Cough in children is very distressing to witness. It disturbs the whole family, especially mums. More than often, when we see a child, he has already had all kinds of medications, which, in our opinion, may aggravate cough in some way, for example repeated intake of antibiotics results in the generation of dampness, and heat in some cases as well. We understand this is a stressful process, so, is there an easy and effective to deal with cough?

From western perspective, cough is just a symptom, which can be caused by many reasons, such as virus, bacterial, allergies, etc. In Chinese medicine, cough is seen as a disorder of lung qi failing to descend and disperse throughout the body, resulting in qi rising up rebelliously. There are five patterns: wind-cold, wind-heat, wind-dryness, phlegm, deficiency.

According to experience, soaking feet in ai ye, a natural Chinese herb, is very effective to wind-cold and phlegm patterns.

Wind-cold pattern: When external pathogenic factors attack the body via nose and skin, lung qi becomes obstructed, lung function impaired, cough occurs.

Phlegm pattern: Child’s spleen is delicate, and easily affected by food and drink. Consequently spleen is unable to transform food and drink, thus phlegm generated. Then phlegm rise up into the lung, obstructing its function, cough occurs.

In Chinese medicine theory, ai ye (also known as Mugwort Leaf, Folium artemisiae argyi, Artemisia argyi Levl. et Vant), is warm in property, and is associated with spleen, liver and kidney meridians. Its main functions are to warm the meridians and stop bleeding, to dispel cold and warm channels, and to calm fetus. In this case, ai ye is used to warm meridians and promote the circulation of qi and blood. Feet are the places where many acu-points locate and foot-channels connect. When qi is regulated, lung function becomes normal, cough alleviated.

How to do it?

Boil 500-1500ml (details see below) water first, put 5-50g ai ye in, boil for another 15min, remove ai ye leaves, pour liquid into a basin/washbowl.

Steam heat your feet by putting them on edge of bowl while water is still hot. You may cover feet with a towel (a bit bigger than the bowl) to prevent steam from evaporate quickly.

Soak feet in water when water temperate is desirable.

Soak for 10-15min, once every night, preferably before going to bed. Cough can be alleviated in 3-5 days.

Dosage for reference:

Younger than 3 years: 10g ai ye + 500ml boiling water

3-7 years: 20-30g ai ye + 1000ml boiling water

Older than 7 years: 30-50 ai ye + 1500ml boiling water

PS: ai ye is not suitable to yin deficiency and heat-in-blood pattern.