Oregano is a plant originally cultivated in the Mediterranean regions. It is known for as a natural remedy for a variety of ailments ranging from cough, colds, bronchitis, asthma to the common flu.
In the provinces, it is popularly used as a common household remedy for coughs and known to help with phlegm.
Said to be powerful remedy, oregano can kill most viruses on contact, including the common cold.
It is classified as a powerful immune system stimulant and is said to increase WBC count and lymph flow. These help boost the immune system and help the body build a greater defense versus viruses.
Oregano acts to reduce the severity of the common cold and is said to help eliminate chills, stuffy nose, congestion, cough , ear aches and fevers.
Norman R. Farnsworth, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois at Chicago reported that, thymol (found in oregano) can be used to help loosen phlegm in the lungs.
Given the current round of viruses going on, I’ ve decided to test this theory out on my kids who’ve coughing with the sound of phlegm in their lungs for the past week.
First, pick a bunch of oregano leaves. In my case there’s a lot of them because 2 of my children are drinking it 3x a day. Soak them in drinking water, change water around 3 x, add a little salt and apple cider vinegar to kill bacteria.
Per child, pick out five leaves. Don’t forget to rinse the leaves in drinking water and to wash your hands carefully. Now, put the leaves in a shallow bowl with 60 ml of hot drinking water for 3 minutes.
Throw out the water after 3 minutes and start squeezing the leaves into a pulp.
Start squeezing the leaves until you get the brownish juices out, each batch of five leaves should give you around 20 ml of water.
Transfer to a small plastic beaker and use a small syringe up dropper to put the oregano water extract in.
Now, put the syringe in your child’s mouth and have him drink it. My Little Prince is drinking this straight without any sugar or flavoring whatsoever.
I find that oregano was helpful in bringing down the extent of the coughs and cold. But nothing beats getting enough rest, vitamin C and fluids.
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hi! my baby (4 mos) is also coughing with the wheezing sound with phlegm on her lungs. She had anti biotics meds but her wheezing phlegm just won’t go away. I’ve heard about oregano but doesn’t have any idea how to give it to her. Do you know how much or what’s the advisable dosage for infants? any advice would be much appreciated! 🙂
Hi Mae. I’m sad to hear about your baby. My pediatrician Dr. Joseph Regalado (holds clinic at Cardinal Santos) asked me not to give oregano to children less than 2 years old since they have difficulty coughing out the phelgm. Better ask your pediatrician on the best thing to do.
My daughter who is 1 year 9 months had a long bout of wheezing phelgm and we had to nebulize for more than a week with ventolin and after that combivent. You’ll need a nebulizer for that, better get a disposable mask and tube for your nebulizer as well.
Steaming with a Kaz steamer helps loosen phlegm, and so does gentle tapping with a cupped hand on the baby’s back to loosen the phelgm.
Do take care. Hope your baby gets better soon.
salamat talaga pwede namin itong gamitin sa aming ip thank u!!!!!!!
Hi Rennie,
You are very much welcome, I am glad I ws able to help
Hi 🙂 We greatly appreciate this article 🙂 Thank you for posting this.
Hi Sharmaine,
You are truly welcome 🙂
Hello
Thanks for the info on how to clean and wash the oregano.
i recently used oregano for my son through my friend’s adviced.
My son always got bad cough with wheezing phlegm. The doctors here (UAE) always gave him a shot of antiobitic (for viral infection) and oral antibiotics.
But you know, the cough w/ phlegm won’t go away. I decided not to give more medicine for my son. When i started using oregano, I was so amazed on how this “thing” are more effective than medicine. In just 4 days, my son’s flu and bad cough gone away.
By the way, my son’s age is 8 months old.
I also used nebulizer with saline water to loosen phlegm and blocked nose.
If you have any more info about herbal, pls. i will be delighted if you will send that info thru my email.
Thank you!!
Hi Marian,
Thanks for taking the time to write. I’m so glad to hear that oregano was able to help your child. And I really wouldn’t keep giving antibiotics for colds
if unnecessary. Drinking lots of water, vitamin C and using saline drop solution usually works for us along with the oregano.
If you have to give antibiotics, please make sure to give your child probiotics to replace the good bacteria in the gut. : )
Hi Marian,
You’re very much welcome : )
Hi Ma’am Marian,
am glad it was so helpful for your child 🙂
hi! is there a specific type of oregano that must be used? have an oregano plant but its italian oregano – origanum vulgare hirtum. thanks! 🙂
Thanks for the information about oregano. My daughter also has wheezing sound and also a productive cough, her pedia always advised her to take anti-histamine, bronchodilator and antibiotic everytime we visited. Now I decided to give her herbal instead of chemical medicine through the advise of my friend. I just hope that her cough will go away in a few days.
Good Day My son is almost 4 months and he has a cough and cold for about a week and every night he is awake because of his cough there are times that after he is done with his milk and when his cough strikes he spill all of the milk. and I am worrying because he loose his weight just because he cannot drink his milk well. one of my office mate told me that oregano is good for the cough of my baby but I am still worrying because i don’t think that if it is safe for my baby to use the oregano as remedy. My baby is taking an antibiotic to relieve his cough and cold but it doesn’t work. please help me what i am going to do. thank you…
Hi Cristine, i have not been checking my blog for a while. Since your child is 4 months old, are you breastfeeding? what kind of milk is he drinking? I would suggest switching to goat’s milk like DG or Nanny brand in the long term and more digestible compared to cow’s milk. I’d use soy milk formula for the week, Because milk will increase your child’s mucus production. To be honest, I have not used oregano on any of my children at 4 months old. What I learned from my pediatrician before is that you have to also make sure that you are using a nasal aspirator. Pls. make sure that your nasal aspirator works and pumps out mucus. Sometimes, the cough is post nasal drip. So you have to deal with the cold first. Please make sure that your child is drinking a lot of water as well. Make sure that your child spends time breathing hot steam from a vaporizer 2x a day so that if there is phlegm or mucus it’s loosened. Good luck.
Hi Ms. Cristine, I am sorry I did not get to reply to you. How is your son now? I hope he’s breastfed because that’s the only way of ensuring that he gets all the proper nutrients. My child was sickly on cow’s milk. I didn’t realize later on that he was allergic to it. I switched him to goat’s milk.
Hello,
Good Day Thank you for the Information, I did not breastfeed anymore beacuse I am working but before i used to for about 2 weeks then after that i stop.His milk is Bonna a cow’s MIlk. I also buy a nasal aspirator but it doesn’t work. My mother-in-law suggest me also to have hot steam from vaporizer for breathing but when i will do that a week before she told me about that were glad that our baby is already fine he already surpass the cough and cold.. we found out that my baby has a strain at the back of his armpit and after the soft massage from the hilot then after a days my baby already survive on it…. I am a First time Mom and Im glad that there is a site like this one that sharing of our thoughts, and I Really appreciate your immediate response on my first comment here in your site.. Thank you again more power and God Bless…
Thanks so much for this information. I know that this particular medicinal plant is very effective, and is readily available (in some places). The weather for the past weeks made many kids sick and my daughter is no exception. It will worry us at some point when we realized that our children have been taking in so much medicines already, including antibiotics. My neighbor has planted oregano plants in her lawn. She uses the oregano leaves to cure her children’s coughs and colds. I also use it for my daughter. It works.
Hi Liezel, thank you for your comments and for making my work on this blog matter. Yes I do agree with you that the weather as well as the pollution is making our kids sick. I do try to avoid antibiotics as much as possible. If I can get away with proper rest, enough liquids, vitamin C and no junkfood, that ‘s the life I let my kids live. Thank you and God Bless You for sharing.
thanks to you,
po
Hi! I find this information very helpful – Thanks for sharing your inputs 🙂 Just a quick question, would you know if giving oregano juice to a 4 year old everyday is safe? Or should it be given only when he has a cough? I want it to be more of a preventive measure, so I was thinking to give it to my son everyday…..is it okay?
Hi Jackie, i think oregano should only be given for certain kinds of cough.
hi!Can i give oregano syrup for my 1 year and 9mos old son?He has been coughing for almost a week and he cant sleep restfully.
Thanks!Have a good one
Hi Good day my 4 mos old son has a cough and flu.. im buttered bcoz almost a week he had this kind of cough and flu. our pedia always give chemical medicine like antibiotics. im just wondering if my son is capable to use organic medicine like oregano.. if its not what is the usefull way that we will do to prevent that cough and flu of my son. do you also familiar with warm steam vaporizer? i want to know if that technology also work to prevent cough and flu of my son? and what is thbe usually cause of cough and flu of babies? please help me.. thank you..
Hi CArlo, I am sorry for the late reply. I’m not a fan of antibiotics, and if you do use it, make sure to ask for probiotics. One of the doctors I like going to is Dr. Joseph Regalado of CArdinal Santos because he doesn’t prescribe antibiotics unless your child really needs it.
Again, for a 4 month old, I ‘m not sure you should use and is your oregano free from exposure to car fumes. Steam vaporizer is good when there’s a lot of phlegm that needs to come out.
You might be interested in seeing this link to give you an idea of the how the common cold happens in babies.
Hi my daughter is 3 months old now. She use to suffer from cough. My mother in law suggest to give her oregano. After 3 days her cough gone. Now I believe oregano is effective to cure cough even for baby 3 months old.
Hi Ryan, I haven’t personally tried on kids that young but wow, I ‘m glad that it helped your daughter so much. 🙂 God Bless
Is it safe for babies 3 mos.old totake oregano my baby has a cold and now he is coughing… thanks
Hi i honestly haven’t tried it on a 3 month old. Try talking with your pediatrician first. Please make sure that your oregano is not exposed to car fumes as well.
My son having cough for almost 1 week already and i remembered my parents used this Herbal.
Please advise if my son can take but he is a G6PD baby.Thank you
I’d suggest you ask your doctor po to be sure.
Hi my son had a g6pd to can I ask if he can take it to.
I think it’s best to ask your pediatrician.
good morning!
my baby is 11 mos. old. Is it okey for her to take the oregano?
Hi Mommy,
11 mos old might be a little too young.
good morning!
Can i use any kind of vinegar for cleaning the oregano leaves?
Hi Liza, white vinegar is fine. I use Del Monte.
My daughter is 5 yrs old… she has cough for 2 weeks now even taking cough med.. ive read your article just now…how often should i give her oregano in a day?
Hi Rizzie, there’s a herbal formulation called Lagundi which is good and you can ask your pediatrician for the right dosage. For oregano, I would give it to my child 2x a day.
What will going to do I read about steam vaporizing what is the procedure doing this?thanks
Hi Myla you’ll need a vaporizer. Mercury Drug would carry either Vicks or Kaz steamers. You can add a little pinch of salt to the steamer, the warm air will help clear nasal passages.
I see how timeless this blog is, it still helps people like me up to this day. Thanks for the tips. I was looking for articles on oregano, if it is fit to be given to babies less than 6 mos old. I have a baby who has been receiving it since he is 6 months and he is a happy, pink baby boy thanks to oregano and lagundi.. Pedia approves of it, so I am not worried.. What I do though is I cold-process it. After washing, I pulp it with a strainer and get the juice sans heat, so what baby gets is juice straight from the herb garden..
Thank you so much Anne. I hope your baby is thriving well 🙂