Key takeaways:
Strep throat should be treated with antibiotics. But it takes time for them to work. Home remedies can help with throat pain in the meantime.
Natural remedies for strep throat include cool drinks and soft foods to help soothe their throat and encourage kids to eat.
Warm drinks like tea and broth can also relieve pain and provide nutrition for kids when they’re sick.
Strep throat is a throat infection with a bacteria called group A Streptococcus. Kids with strep throat often have a sudden onset of throat pain and swollen glands in their neck, which can make swallowing uncomfortable. Kids should always take antibiotics to treat strep throat. Antibiotics shorten the time kids are sick and decrease the likelihood of complications like abscesses, neck infections, heart problems, and rheumatic fever.
But antibiotics take time to work. In the meantime, your child may be uncomfortable. Luckily, there are home remedies you can use to safely relieve their pain while those antibiotics clear the infection. Here are seven remedies that can help.
Drinking cold fluids can temporarily numb a sore throat. Keep your child’s favorite beverage in the fridge so it’s cold and ready to use (or add ice). Encourage your child to take small and frequent sips. Avoid acidic drinks like orange juice, as well as carbonated drinks. These may irritate the throat more than they help.
You can also try ice pops and ice cream. They’re not exactly fluids, but they can decrease pain and inflammation from strep throat. Because they’re sweet, they can be helpful if your child loses interest in cold water. And reaching for ice cream or popsicles can help keep your child hydrated if they refuse to eat or drink other things.
Experts often recommend saltwater gargles to calm a sore throat. As salt water coats the mouth and throat, it:
Loosens mucus
Decreases inflammation
Reduces pain
Here’s how to do a saltwater gargle at home:
Mix ½ tsp of salt with 8 oz of warm water.
Ask your child to take a mouthful of this mixture and swish it around.
Then, have them tip their chin up and gargle for about 15 seconds.
Finally, have them spit out the water mixture.
This works better for older children and teens as younger kids can’t always gargle.
Warm fluids can also offer relief for a sore throat. Warm temperatures open up blood vessels in nearby tissues. This can help relax muscles and reduce pain. But be careful to get the right temperature — drinks that are too hot can cause burns and scald injuries. Test the drink before giving it to your child. Aim for a gentle warmth that you can comfortably drink with more than small sips.
For kids over 1 year old, try adding a spoonful of honey to warm water. Honey coats the throat, which can help relieve pain. In addition, honey has anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and antifungal properties.
Herbal teas are warm drinks that bring additional benefits besides the soothing effect of warm temperature. More research is needed, but there’s some evidence that these herbal teas may act as natural remedies for a sore throat:
Chamomile tea: Chamomile has a long history of use for medicinal purposes. It has been used for everything from trouble sleeping to an upset stomach and skin conditions. Recent research has shown that chamomile can soothe sore throats in people with inflammation due to cancer treatments.
Ginger tea: Ginger has been studied mostly for relieving nausea and vomiting. But there’s some evidence it has anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and antibacterial effects. It also contains pain- and fever-reducing compounds, which may make it helpful for managing symptoms of strep throat.
Licorice root tea: Licorice root has been shown to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. One study found that a tea made with thyme, oregano, and licorice root had an antibacterial effect against the Streptococcus bacteria that causes strep throat. However, in large doses over a long period of time, licorice root can cause dangerous electrolyte problems and shouldn’t be used by people who are pregnant.
Slippery elm tea: This tea is made from the inner bark of slippery elm trees. Slippery elm stimulates mucus and saliva. This may help coat the throat and relieve irritation and pain.
Lozenges, tinctures, and syrups made from black elderberries can decrease symptom severity and duration for people with a cold or the flu. But it’s not clear how much they help with throat pain from strep throat. Plus, elderberry hasn’t been well studied in children.
Talk to your healthcare professional before trying a product with elderberry. Keep in mind that supplements, like elderberry, aren’t regulated by the FDA in the same way that over-the-counter (OTC) medications are. So there’s no guarantee that elderberry products contain what they claim.
Echinacea has antiviral and antibacterial properties, including activity against the bacteria which causes strep throat. One study found that a spray made with echinacea and sage relieved sore throats as well as a spray made with an antibacterial (chlorhexidine) and a numbing medicine (lidocaine). But like other supplements, echinacea products aren’t tightly regulated.
The dose of echinacea in the supplement you buy depends on which part of the plant is used, the age of the plant, and the season it’s harvested. More research is needed to determine how to safely use echinacea in kids.
Soft foods don’t necessarily treat strep throat, but maintaining nutrition and hydration while your kid is sick can help them recover. Soft foods are a great choice for kids with strep throat. Here are some soft food examples to try:
Applesauce
Yogurt
Oatmeal
Mashed potatoes
And because they’re usually more irritating to a sore throat, avoid food that is:
Crunchy
Sour
Spicy
Greasy
Salty
Like warm fluids, the warm temperature of soups and broths can provide pain relief. But bone broths (and soups made from bone broth) also contain additional nutrients that can help your kids recover from their illness.
Bone broth has a more “gel-like” consistency than regular broth to help coat the throat, and it’s high in:
Proteins
Electrolytes
Vitamins
Minerals
You can add other throat soothing or antimicrobial ingredients like ginger and garlic to bone broth and soups as well.
Like warm drinks, it’s important to carefully check that the temperature isn’t too hot before giving it to your child. Very hot soup or broth can burn or scald your child’s throat, which will worsen pain.
Strep throat needs to be treated with antibiotics, but antibiotics won’t relieve throat pain right away. That’s where home remedies can help. Cold treats, warm drinks including some herbal teas, and bone broths can soothe strep throat pain. They will also help keep your kid hydrated and nourished while they recover.
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