My son is now on his third cold in 12 weeks (well he has only been out of me for 12 weeks!) and is finally old enough for me to be able to buy products that will ease his symptoms. Having taken care of his light cough with a baby linctus and his low grade fever with Calpol, his runny nose was next on my list to deal with. With my first I panicked every time I had to give her medicine but this time around, with a busy four year old to look after, a house to run and a husband who works long hours and is often abroad I am much more relaxed!

With my daughter I relied on Olbas as a decongestant, but having come to the end of a bottle I opted for Karvol decongestant drops instead which was the only option in my nearest shop. The drops worked out much cheaper than the 12 decongestant capsules (£2.41 to £2.61 with more than 12 uses) so I picked up a bottle and added it to the pile of medicine in my basket (alas both my daughter and myself have this cold and I am up and down multiple times in the night at the moment).

The instructions are very straightforward, drip 6 drops of the oil onto a handkerchief and inhale the vapours whilst keeping out of the reach of children-which is much easier with a non-mobile baby than an inquisitive four year old. Adults and older children can also use the drops in a pint of hot water and inhale the vapours that way. The packaging suggests that you should take care using hot water which made me laugh, having reached the ripe old age of almost 28 I am (almost) completely aware of how to handle hot water. Like most useful medicines this is not for use on children under the age of 3 months. Direct contact with skin should be avoided, so don't go dripping it up your nose or anything. It doesn't say on the packaging how often it needs to be topped up, but I have found that one application on a handkerchief a day is not enough and have been adding more every 6-12 hours.

The oils are a mix of pine, cinnamon and menthol but obviously there are more ingredients than this listed, most of them with incomprehensible names. The bottle is small and easy to lose so I have been making sure I keep it in an obvious place and making the effort to return it after every use. In the general chaos of my house it has rolled under a pile of tissues and off the sofa several times, causing mild panic and more chaos as I shift stuff around whilst trying to find it. It would certainly benefit from a luminous top or brighter packaging! Once opened it has a lid designed to control the amount of liquid dripped out and if upended there is a delay before the product starts to flow, very useful for people who are inclined to knock things over - especially as this stuff will strip painted/polished surfaces.

So after all that does it work? Well I have noticed a distinct lack of success on my stuffed up nose, but then I am not really in one place long enough to help it to work as there always seems to be something to be done, or a child to be comforted. However my son is definitely sleeping easier at night and his nose is less runny. Visitors have commented on the pungent medicinal smell, which is not entirely unpleasant (but then I cant really smell it anyway!), although I have found these menthol type drops can give me a headache overtime if I am not ill myself. Overall there is no way I would buy this over a decongestant tablet or spray, this is definitely one to use when there is no other viable alternative i.e. for babies and small children. My product of choice for slightly older children is Vicks Vapourub on the chest, but for young babies I am concerned about accidentally transferring this to their hands or face by accident during application or nappy/clothes change. So this product fills the gap/ is a useful addition to the power of Vicks.