Kids health: Your tips

Kids health tips | Tips to cure kids health problems

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Quick tips are how to find things you can do or buy to help with a specific problem.

And you've sent us lots of great ideas to help ease your children's health worries, so take a look at some of your very own quick kids health tips.

If you have a health tip of your own to then please send it to us and it could be starring on the site very soon!

Acne

Instead of creams and lotions, try mixing oats with a few drops of honey and water for acne. Put them in a hankie, squeeze out the excess water and then dab the spots. Raw onion is also good for infections, so try rubbing that on your face.
Louise

Chicken pox

The best chicken pox advice ever given to me was to allow the children to bathe for as long as they wanted twice a day in either diluted Savlon antiseptic liquid or diluted Dettol antiseptic, as per the instructions on the label. Calamine lotion does reduce the itching for a short time but the antiseptic helps the spots to heal quicker. Calpol on a regular basis keeps the aching at bay and wearing nothing but Dad's T-Shirts helps keep the skin cool in between doses of medicine and bathing.
Kathy Smith

I was advised a few years ago (when my 14mth old got chicken pox) to use the usual calamine cream/lotion but to bath them in Bicarbonate of Soda too. I did this and it seemed to help.
Emma

Coughs and colds

I always eat lots of beetroot when I'm feeling like I'm going to get ill because apparently its really good for fighting the flu virus, always seems to do the job for me. I sometimes blend it up into a smoothie with some carrot juice as well - guaranteed to keep the bugs away!
Kerryn Walters

Our Grandmas were right. Home-made chicken soup really is a natural antibiotic and beats off colds and flu. Canned soups don't work, you need a whole chicken to make your own soup for real immune-boosting properties. Scientists have found that it reduces inflammation in your mucous membranes such as eyes, nose and throat.
Julia Kumar, Coulsdon, Surrey

Earaches

My kids often get ear infections. Then I started giving them chewable vitamin C tablets, which reduce the inflammation and fever. They hardly ever get them now.
Kelly Channa, 45, Wigan

Earache can be caused by the ears not draining properly, so add an extra pillow to your bed to prop your head up further and encourage fluid to drain away.
Alice Noon, 53, Burnley, Lancashire

Impetigo

My mum told me to use olive oil on impetigo. You put it on the affected are four times a day and it seemed to stop my daughter itching as much.
Tina Whittall

When my son caught impetigo, my nan swore by something called goldenseal. It's an old herbal remedy also known as orange root and has been used since the 1800s. You can get tablets from most health food shops and it's also good for bladder infections.
Rachel Thompson

Insect stings

When my niece was on holiday with us, she was stung by a wasp. Luckily a nurse was camping next to us - she made sure the sting was out and then cut one onion in half, and gently rubbed it over the area. The swelling/redness disappeared quite quickly.
Lesley Gough

Try rubbing an alkaline substance on the area - the best is washing soap, or alternatively bicarbonate of soda. Then rub the area and this should take out the sting. To ease the itching, you should still take an antihistaminic tablet.
Jasmin

Sore throat

As well as using Diflam spray to soothe my very sore red inflamed throat, I've discovered those natural cough lozenges called Ricola. They're made with menthol and peppermint oil, thyme, sage and other herbs and plant extracts. I bought them in a supermarket and they work brilliantly when you're out and about.
Uta

Tetanus injections

After the panic of a hospital visit when my three year-old daughter fell badly in the garden and cut herself, I have only one message. The best way to avoid tetanus is to get your children immunised. Make sure you check with your doctor that they're all up-to-date.
Eva Bowditch, 25, Lydney, Gloucestershire

When I had my tetanus injections, I felt achey afterwards but paracetamol helped loads. If you've got kids, something like Calpol will help.
Lisa, Cornwall