Homemade Cough Drops for Kids

My husband and I were pondering the other day about how amazing it was that we’d managed to avoid illness the entire cold or flu season. Really, since last summer! Then, BAM! Two hours later my 2 year old wakes up sick and coughing terribly. Isn’t that just how it goes? Poor kiddo. 

We’ve been using essential oils along with all the other recipes and practices that help us get and keep our kids healthy so that little man can get back on his feet again. Three days later he is almost back to his normal self. This time I decided to use the lovely raw honey given to us as a gift to make something new to us: homemade cough drops for kids

When children are coughing they are just miserable. Adults have a hard enough time as it is but those little bodies are made that much more uncomfortable when they have to deal with a racking cough, sore throat, and drainage. However, the cough drops you buy at the store are so hard and I just didn’t feel good about giving them to my kids. So I decided to try out a new recipe and make some homage cough drops that would help him!

Homemade Cough Drops for Kids! LOVE this easy and natural recipe for helping sooth coughing and sore throat while giving a boost to the immune system! No ice cube trays required. :)

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This recipe is super easy. You simply combine all the ingredients and pipe them onto a tray and freeze them. Your kids will love the sweet taste (in fact, you may have to fight off requests for more and more) and they really do help! The ingredients are safe for kids and soothing to their throats and/or help boost their immune system. 

I wondered at whether these would actually help my son’s cough. I can say that they didn’t get rid of it altogether, but they definitely helped. As we’d put him to bed, for example, he’d be coughing a lot and we’d give him two or three of the cough drops to help and it soothed him enough to help him fall asleep. It also seemed to help when he complained about a sore throat from coughing so much. So, I think it’s worth trying this recipe just to see if it works for your kids, too! 

Homemade Cough Drops for Kids

Here’s how to make these. I adapted this from the recipe I found by Coconut Mama. For my version, I found adding more cinnamon and adding lemon worked very nicely. I also found a way to make these without special small ice cube trays since I don’t have those! But you could also spoon the mixture into miniature ice cube trays and freeze those instead.  

Homemade Cough Drops 1

Homemade Cough Drops Coconut Oil 2-2

Homemade Cough Drops raw honey 3

Homemade Cough Drops 4

Homemade Cough Drops hand mixer 5

Homemade Cough Drops no ice cube trays 6

Homemade Cough Drops hearts squeeze bag

Homemade Cough Drops for Kids! LOVE this easy and natural recipe for helping sooth coughing and sore throat while giving a boost to the immune system! No ice cube trays required. :)

First, combine all the ingredients in a bowl. I didn’t show the lemon here but decided to add the juice of one medium lemon (2-3 tbp) as well, remembering how much tea with honey and lemon helps with cough and cold. 

***Update: Some readers have had great results with the recipe as-is and others have said it’s too runny. You may want to try leaving out the lemon juice at first. Add more solidified coconut oil until it’s the right consistency and then add the lemon a bit at a time. Otherwise the kids will be scraping it off the wax paper with their teeth. lol!***

Next, use a whisk or hand blender to whip up your mixture. (I ended up putting it in a larger bowl after spraying myself and the kitchen with it. lol!) I do love my hand blender, but you can also use a regular blender just fine. Then scoop the contents into a ziplock bag and snip the end a bit to make it a piping bag. 

On a cookie sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper, pipe little spirals of the size you want. I got playful and made some hearts I knew would wow the kids. Because I have to maintain my rockstar mom status with my crew, right? 🙂 Cough drop hearts will do that, I’m sure. 

Put your trays in the freezer. You can start using them in about 30 minutes but wait a few hours before removing them from the tray and putting them in a container. I tried them in a bowl and a glass tupperware container and they seemed to stay un-stuck from each other just fine. You definitely want to keep these in the freezer though. Put them on the counter and they will melt in a few minutes! 

5.0 from 2 reviews
Homemade Cough Drops for Kids
Author: 
 
Natural homemade cough drops for kids that soothe their coughing and sore throats while giving them a boost to their immune system!
Ingredients
  • ½ cup coconut oil
  • ½ cup raw honey
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
  1. Use a hand mixer or blender to mix the ingredients well until well combined.
  2. Scoop into a ziplock back and snip a small piece off the corner of the bag.
  3. Squeeze the mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. Spirals, hearts, or other shapes work well.
  4. Freeze for 20 minutes or more before using.
  5. After freezing for a few hours, store in a sealed container in the freezer.

 

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This Post Has 20 Comments

  1. Elise B

    Awesome idea! I wonder how it would be making a pineapple juice batch too (with the coconut oil and smidge of honey) – the bromelain. I usually rotated between warm lemon water with honey and cinnamon, and the pineapple juice when my kiddos got croupy. Worked every time. Loving the added coolness to soothe- thank you!

    1. Tauna

      That’s a fantastic idea! I may try that next time too. Let me know how it goes for you!

  2. Sarah

    Could you use lemon essential oil instead of lemon juice? If so do you know how much?

    1. Tauna

      Hi! I love essential oils and use them all the time with my kids, but I don’t recommend ingesting them, and never for kids. I would just stick with lemon juice! 🙂

  3. gigsy

    this is amazing! i am a fan of coconut oil and essential oils myself! thank you for sharing!
    🙂 🙂 🙂

    1. Tauna

      You’re so welcome! I hope you enjoy them 🙂

  4. Heather

    How do you get a dyste one cohesive mixture without it being so liquid it can’t be piped?

    1. Tauna

      I didn’t have a problem with it being too liquid-y. If you run into that I’d suggest cooling the mixture in the fridge before whipping it up, reducing the amount of lemon or adding more coconut oil. You can see in the pic how solid my coconut oil is, and that’s at room temperature. So it really holds it together.

  5. Theresa

    How long will these keep in the freezer before you have to toss them out? And how large should I pipe the swirls or hearts? (Like tha size of a quarter? Bigger? Smaller?)

    1. Tauna

      In the freezer they last about 6 months. Size depends on the kids. Since mine were treating them like candy I made them small (nickel) but older kids who won’t just tea them can do larger size.

  6. Bethany

    I’ll have to give these a try!

    1. Tauna

      Let me know how you like them 🙂

  7. M

    Can you use regular honey or does it need to be raw?

    1. Tauna Meyer

      Hi! You can use regular honey. You won’t have the added health benefits of raw honey but it will do the job and you’ll still get the benefits of the elderberries and other ingredients!

  8. Diana

    How many a day can I give to my kids (2 and 4 yr olds)?

    1. Tauna Meyer

      I’ve given mine one or two every hour or two if they’re coughing a lot. It’s not going to hurt them. 🙂

  9. Carol

    Can you use something other than coconut oil? My son has many allergies and I am afraid to try this with him because of that ingredient. I am allergic to it also. Thanks!

  10. Elizabeth Engel

    I just tried this and mine came out pretty runny too, I wasn’t careful about the lemon juice though, so that could have been my bad, but I just poured them into some silicone candy molds I have. They aren’t frozen yet, but the concoction tastes like coconut oil candy. I think my kids are going to love them whether or not they help with coughs.

  11. durgawati

    Thanks for good valuable information . very good treatment for cough

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