Each morning during the last couple of days she would get up, cough a bit, then drink her milk, claim it makes her cough, cough some more. Today (Saturday, but of course) she already complained about a sore throat. I started going over her medicine cabinet in my head, but nothing is against a sore throat there.

What would I do to relieve my own pain? Suck something like Strepsils or Lemosin. Lemosine is not indicated for usage in children under 12 years. Strepsils is, but it is a hard candy, and she is not allowed that till the age of 5. Milk and honey might help, but she might be allergic to honey.

I started explaining to her how important it is not to swallow, but only to suck. Cold sweat ran over my back imagining me sitting next to her for long minutes, waiting for her to (not) choke on the medicine. Trying to do Heimlich maneuver on her with a fragile piece of lozenge, when it is close to the end, or is it worse to attempt it with a big, slippery new lozenge? I needed a way to always hold the lozenge in her mouth. I was not going to let her choke.

Solution: garlic. Garlic is sold in a Nylon net. I washed the net, inserted the lozenge in, and told Yael to hold the edges of the net in her hand, while keeping her mouth closed.

She enjoyed the taste, the feeling of being grown up, and ... the relief of throat ache.