Recipe for Cold-Banishing Cake

Well, after 15 healthy months in this world, Sasha caught her first cold virus. It started with some upset stomach for 2 days, then a runny nose, and now a cough. To make things more fun, she is teething too! So, not only is her nose like a broken faucet, but she is also drooling, and the sinus pressure is making her eyes water, which is making me feel three times as bad. Not to mention that she wakes up at night about 4 times after coughing, and I wake up about 8 times just to make sure that she is sleeping and breathing.

As a first time mom, I resist the urge to open the more popular recipe book (call my pediatrician) and go for the special chiropractic family recipe box (do what I usually advise my patients to do after a thorough checkup). I begin by making sure that I have all of the utensils and ingredients to make my Uncomplicated Cold-Banishing Cake.

• Thermometer reading: 99.8, elevated by .8 degrees from her usual (it is very important to know what your child's temp is on a regular healthy day, as that should be their "normal", not necessarily the 98.6 ideal).
  
• Auscultation: no ronchi, wheezing, or crepitus in any lung quadrant. Breathing normal, pulse normal.
  
• Otoscopic evaluation: no redness, some wax, light reflex present, eardrum not distended.
  
• Visual observation: alert, slightly fatigued and more sad than usual, mild loss of balance. No changes in color, no excessive lethargy. No redness or spots in throat.
• Physical evaluation: tender C1, C2, motion restriction in the thoracic spine, tight upper traps, scalenes, SCM, and suboccipitals. Mild swelling over frontal and maxillary sinuses.
  

Since everything checked out OK, I began the dreaded 3-5 day wait for the symptoms to pass. I realize now that this is one of those very difficult times where the mother's instinct and urge is to DO SOMETHING!!! But in this case I let the greater mother take over, as Nature IS doing something, and very efficiently in Sasha's case. All of her symptoms are just a way for the body to clean up, strengthen the immune response, and allow for a fresh start. Of course I step in to help just a little bit.

So, here is my Chiropractic Recipe for Cold-Banishing Cake:

• 2-3 drops of Tea Tree Oil or Eucalyptus oil in the medicine of a Warm mist Humidifier to aid in mucus break-up.
• ZERO dairy. Processed Dairy products, due to their final molecular makeup are immune system irritants and also mucus producing.
  
• ZERO cold foods, 1 cup of made from scratch warm soup 2-3 times a day.
• 3-4 Nursing sessions per day and 2-4 Zinc lozenges for mom (I usually still nurse 2X/day).
• 1-2 Adjustments per day of C2 with the activator, and any presenting factors in the thoracic spine with activator or gentle manual for 1 week to help stimulate the immune system and stimulate nerve input to the lung fields making them more efficient in expelling fluid or mucus.
  
• 2-3 five minute massages per day along her neck, underneath the ears and around collar bones to aid in lymph drainage. Also massage the middle back to help the lungs.
  
• 1 Craniosacral Session per night, while the baby is asleep, on the skull, sinuses above the eyes, on the nose, temples, and cheeks.
• 2 15-20min walks outside and allow the body to move around and get some fresh air, helping blood circulation and thus toxin elimination.
• ZERO contact with others who may be sick, or in enclosed spaces with many other individuals since the immune system is currently depressed and she is more likely to have trouble handling a new bacterial or viral invader.
• A dash of laughs and tickles
• Top off with unlimited amount of hugs, kisses, and love.