Sickies and the Salt Sock

For at least two weeks, my little guy has been sick. Low grade fever, snurgles in his head and a cough (barely noticeable during the day unless he runs around, but terrible at night to the point of sore chest and tears from exhaustion and frustration) During the day, I dosed him with Cold Calm and some Oscillo and at night he took Chestal. Around day 10, I gave him Children's Nyquil (ugh. red40) but between the antihistamine and cough suppressant, he slept.  Two nights of that got him past the worst and he's been cough free for almost a week now.

Then... last night, he mentioned that his ear had a slight ache but more frustrating was the fact that he couldn't hear out of it...

Knowing that his head had been full of nasties (had hadn't had a runny nose, only post nasal drip which in an 8 year old means that thick junk is close to the fluid of the ears), I felt it was "Salt Sock" time.  I tweeted about the salt sock and got a lot of questions about it, so here's how we do it for a kiddo (for adults, we use more salt):

What you'll need:

• Salt
• old clean sock - thick cotton is best but an old baby sock can work!

1. Take about 1/2 c of course salt (totally wing it - there is no need for precision on this!) and pour into a pan on the stove. [I use a cast iron skillet though some people heat it in the microwave]
2. Stir or shake the salt until its very warm/hot.
3. Pour salt into the sock (I use my canning funnel!) and tie the top to keep salt from spilling. [I've also heard people use a rubber band]
4. Place the salt sock on the kiddo's pillow and lie with the ear on the sock.  If you use a thinner sock, you can place a towel between the sock and the ear - but its not as effective.

That's it! Simple and effective The warm salt is comforting and the salt helps to draw out fluid which can be harboring bacteria and causing pain.

Repeat as needed during the day (and night if you're awake!)
For other recipes for salt socks, you can google it