Herbal Remedies for Kids

Usually, I like to try out things for awhile before I start telling everyone about my experiences with them. But this information seems too good not to share! I cannot believe that it took me so long to discover these herbal alternatives.

Baby S has been struggling with an unidentified cold, feverish, teething something or other for the last 3 plus weeks. Perhaps partly a result of the shots he got at his annual exam a couple weeks ago?
Baby S has also already had 2 back-to-back ear infections this winter, the antibiotic treatments for which gave him diarrhea for about 3 weeks. Not pleasant. And yes, I was feeding him kefir and yogurt for probiotics that entire time. In any case, I decided to try to ride it out this time without going to the doctors for yet another antibiotic.

I referred to my favorite herablist, Rosemary Gladstar's book, and am really pleased with how well all of her suggestions worked. She has a whole chapter full of ideas for treating common children's illnesses.

1. Ear infection - For preventative and treatment, I used Garlic and Mullein Oil drops. Just drip 3 drops in each ear while they lay on each side for 5-10 minutes letting it work its way down.  Also RG suggests warming the oil a little is good too.
Their are so many cool things about these drops - first, they start working immediately! Mullein reduces the pain and garlic is anti-infection. They are available over the counter, have no ill side effects, and can be kept on hand for all those late night wake-up calls. Adults, children, and infants can use them. I have already had occasion to use them on all 3 of my kiddos (sad right?) and so far it's been amazing.

2. Cold/Sinus Infection - I made some Elderberry Syrup with Elderberry juice, honey, and echinacea & goldenseal extract.

Now that I know about their great medicinal properties, I will try to plant and gather my own Elderberries and Echinacea in future, but for now had to just buy some extracts at the Vitamin Shoppe. My recipe was a guess since I did not have the same exact ingredients as in the book.

My Rough Recipe:

•  1/2 a dropper of echinacea (which tastes terrible, but is well masked by the other ingredients)
• 2 tablespoons local honey
• 10 droppers of Elderberry extract
• Fill the rest of the jar with warm water
• Shake well at each use

I used my pipette to feed baby S as much as he would drink. For some reason he liked the pipette better than the spoon? and it was a bit tidier that way too. I tried to give him some 2-3 times a day for those days that his cold seemed the worst (3-4 days).  Maybe it was just the tail end of the cold, but his runny nose is gone and he seems to be back to his old self.

3. Teething and Colic - I know it seems weird to group these two things together! RG suggested that Hyland's Baby Herbal Colic Remedy works great for teething babies, perhaps even better than their teething specific remedy.  I found that the Vitamin Shoppe also carried these little tablets and so brought some home to try as well. I switched from giving baby S tylenol when he woke up screaming in the middle of the night and would not be soothed to giving him these. Wow! it was amazing. He calmed right down 2 nights in a row.  On the 3rd night I gave him some before he went to sleep and we both had our first night of uninterrupted sleep in over a week. Detractors might argue that his teething just got better on his own, but I am so happy to have these in my medicine cabinet!