” for its com­plex expec­to­rant action. For chil­dren, the plant is pre­scribed in the form of syrup and brewed grass. In our arti­cle, we will ana­lyze the com­po­si­tion of colts­foot, thanks to which it helps with cough­ing, how to prop­er­ly brew it and take it to chil­dren of dif­fer­ent ages.

The role of plants in the treatment of cough in children

In the treat­ment of cough caused by bron­chopul­monary dis­eases, a sep­a­rate role is giv­en to med­i­c­i­nal herbs. Most often, chil­dren are assigned colts­foot, licorice root, anise fruit. Herbal prepa­ra­tions have a num­ber of advan­tages over drugs of syn­thet­ic ori­gin. It so hap­pened that ani­mals and plants are close in nature, there­fore, vit­a­mins, essen­tial oils, microele­ments, which are in com­bi­na­tion in plants, have a ben­e­fi­cial effect, cause a gen­er­al ther­a­peu­tic effect for humans.

This is espe­cial­ly impor­tant for chil­dren. Since phy­to­prepa­ra­tions have a milder and more mod­er­ate effect, the ther­a­peu­tic effect devel­ops grad­u­al­ly, but steadi­ly. They have a small num­ber of con­traindi­ca­tions, side effects are extreme­ly rare. Med­i­c­i­nal herbs are char­ac­ter­ized by low tox­i­c­i­ty. Thanks to these qual­i­ties, herbal med­i­cines are safe for chil­dren and at the same time high­ly effec­tive.

In 2007, the Ger­man pro­fes­sor Kem­merich con­duct­ed a study on the use of herbal reme­dies, their eval­u­a­tion and safe­ty. As a result, he found that dur­ing treat­ment, the sever­i­ty of the dis­ease decreased, the decrease in cough­ing attacks occurred faster than in chil­dren treat­ed with syn­thet­ic drugs. Good tol­er­ance was found in 97% of the sub­jects.

plant composition

Colts­foot is a herba­ceous med­i­c­i­nal plant that is yel­low in ear­ly spring. Med­i­c­i­nal raw mate­ri­als are the upper leaves, which are rec­om­mend­ed to be col­lect­ed in the first month of sum­mer. These leaves con­tain the fol­low­ing essen­tial com­po­nents:

1. organ­ic acids;

2. saponins;

3. mucous com­pounds;

4. tan­nins;

5. vit­a­min C;

6. inulin;

7. poly­sac­cha­rides;

8. flavonoids;

9. essen­tial oils;

10. gly­co­sides.

Each indi­vid­ual com­po­nent has a ben­e­fi­cial effect on the human body. But for the treat­ment of cough, it is the com­plex of organ­ic acids, flavonoids, saponins, and mucous com­pounds that is impor­tant. It is this com­plex that has an anti­tus­sive effect. Envelops the mucous mem­brane of the res­pi­ra­to­ry tract, reduces dry­ness, relieves inflam­ma­tion. Ther­a­peu­tic action of colts­foot:

1. Liq­ue­fies mucus in the res­pi­ra­to­ry tract.

2. Stim­u­lates the vil­lous epithe­li­um, which is lined with the bronchial tree.

3. Increas­es the effi­cien­cy of cleans­ing the res­pi­ra­to­ry organs from spu­tum.

4. Reduces spasm of the bronchi, lar­ynx.

Thanks to the list­ed ther­a­peu­tic effect, colts­foot is a uni­ver­sal cough rem­e­dy, it has a ben­e­fi­cial effect on the mucous mem­branes of the lungs and bronchi. This plant belongs to the cat­e­go­ry of uni­ver­sal, since it has an effect on both the upper and low­er res­pi­ra­to­ry tract, helps to relieve the inflam­ma­to­ry process in the throat. The colts­foot leaf is con­sid­ered a nat­ur­al antibi­ot­ic and anti­spas­mod­ic, capa­ble of dis­in­fect­ing and elim­i­nat­ing virus­es.

Colts­foot is used for var­i­ous types of coughs. It can be tak­en not only for treat­ment, but also as a pro­phy­lac­tic. It has a wide ben­e­fi­cial effect, not only on the res­pi­ra­to­ry tract, but also on the whole organ­ism, gives strength, improves tone. This herbal rem­e­dy is espe­cial­ly often pre­scribed for dry cough in chil­dren. Since it con­tains mucous com­pounds that envel­op the throat, soothe and relieve irri­ta­tion. In addi­tion, poly­sac­cha­rides have a soft­en­ing effect, which, in addi­tion, relieve pain.

Organ­ic acids and saponins ensure the prop­er func­tion­ing of the cil­ia of the epithe­li­um of the tra­chea and bronchi. Thus, there is a phys­i­o­log­i­cal rar­efac­tion of mucus and its more active excre­tion. With a wet cough, carotenoids, sterols, tan­nins reduce the inflam­ma­to­ry process, improve the process of expec­to­ra­tion. Vit­a­min C helps to elim­i­nate tox­ins, improve immu­ni­ty.

What diseases is coltsfoot effective for?

As a result of the use of colts­foot, the fol­low­ing effect was noticed:

1. A wet cough effec­tive­ly clears the bronchi, which leads to a faster ces­sa­tion.

2. Dry cough becomes less painful, soon turns into a pro­duc­tive one.

3. The quan­ti­ty and inten­si­ty of anti­spas­mod­ic cough decreas­es.

4. Resid­ual cough is gone.

Dis­eases in which colts­foot is part of com­plex treat­ment:

1. laryn­gi­tis;

2. bron­chi­tis;

3. bronchial asth­ma;

4. pneu­mo­nia;

5. ORZ;

6. SARS;

7. whoop­ing cough;

8. tra­cheitis.

Before you start tak­ing colts­foot, you need to con­sult a doc­tor, dis­cuss with him the pos­si­bil­i­ty of treat­ment with this herbal rem­e­dy and its dosage.

Contraindications

Despite the large num­ber of med­i­c­i­nal prop­er­ties, colts­foot can­not be used in the fol­low­ing cas­es:

1. with indi­vid­ual intol­er­ance;

2. liv­er dis­eases;

3. chil­dren under 3 years of age.

Features of the treatment of children

Thanks to the moth­er and step­moth­er, spu­tum is inten­sive­ly liq­ue­fied, so pedi­a­tri­cians for­bid it to be giv­en to chil­dren under 3 years of age. Since they can­not yet cough up, their body suf­fers with a strong spu­tum dis­charge. For the treat­ment of chil­dren, colts­foot is used in the fol­low­ing form:

1. decoc­tion;

2. tea;

3. syrup;

4. alco­hol drops.

Fea­tures of the treat­ment of chil­dren by colts­foot:

1. Chil­dren from 3 to 10 years old take 1 tea­spoon of ready-made raw mate­ri­als per glass of water.

2. The med­i­cine is infused for no more than half an hour.

3. The infu­sion is tak­en by chil­dren from 3 to 6 years, 1 tea­spoon 3 times a day before meals, from 6 to 10 years, the dose is increased to 1 table­spoon.

4. As a ther­a­peu­tic agent, chil­dren are pre­scribed tea, decoc­tion, colts­foot infu­sion.

5. Alco­hol infu­sions are pro­hib­it­ed for chil­dren under 5 years of age.

6. At the age of 3 to 5 years, the pre­pared broth is dilut­ed with boiled water.

7. The drug is giv­en in a warm form. It should be nei­ther cold nor hot.

8. Chil­dren from 3 to 6 years old can be giv­en cough syrup colts­foot for half a tea­spoon 2 times a day. Fur­ther, the dosage is increased by 2 times.

9. Treat­ment course — 2 weeks.

10. Alco­hol infu­sion is dilut­ed with water. Chil­dren from 5 to 7 years old are giv­en 4 drops dilut­ed with water, over 7 years old — the dose increas­es from 6 to 10 drops. Alco­hol infu­sion is giv­en an hour after eat­ing for no more than 10 days.

Treat­ment by colts­foot should not exceed 15 days. If you still need to take this herbal rem­e­dy, then take a break of 10 days. For the treat­ment of chil­dren under 10 years of age, this peri­od is extend­ed to 1 month. Then con­tin­ue tak­ing. Dur­ing the year, you can not take drugs based on colts­foot for more than 1.5 months. They con­tain alka­loids that can accu­mu­late in tis­sues, cause intox­i­ca­tion, which will neg­a­tive­ly affect the body as a whole. It is impos­si­ble to replace drug ther­a­py with phy­tother­a­py. Med­i­c­i­nal herbs can only be used as a sup­ple­ment.

Forms of use of coltsfoot

Colts­foot is avail­able in most phar­ma­cy anti­tus­sive fees. As a med­i­c­i­nal plant, it can be used, includ­ing for the treat­ment of chil­dren, in the fol­low­ing form:

1. 
   Infu­sion. Dried leaves are used to make it. They are filled with boil­ing water. The ratio is 1 to 20. Cov­er with warm logs and infuse for 30 min­utes. The infu­sion is stored for no more than a day.

2. 
   Decoc­tion. To pre­pare the decoc­tion, a ratio of 1 to 20 is tak­en. The fin­ished leaves of the colts­foot are poured with water, put on a slow fire until half the vol­ume is evap­o­rat­ed. Next, the fin­ished broth is removed from the fire, cooled. Before giv­ing it to chil­dren, it must be dilut­ed in a ratio of 1 to 1.

3. 
   Juice. For the prepa­ra­tion of juice, fresh young leaves of the colts­foot, col­lect­ed at the begin­ning of sum­mer, are used. They need to be washed under run­ning water, poured over with boil­ing water, dried on a tow­el. Juice is made on a juicer. If it is not there, then you can scroll the fresh leaves in a meat grinder, squeeze through cheese­cloth. Next, the juice is pas­teur­ized, boiled for no more than 2 min­utes. Can be stored in the refrig­er­a­tor for up to 3 days. Inside is giv­en to chil­dren under 6 years of age, half a tea­spoon, from 6 to 10 years — 1 tea­spoon, from 10 to 12 years — half a table­spoon 3 times a day after meals.

4. 
   The syrup can be pre­pared at home as an extract from a fresh leaf. We take washed, scald­ed, dried leaves, sprin­kle with sug­ar, crush it tight­ly, put it in a glass jar. The ratio of raw mate­ri­als and sug­ar is 1 to 1. To form a syrup, the jar is removed for 14 days in a dark place. Allowed for use from 6 years old, 1 tea­spoon 3 times a day. From the age of 10, the dosage increas­es to 2 tea­spoons 3 times a day after meals.

Recipes for the treatment of children

Well-known herbal­ists offer the fol­low­ing recipes, which are based on colts­foot, for the treat­ment of cough in chil­dren:

1. 2 table­spoons of colts­foot pour 1 liter of boil­ing water. Insist 30 min­utes. Strain. If the child does not have hon­ey intol­er­ance, then you can add 1 tea­spoon to give sweet­ness and a ben­e­fi­cial effect on the immune sys­tem.

2. To elim­i­nate a painful parox­ys­mal cough, pre­pare an infu­sion of knotweed, chamomile inflo­res­cences, colts­foot leaf. All com­po­nents are tak­en in equal quan­ti­ties. One tea­spoon of the col­lec­tion is poured with a glass of boil­ing water, infused for 30 min­utes, fil­tered. You can add sweet­ness by adding 1 tea­spoon of sug­ar to the drink.

3. 1 table­spoon of ready-made colts­foot grass is poured with 1 liter of boil­ing water, infused for 60 min­utes, fil­tered. Before use, it is bet­ter to heat in a water bath.

4. Make a col­lec­tion of 15 gr. colts­foot, 20 gr. plan­tain, 10 gr. prim­rose, 10 gr. chamomile phar­ma­cy. Take 1 tea­spoon of the pre­pared col­lec­tion, pour a glass of boil­ing water, put in a water bath for 15 min­utes. Remove decoc­tion, strain.

The famous Euro­pean herbal­ist Alexan­der Kostenko offers the fol­low­ing recipes for treat­ing chil­dren with cough:

1. Take 1 table­spoon of colts­foot, add 2 table­spoons of dried rose hips, pour 5 glass­es of clean drink­ing water, brought to a boil, leave for half an hour. Add 2 table­spoons of hon­ey, strain. The rem­e­dy not only fights cough well, but also strength­ens the immune sys­tem.

2. The leaves of the colts­foot are mixed with chopped licorice root in a ratio of 1 to 1. Pour one tea­spoon of the col­lec­tion with a glass of boil­ing water. It is bet­ter to brew in porce­lain dish­es. Leave for half an hour. This is a pow­er­ful rem­e­dy that can cope with a painful dry cough.

3. Mix the leaves of oregano, rasp­ber­ries, cur­rants, colts­foot in equal amounts. Pour one tea­spoon of the col­lec­tion with a glass of boil­ing water. Insist, strain. The infu­sion relieves parox­ys­mal cough, facil­i­tates nasal breath­ing, gives strength.

For the treat­ment of chil­dren, grass is best pur­chased at a phar­ma­cy. Its col­lec­tion should be done in places remote from the city and roads.

Colts­foot is an excel­lent rem­e­dy for treat­ing cough in chil­dren. It has prac­ti­cal­ly no con­traindi­ca­tions, with prop­er use it allows you to cope with a cough with­in a week. Before using it, as well as when using oth­er herbal reme­dies, you need to con­sult a doc­tor.