warm wraps

Home to the wonderful gift of a snowy day.

It doesn't happen often, we are lucky if we get it once every couple of years, so when it does we take to the streets.

One definite advantage of living on steep streets is the ride you get all the way to the sea and by 9am the streets had filled up with people playing on skis and plastic sheets and anything that might give them a bit of a slide.

With this cold weather came the first bout of snuffles for the year.

Sky still has a chesty cough lingering from our trip away so now we are home and have supplies at hand I have been applying a chest compress at night.

My girls are healthy and have fairly robust constitutions it seems but over the years it has been reassuring to have a kit of home nursing practices (many are found here) that I can apply to support their healing in times of illness.

And anyway, you know how it is, sometimes the mama just needs something to do.

Applying compresses for different symptoms has become a nurturing ritual in our home and the associated warmth, smell and touch creates an atmosphere of love and caring which is hard to beat when you feel miserable.

Early on I created a "compress kit" of different sized cloths.

An old felted baby's woolen blanket and a couple of old flannel cotton sheets cut into lengths for leg compresses (these can double for the throat) and torso-sized cloths.

A few of each and long enough to wrap around generously.

I also have a few muslin cloths (note to self: need to do a post on onion compresses) and two muslin pockets with carded wool inside (for added warmth without adding weight).
For the chesty cough I lay out a woolen and a cotton torso-sized cloths. I roll each end separately (as above) for ease of wrapping and then I fill the hotty placing it on the cloths to warm. I lay a smaller sized cotton cloth (chest-sized) out and liberally apply drops of eucalyptus esssential oil and lavendar until well covered and place this on the hotty and then fold it over (as below).

Carry this all to the child's beside and place cloth where the child can lay back onto it.

Place oiled cloth on chest and firmly wrap first the cotton and then the woolen cloth around whole torso. Either pin in place with safety pin or hold in place by pulling over a snug woolen singlet (this may be easier with a wriggly toddler).

In the morning remove compress and place oiled cloth in a ziploc bag to use again that evening.

My ramblings may sound fairly daunting but don't be put off.

Try it out as best you can and you will figure out what works for you - that was my initial method.

The girls are so fond of these compresses Ruby also has one tonight - lavender around the chest for a restful sleep and a touch of eucalyptus just for good measure .