how to avoid a steroid and heal croup naturally
“Sure enough, croup struck for the second time, but this time, I turned to homeopathy and herbal blends—and I’m absolutely blown away by the results. Not only did she avoid needing a steroid, but her breathing stayed steady, her cough was milder, and she recovered faster than before.”
* Im sharing this from my own experience as a mom who has walked through these challenges and found natural ways to support healing. This is not medical advice, just what has worked for us. Always trust your instincts and consult a trusted healthcare provider for guidance that’s right for your family.
Croup—
If you’ve ever been woken up by your child’s sudden barking cough and labored breathing, you know how scary croup can be. That tight, wheezy sound is unnerving and may make you question if an urgent care visit is the only option. Croup is a common viral illness that causes inflammation in the upper airways, and while steroids are often prescribed, there are natural ways to ease symptoms and support healing at home. In this post, I’ll share what’s worked for us—gentle, effective remedies to help your child breathe easier, rest better, and recover without unnecessary medications. If you’re looking for more information on what croup is and symptoms to look for, read here. (Dr. Green Mom is a great resource. She writes a bit about some at home remedies you can use fro croup. She has a lot of information on vaccines, and general wellness from a holistic pediatrician perspective).
Our experience —
All three of my children have experienced croup in varying degrees of severity. For my first two, the more classic ways of addressing croup managed the symptoms well. We would bundle up and go into the cold air, do steam showers, humidifiers in the room and support their immune system and that was enough. My third child recently had two different bouts of croup in one month. The first time she had croup, we ended up taking her to urgent care and were prescribed a steroid because we felt that all of the things we normally did to manage croup just were not working. Her breathing was labored even at rest. When a cold was going around my kids again a few weeks later, I was willing to try anything to avoid giving her another steroid if croup developed because of the cold.
Sure enough, croup struck for the second time, but this time, I turned to homeopathy and herbal blends—and I’m absolutely blown away by the results. Not only did she avoid needing a steroid, but her breathing stayed steady, her cough was milder, and she recovered faster than before.
Remedies—
Here is what I would tell a friend if they had a little on with croup:
Often times the classic croupy seal barking sounding cough will begin at night. It may be accompanied by stridor, which is scary to see and appears like your little one is struggling to catch their breath. If it’s winter/cold bring them immediately outside. For us, the cold air calms the cough/stridor almost immediately. Stay out there for 10 minutes if you can. If it’s not cold, you could try standing in front of an open freezer and breathing in the cold air, or try a steam shower. Run your shower with very hot water and close the door and let steam fill the room. Sit in the room with your child and that should also bring relief.
We found running a humidifier at night really helps keep the cough at bay.
Earthley cough-b-gone tincture. This tincture is an expectorant, which helps break up any mucus if there is any, but we used it throughout the duration of croup, even when the cough was more dry. It contains healing herbs such as mullein and dandelion.
What I think made the biggest difference in our daughters first and second time with croup was our homeopathic protocol we did. A couple things that I liked about it that you may like as well- it is inexpensive and extremely safe and gentle. I was willing to try something new to avoid another steroid, and homeopathy seemed so overwhelming to me, but its really watching the symptoms and matching them with the remedy. Here is the blog post that I followed that explains which remedy to give for which symptoms. Since our little one wouldn’t know how to dilute the pellets we dissolved 2-3 pellets in her water and dosed it about every 3 hours. I love the Ollois brand because they are lactose free pellets!
Here is a summary—
Aconitum Napellus 30C: Give this remedy at the first sign of the sickness. If the cough starts int he middle of the night and comes on suddenly. This is the best remedy to give at the beginning. To my amazement this is the only remedy of the 3 main coup remedies I even needed to give! I saw her symptoms improving and continued to dose until they cleared.
If that isn’t working after a dose or two, switch to Spongia Tosta 30C. This is used when the cough progressed really quickly, sounds like a saw cutting wood. This remedy should work quicker. (If my daughter got worse, I would have given this most likely at night and the hope is that it calms the cough and helps them go back to sleep).
If these don’t work and cold air is making it worse give Hepar Sulphuris. This is helpful if there is more mucus now and the cough is more rattling. Typically you want to try the other remedies before trying this one.
To support the immune system I dosed Earthley Vitamin C tincture, vitamin D and Earthley feel better fast (if fever is present).