It was all about the honey, mummy

Forget the vast array of whizzy drugs available these days, because the oldest and most basic solutions to baby ills are still the ones that work best - fact.

To explain, Jamie had the worst cold in his little history yesterday. Runny nose, sneezing etc etc (you'll no doubt be familiar). But by far the worst symptom was his cough which, without exaggeration, was the roughest I've seen in man, woman or baby.

He was literally coughing every 10 seconds all morning and afternoon, meaning he couldn't get to sleep - having already been up pretty much the whole of the previous night. Clearly, neither good nor pleasant and he was very, very down.

Vanessa and I gave him as much Calpol, Nurofen and Glycerol as we were allowed, plus as many fluids as he could drink. But all to little avail.

As we approached his bedtime and the prospect of another horrific night for everyone, I logged on to t'Internet to see if anyone in cyberworld had a bright idea. And I kept getting the same suggestion - a teaspoonful of honey.

So I went to the shop, got a pot of honey, said a prayer and forced a dollop down him (very much against his will). And within 20 minutes, his cough had all but gone.

It would be wrong not to point out that he did stir occasionally over the next few hours, but that is pretty much par for the course with our man on a normal night. And, in the end, he slept through until shortly after 6am. I call that a result.

It's bizarre but it's also true: "old-fashioned" remedies almost always do work best - and honey rocks.

A brief aside before I go, I read this morning that that pillar of virtue Ed Balls (pictured right) is planning to issue a 10-page guide to tell me and every other father in the country how to be a dad.

Well, he can **** off.

(Sorry, had to get that off my chest).