How to Use a Steam Tent — Asthma, Coughs, Ear Infections, Sinus Infections

I may receive a commission if you purchase through links in this post. I am not a doctor; please consult your practitioner before changing your supplement or healthcare regimen. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

How to Use a Steam Tent shares the different times when steam tents are helpful, and what conditions they aid. For both kids and adults, steam tents work well to relieve pain, pressure, mucous and various symptoms associated with cold and flu.

How we started using steam tents in our family

I have lots of experience with getting through a night of coughing — my daughter’s coughing. Laying awake listening to her cough, not sleeping. Getting up with her. Talking to the naturopathic doctor in the middle of the night.

My daughter’s now 24. But from the time when she was teeny her colds’ “go-to” were her lungs and a cough. She eventually, at the age of 7, was diagnosed with a bad case of asthma. (See her full story of recovery here.)

Over the years, for the coughs, we tried teas, vaporizers, humidifiers, steamy showers in the middle of the night and natural remedies, thankfully bi-passing the artificial cough syrup medicines that are so popular among worried parents.

Steam tents

In the end I found the answer in a very simple remedy: the steam tent. We love this method.

I’m excited to share with you just how easy it is to bring relief and to provide you with a solution, too — safe for kids, gentle, great for adults, and effective.

Update– In 2015 our family had a long-lasting virus. Three of us got painful ear infections. I learned from the experience that steam tents also help with ear infections. They release the pressure caused by excess fluid in the nasal and ear canals.

Spending as long as twenty five minutes in a steam tent can bring relief. 

How to use a steam tent

Clove is our favorite essential oil for a steam tent (find it here). We also like peppermint (here) and rosemary (here) and have found them both to be effective. (Caution: Eucalyptus [find it here] is effective for adults but not recommended for children.) You can make a blend of more than one. 

You may also exclude essential oils entirely, and just use water.

This is how it works:

1. Bring a saucepan of water, or a deep skillet of water, to a boil.
2. Turn off the heat.
3. Add 1 drop essential oil. (Optional)
4. Have your patient (which may be you) sit down at a kitchen table comfortably.
5. Place a hot pad on the table directly in front of them, and have them scoot their chair in close.
6. Bring the steaming water, and place it right in front of them, on top of the hot pad. Remind the patient not to touch the hot pot. (Alternately, pour the boiled water into a room temperature bowl.) Be careful they don’t burn themselves, so stay nearby if they’re young.
   
7. Have them lean their face directly over the steam (starting slowly), placing two bracing arms on either side of the pot, so they can support their leaning weight comfortably.
8. Drape a large dish towel over their head, and a bit over their shoulders, so the cloth creates a kind of tent. They can back off a bit if the steam is too hot or the oil’s vapors are too strong, adjusting their head position so they’re comfortable with the amount of heat on their face. They may like to keep their eyes shut at first.
9. They’re now inside the tent with the healing steam.
10. The patient should hang out inside their healing tent until the steam stops, about fifteen minutes, or as long as twenty five. (I have *ahem* bribed my kids to stay under their tents, too, when they haven’t wanted to cooperate, by letting them watch a movie on my propped up phone.)

Some patients will continue to cough during this process and even need to get up once or twice to cough up huge amounts of phlegm. (A small dish nearby, or tissues, are handy for spitting up mucus and blowing the nose.)

Good: This scenario is making a moist environment in the lungs. The mucus is breaking up. And by the time the tent is no longer steamy it’s likely your patient’s cough will be 75% better, if not more so. (I am not exaggerating. It is wonderfully effective!)

Going to sleep after a steam tent, if it’s night time, may cause a few more coughs, as the patient’s body adjusts to post-nasal drip and lying down again (or prop them up). But the coughs in our cases have abated quickly and long, quiet, peaceful sleep has followed.

This is our experience and is in no way meant to replace or serve as a doctor’s advice.

Steam tents for all ages

I have, by the way, used this approach with all members of our family. It’s so cool to see an 11-year-old boy excited about how effective a natural remedy is. And it’s amazing to experience oneself the transformation in fifteen minutes, from feeling desperately awful to feeling better. When our youngest was five, he seemed to pride himself on his tent time, like he was a big enough boy to do it, showing us how long he could hang out in there.

We went through multiple colds with the sweet question, “Can I do a steam tent?”

And my daughter occasionally thinks she doesn’t like them now; but then she does one and remembers how effective they are … and so she sets time aside before bed to do one when she has a cold!