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The season of colds does not spare pregnant women either. After all, it’s 9 long months, and sometimes it’s hard to protect yourself from raging infections, even when you take exceptional care of yourself. When the disease catches up, you will certainly want to reach for the medicines and preparations that you used before. However, be careful: during pregnancy, without consulting a doctor, you should not use any pharmacy specifics. Even if it’s just vitamins and cough syrup – you have to be careful and try other, safer and natural methods.
The period when you need to be most careful is the first trimester of pregnancy. Then you have to follow the above rule extremely rigorously, although there are over-the-counter drugs available on the market that can harm the development of the fetus at any stage of pregnancy. That is why the first step in dealing with a cold during this period of life should be to save yourself with home remedies. In the event of the development of the disease or their ineffectiveness, it is necessary to visit a doctor. He will prescribe medications that are both effective for you and safe for your baby.
Mother-to-be fever. What to do?
In the case of fever, there are two situations: either it will not exceed 38 degrees and you can wait it out (“sweat”), or it will exceed this temperature and then it is necessary to cool down the body. Lowering the fever is necessary when the thermometer shows more than 38 degrees, so as not to harm the baby. For this purpose, it is good to drink linden infusion (it has a fever-reducing effect), and cool down with water in the shower or bathtub (but not icy!). The drug that can be used in case of fever is paracetamol, but no more than two tablets a day and a maximum of 2-3 days. If the fever doesn’t go away after this time, see your doctor.
Natural remedies for sore throats and coughs
In case of sore throat, you can use lozenges, but only those that are allowed for pregnant women (this information appears on the packaging or leaflet). Another way is to make a poultice for the throat with hot, mashed potatoes, wrapped in a linen towel. It will also be good to drink warm milk with honey and garlic, or gargle with infusions of sage, chamomile, or water with two teaspoons of baking soda.
Coughing can be dangerous, especially when it is frequent and intense. This can cause uterine contractions and faster labor. If you feel unwell, it’s best to go see your doctor. From home methods, it is good to use onion syrup for wet cough – cut three small onions into cubes, mix in half a glass of honey and leave it for 4 hours, then add 50 ml of water and leave for 3 hours. The syrup prepared in this way can be drunk on a teaspoon three times a day. Dry cough (for expectorant purposes) will be helped by drinking liquorice infusion, marshmallow, linseed solution and ginger decoction.
Remedy for a stuffy nose
Self-selected nasal drops should not be used as they may be harmful to the fetus. Instead, you can rinse your nose with a solution of sea salt or saline, and use hot water inhalations with salt or peppermint oil. Ways for a runny nose you will also find in the kitchen – eating natural antibiotics (garlic and onion), and smelling and eating horseradish will help.