Onion Pack For Congestion

 

I had to make onion packs this week for my sick baby. This is an old home remedy for congestion. It helps break up the congestion and get the phlegm moving.

When I was a new mom I was at a loss for coming up with a way to put this on a person. I tried putting the onion on the skin and wrapping a scarf around the chest. It didn't work.

This works:

Dice about a 1/4 cup onion and place in the middle of a flannel rag or cloth napkin. Sprinkle with ground mustard. 

Go easy with the mustard it can be irritating on the skin. Ask me how I know....

Fold the napkin strategically encasing the onions.

I fold it so that one side of the pocket is only one layer of fabric thick. You can see how the onion juice easily soaks through on that side. 

I place the thin side against the skin and then safety pin the pack to the inside of the patient's shirt.

Make sure when you safety pin the pack on, that you go through all the layers of the pack that way it will stay neatly folded and doesn't spill onions everywhere.

I also had to mix up some garlic infused oil for earaches. This is my favorite remedy for earaches.

I mix about 1 TBS. Olive Oil with 1 freshly grated garlic clove. I put one to two drops of this garlic infused oil down the ear 4-6 times a day. Wiggle the ear a little to make sure the oil goes all the way down. You can use a small piece of a cotton ball or wadded up bath tissue to plug the ear and keep the oil from running out and staining pillow cases.

Lavender essential oil (diluted in a carrier) wiped on the outside of the ear hole has been very soothing, in my experience. I don't recommend that essential oils be put into the ear canal. Keep the essential oils on the outside!

I like to use a blend of Laurel Leaf, Eucalyptus, Peppermint, Melaleuca, Lemon, Cardamom Seed, Ravintsara, and Ravensara essential oils, also, wiped on the outside of the ear hole. This helps take the edge off of the pain. I use the dōTERRA Breath® blend (diluted in a carrier). 

There is a cool company that sells knock off Young Living and dōTERRA blends. HERE IS A LINK. I have never tried them or done a side by side comparisons. But, I am sharing their site because they are much cheaper. And, I am not an essential oil cult member, even if I am a dōTERRA consultant. ;)

I hope you are all staying well! Let me know if you have any tried and true congestion and earache home remedies! :)

Bees Wax Chews

I had the idea to make some chews out of beeswax

 as a replacement for gum or even cough drops.

I ordered some raw beeswax.

The seller packaged the wax very prettily!

Here is a link to the listing for the raw beeswax.

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/1029000974/beauty-supply-raw-beeswax-for-diy-beauty?ref=shop_home_active_1&pro=1

Beeswax can be hard to clean up after.

I dedicated an old measuring cup to the job of

 beeswax melting.

I place the measuring cup into a pan of water

that I keep at a simmer on the stove.

I use a wooden popsicle stick to stir the wax

as it melts to avoid getting beeswax on any 

of my utensils.

Once the beeswax is I melted I add therapeutic

grade essential oils. It takes about 15 drops

 to achieve the strength that I was going after. 

I have only tried two flavors: 

Peppermint and a blend called On Guard. 

(On Guard is supposed to support immune

system function. It has Orange, Clove, and 

Rosemary aspects.)

I pour the flavored wax into ice cube trays. 

Just a very small amount into each compartment.

I thought I would have to buy some special molds

for this step, but I put my thinking

cap on and saved the money by

being resourceful. :)

I freeze the wax to make it hard.

Once the wax is hard the pieces come out of 

the trays very easily.

I cut each piece in half. I have been happy

with these size of pieces.

I store the beeswax pieces in labelled zip top bags.

I have been pleased with using the Peppermint

variety as breath mints.

I used some recently as a cough drop substitute

when I had a sore throat. It worked really well

to produce saliva and the oils were soothing.

The beeswax can be chewed for 20 minutes

or longer. It does get crumbly,

but I like playing around with it with

my tongue and teeth.

I crumble it and then pack it back together

and then crumble it again.

I am weird like that. :)

Do you have any ideas of how I could 

improve on this concept?

What about flavors I should try?

I'd love to hear your suggestions!