Green Daily

When your child has a cold, there's plenty of reasons to steer clear of medications. For starters, it's hard to dispose of them properly, and, more importantly, they may be dangerous, leading many doctors recommend against them. That said, your child will inevitably catch colds from time to time, and there's nothing worse than watching your kid suffer through an illness -- so what's a parent to do?

Check this out: last week we brought you the news that honey stops coughing better than over-the-counter drugs, and now a new study has discovered another natural solution to the common cold -- salt water. European researchers found that a nasal spray made from Atlantic Ocean seawater was able to not only reduce cold symptoms in children ages six to ten, but it also kept coughs and colds from returning.

Of course, this isn't the first time it's been suggested that saline solutions might be helpful in treating colds -- but up until now, there wasn't much proof. This new research strongly suggests that, at least in children, the salt water actually made a difference.

So next time your kid's a snotty, aching mess and you're too worried to try medication, you might use a natural solution instead.