Recently I was down and out with tonsillitis and it was not a fun experience.
Tonsillitis is one of the many childhood health conditions that children may be exposed to growing up. One thing it did do for me was offer me some insight as to what could help relieve the pain of the sore throat when my girls have their first round of tonsillitis.
Here I am sharing these tips and ideas for tonsillitis relief that I used and for you to use with your children, or possibly even yourself!
These are not alternatives to seeing your Doctor, you should always see your Doctor when it comes to tonsillitis, these are some ways to help alleviate the pain while the medication your Doctor prescribed does its job.
Table of Contents
Straws
If your child has tonsillitis this utensil will be their best friend.
It hurts to take it large spoonful’s and a straw will allow them to take it as much or as little as they can handle.
Whether it be applesauce, tea or soup, it allows the child to take little sips and avoid the pain of swallowing large amounts.
Herbal Tea
Find the best fruit flavors you can find.
Celestial Seasonings offers a great assortment pack with delicious flavors such as blueberry, raspberry and peach.
Be sure the tea is at a nice tepid temperature before offering it to your child.
Add a little unpasteurized honey and lemon juice to the tea to help aid in healing.
Honey
Unpasteurized honey has great healing and soothing qualities.
Best of all, because it is so thick it coats the throat and offers a little relief from the pain.
Soup
Whether it is home made or from a box, soup is a great way to ensure your child is getting some nutrients into their body during a time when it is impossible to eat any food.
Try to find one, or make one, with no chunky bits in it.
If it’s not in a liquid form it is very painful to swallow.
It also makes it very easy to drink with a straw.
Pacific brand makes absolutely delicious organic soups.
Bed Recommendations
This is so important!
Be sure to have a nice comfortable bed for them to sleep in and have their head propped up with at least two pillows.
It’s amazing how much your mouth salivates when you have tonsillitis and this will help prevent the saliva from just draining to the back of their throat as it hurts so bad to swallow.
Lay a towel over their pillows to help catch the saliva that they can’t swallow.
Also have an extra blanket near by for when the cold chills take over.
Warm Compress
One of the worst parts about having tonsillitis is that you can feel the pain, but you can’t access it.
Having a warm compress to lay on your neck helps to alleviate some of the pain that your little one is feeling.
Don’t make it hot, you don’t want to hurt them, just warm enough to help with the pain of the swelling in their glands.
Spit Cup
Yes, it sounds gross and it is, but with the pain of swallowing it’s a life saver.
Have a designated cup near by them at all times so when their mouth salivates they can spit it into the cup rather than having to swallow it.
Bath
Great idea to help combat the cold shivers.
If your child is young do not leave them in the bath alone.
Be prepared, they may want more than one a day!
I had up to three a day and it felt great each and every time.
Cold Compress
Whether it is a cold compress from the store, a cold cloth or even a frozen cloth (wet a cloth and place it in the freezer) these work amazing to help bring down temperatures associated with a fever.
Remember, a fever is the bodies natural way of helping fight a virus and it’s actually a good thing!
Popsicle’s
These are a great idea to help relieve the throat from its pain.
I highly recommend making your own by simply blending fresh or frozen fruit with some honey for sweetness and freezing them.
Store bought popsicles are loaded with sugar and sugar is the last thing their bodies need when they are sick.
Ice Cream & Jello
I recommend no ice cream or jello.
I know, I know… you hear all the time to have ice cream and jello when you have a sore throat.
My reasoning, there is so much sugar in both of these items and that doesn’t help the body heal, also, milk is very hard for the body to digest and the last thing a sick child or their parents want is the runs.
And remember!
Toothbrush
When the virus has passed and you are feeling better you must throw out your toothbrush and replace it with a new one.
The old toothbrush will be covered in the bacteria from the illness.
Readers that found this article useful also read Tips on Brushing your Teeth for Kids, Tips for Helping Your Child this Cold and Flu Season, How to Prevent SIDS and Healthy Snack Ideas for Busy Kids.
My husband had to have his out. Great ideas on coping!@
Tonsillitis was so painful when I had it in junior high. Great advice!
I hope you are doing better now!! I probably would have forgotten to replace the toothbrush! Great tips!
It sounds painful. I’ve never experienced it, thankfully. These are great tips though.
I am old enough that my tonsils were removed when I was a child. I recently had a terrible sore throat, however, and wish I had this list! I agree with you about the honey. It’s a THROAT SAVER.
So far so good for us, we haven’t had any issues with tonsils yet, but I will keep these tips in mind if it does happen.
So far neither the hubby or I or any of our kiddos has had to deal with this. It seems like it would hurt like crazy.
I agree about the no ice cream, my doctor said that since its so think i can coat your throat in a bad way and cause salvia to build up. She also said that anything high in sugar thats not natural is bad. She even suggested to drink orange juice, but to do half oj and half water. The acid from citrus can cut through mucus, however, make sure they eat. My first round it was too hard to eat, but i managed to get some glasses of OJ down, and man did i have massive acid reflex.