I have a ton of home remedies recipes on my website, and I’m often asked which ones are my favorites and which ones I use the most. With five kiddos, most of my go-to home remedies center around common childhood illnesses. All-natural solutions that you can easily make yourself with things you already have in the house can cure many common childhood illnesses. 

So, I’ve compiled a list of my all-time favorite home remedies that every parent can use to help their kids get better fast without all the toxic chemicals in mainstream medications. 

My Favorite Home Remedies

Wild Cherry Bark

Wild cherry bark will cure what ails ya. Well, almost. I always keep my wild cherry bark syrup made up, that’s how often I use it. It’s the solution for a wide variety of issues.

• Respiratory illnesses – Wild cherry bark is an expectorant and decongestant, making it effective for coughs and lung congestion. It also helps break up and expel mucus in the bronchial tubes, improving lymphatic system function. 

• Digestive issues – It’s antispasmodic and anti-inflammatory properties calm digestive complaints like diarrhea, constipation, indigestion, and bloating.

• Sedative Properties – Wild cherry bark syrup’s nervine characteristics act as a mild sedative to relax muscle spasms, ease cramping, and soothe tense muscles. It’s a fantastic home remedy for headaches and menstrual cramps. 

• Skin conditions – Topically, wild cherry bark soothes irritated tissue due to its astringent, anti-inflammatory, and demulcent attributes. I use it mainly as an astringent wash for sores and other skin irritations, but it can also be used for chronic skin conditions such as psoriasis, acne, eczema, and shingles. You can find my kid-approved wild cherry bark syrup recipe HERE.

Onions

It may sound odd, but some of my favorite and most used home remedies are onion-based! These remedies truly are the old grannie methods from years gone by!

• Coughs – Onion tea is packed with vitamin C, antioxidants, iron, and magnesium. It helps reduce inflammation and increase hydration, which is essential for immunity. Onions contain quercetin, which aids the immune response and acts as a natural expectorant for colds and congestion. Get my recipe for making onion tea HERE.

• Chest and cough congestion – An onion poultice is a natural expectorant that helps fight infections. Learn how easy it is to make one HERE.

• Cold and flu stopper – I devised this recipe to stave off a cold or flu when one of us starts getting the sniffles. Onions are a main ingredient, as is apple cider vinegar, which I’ll discuss more later. Grab the recipe HERE.

Bone Broth

I came up with this concoction because even though I rarely get sick, it typically manifests as a sore, scratchy throat when I do. Plus, since the main ingredient is bone broth, it heals your gut simultaneously. Get this simple recipe HERE.

Rice

Yes, rice water is excellent for stomach upsets and diarrhea, but that’s not the only way it can provide relief. Let’s talk about making rice socks to relieve ear pain. Rice socks are an easy-to-make home remedy that works like a charm when your little one experiences an earache. Learn how to whip one up HERE. (No sewing required.)

Eggs 

Because fevers have immune-regulating benefits, it’s often better to let one run its course rather than suppress it with medication. But while most fevers aren’t dangerous, we occasionally need to decrease a child’s temperature. This simple egg white home remedy reduces fever in as little as 10 minutes. Learn more HERE.

Socks

Wet cold sock therapy is a traditional hydrotherapy technique involving wearing wet cotton socks covered with dry wool socks to bed. It might sound weird, but this technique stimulates the circulatory system and immune response, helping to alleviate symptoms of colds and other respiratory illnesses. Get the details HERE.

Raw Honey

Sure, you can bake with it and smear it on your morning toast but don’t underestimate the healing powers of honey.

• Clean and heal wounds – Raw honey’s antiseptic and antibacterial properties have made it a home remedy for cleaning wounds and promoting skin regeneration for centuries.

• Acid reflux relief – Its anti-inflammatory components aid in alleviating symptoms of acid reflux. 

• Cough suppressant – It’s an effective cough suppressant that boosts melatonin production. Melatonin aids sleep, which is exactly what the body needs to heal itself.

You can use Manuka honey to “up” the home remedy dial. Manuka honey has a higher concentration of Methylglyoxal (MGO), which provides more antioxidant properties than regular raw honey. Learn more about the health benefits of raw honey and Manuka honey. We buy our medicinal manuka honey HERE. Use coupon code REALFOODRN419 to get 10% off your order.

*Remember, never give any type of honey to infants or children under one year old.

Activated Charcoal

Activated charcoal is often used in ER rooms to treat poisoning or overdose because it has intense detoxification powers. 

• Bug bites – I use it all the time as a poultice to relieve the pain and swelling from bug bites. 

• Gas and bloating – Its porous texture helps trap gases, reducing uncomfortable gas and bloating. 

• Tooth whitening – It’s also a featured ingredient in many popular all-natural toothpastes due to its whitening ability. Read THIS article to learn more about its health benefits.

Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)

Apple Cider Vinegar is another home remedy that can cure a myriad of issues, as it contains magnesium, potassium, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, enzymes, and polyphenols.  

• Acid Reflux and Heartburn – It reacts as an alkaloid in the body, balancing the stomach’s pH level. Its anti-inflammatory properties also reduce stomach swelling, relieving symptoms. 

• Blood Pressure – ACV helps lower blood pressure in two ways. First, it reduces the bloodstream’s renin activity, the enzyme that regulates blood pressure. Second, it lowers bad cholesterol and triglycerides, allowing blood to flow more freely through the arteries.

• Improve Immunity and Fight Infections and Viruses – It’s full of vitamins and minerals and offers antimicrobial and antiseptic properties. Many people take it daily and swear by its ability to keep them from catching whatever is going around. 

• Body Detox – The acid in it binds up toxins so your body can remove them more quickly and efficiently. 

• Circulation – It breaks up calcium deposits in the blood vessel walls, helping the blood circulate more easily. 

• Warts – The acid in the vinegar attacks the HPV virus, which causes warts, so they peel right off the skin, virus and all.  

• Sunburn – ACV soothes the burning sensation and takes away the sting of sunburn, like nothing else.

• Allergies – There are two ways to get allergy relief using ACV. To break up mucus in the body and increase lymph drainage, you can dilute it* and drink it. Secondly, you can put it in your Neti pot solution to clean out your sinuses. It works great for colds and sinus conditions, too.

Remember to use organic, unfiltered, unpasteurized ACV with the “mother” for maximum benefits, and always dilute it before consumption. Learn about even more of its uses HERE. You can make your own ACV using my super easy recipe HERE.

Castor Oil

If you had a mom or grandma like mine who got out the castor oil whenever someone in the house was constipated, you might have recoiled when you saw this home remedy. Luckily, it’s also great for other things that don’t involve swallowing it.

Castor oil packs are easy to make and help reduce inflammation, detoxify the skin, and improve circulation. Castor oil is made chiefly of ricinoleic acid, a fatty acid that is a powerful detoxifying agent. A castor oil pack delivers the ricinoleic acid straight to your lymphatic system so you experience the benefits right away. Here is my favorite castor oil pack, we use them weekly! (coupon code REALFOODRN saves you 10%)

• Period Pain – Castor oil packs reduce inflammation and uterine contractions and stimulate blood circulation in the pelvic area. 

• Sore Muscles and Aching Joints – Castor oil has antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral properties that decrease inflammation and increase circulation in the body.

• Varicose Veins and Gout – Gentle castor oil packs reduce inflammation and detox the body, reducing pain.

• Liver, Gallbladder, and Kidney Issues – They speed up circulation, reduce inflammation, and naturally detoxify the body, which helps treat sluggish digestion.

• Fungal Infections – These can be treated due to ricinoleic acid’s antifungal properties.   

Learn how to use this simple yet powerful home remedies HERE.

Elderberries

Elderberries pack a harder immune system punch than any other berry, so I rely on them to keep us all healthy during cold and flu season. They are high in vitamin A, have more vitamin C than oranges, are very high in the antioxidant quercetin, and are anti-inflammatory and antiviral. 

I always keep my Elderberry Syrup, and Elderberry Gummies made up during fall and winter to boost our immune system so we stay healthy when all the crud is going around. At the first signs of a cold or flu, we take elderberry right away. It’s been proven not only to stave off illness but also to cut recovery time in half! My kids love my elderberry syrup and gummies, so getting them to take it is never a struggle. Here are all of the supplies you need to make elderberry syrup.

Final Thoughts

Home remedies have been around since the dawn of time tried and tested by parents all over the world. They are just another way to show that real food is medicine! 

As always, this is not personal medical advice, and I recommend you talk with your doctor before using home remedies.

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