Homemade Cough Syrup for Babies

Our son got sick a week or so ago.  He feel asleep in my husband’s arms holding an uneaten cracker.  I wrote about how hard it is to see your child sick.  And, with babies, you feel a bit helpless when what you can give them is very limited.

As he was on the mend, he spent his nap times and night times coughing up a storm, which meant he got no sleep, which of course served to be a few, really long, days.  Anytime I can, I’d rather give our family home remedies instead of medication.  Of course, if the home remedy doesn’t work, then I’m all for the tylenol/advil/etc.

But, in this case, I’m stoked to say that the home remedy was AWESOME.  Seriously.  Cough was gone in about a day in a half, and I only had to give him maybe 4 teaspoons of this in that time.

I found this recipe on a myriad of websites, but was sold on the idea off of LIVESTRONG, which of course, means that Lance himself approves, right?  I mean basically it’s safe to say that this cough syrup got him through the Tour de France.

I KNOW.

And here’s the deal people.  This has two ingredients: onions and sugar.  Yes, I just said that.  Let’s be real for a minute though.  IT TASTES LIKE ONIONS.  Everyone on the internets is saying that this doesn’t taste like onions, but it does.  How could it not?  But, my son still drank it and actually really liked it.  According to Lance, onions have components that thin phlegm (sick word) and cause coughing which forces your throat to get rid of it’s congestion that’s blocking your lungs and clear up rapidly.

I used this along with a humidifier during Chip’s naps and night times for 2 days, and it worked like a charm!

Homemade Cough Syrup for Babies

Prep Time: 3 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 medium sized onion

1 cup granulated sugar

fine mesh strainer

funnel

air tight bottle for storing

Directions:

Chip onion into a few pieces and place into small pot. Add one cup of sugar and put over medium heat. Allow mixture to boil, and stir frequently. Reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes, and continue to stir frequently. The juices of the onion are being extracted during this process and combining with the sugar to create a syrup. Once finished, and syrup has formed and is thick, pour through a fine mesh strainer so that onion pieces are not in syrup. Using a funnel, our into an air tight container. Lasts for a week in the refrigerator.

Chip is one and I used one teaspoon per dose.