Guest Author - Carolyn Chambers Clark, RN, EdD

Why not use over-the-counter (OTC) drugs for your kids?

A Journal of the American Medical Association survey showed that parents use OTC drugs 70% of the time, dspite evidence that cough and cold medicines are often ineffective and sometimes produce adverse reactions in preschool children.

What can you use instead?

Herbs are much safer when used in suggested quantities and don't have the negative effects of drugs.

How to use herbs for baby's and young child's minor distress

Place a small amount of a powdered herb in baby's applesauce, or offer baby or child a few sips of weak tea (1 teaspoon of herb in 1 cup boiling water, cover and strain after 10 minutes); for older children, freeze teas into Popsicle-like treats, mixing them with apple juice first.

* Bed-wetting starts about age 3 and can continue until middle school. Avoid liquids prior to bedtime, provide vitamin E 200 IU, l,000 mg calcium + 500 mg magnesium (to reduce bladder cramping that forces urine out), multi mineral, sesame seeds (are high in calcium; sprinkle in child's cereal or spread sesame butter on whole grain bread); slightly before bedtime offer a teaspoon or two of apple cider vinegar (or diluted vitamin C powder or plain diluted cranberry juice without sweetener) in juice to acidify the urine and help with bed-wetting.

* Colic: catnip, fennel, peppermint or any combination of these herbs in a tea can help.

* Contipation: licorice root tea ( is sweet and tasty); benefits kid's bones; take child off cow's milk (a recent study showed that 21 out of 27 children under age 3 had more stools, and less discomfort and anal fissures without 3 days of having cow's milk removed from the diet.)

* Cough: 1/2 ounce of cherry bark or coltsfoot tea

* Diaper Rash: Calendula cream, yarrow oil, paste of powdered acidophilus with water, mullein leaf, or slippery elm used internally in juice or applied as a paste. Garlic water can help, too.

* Diarrhea: 1/2 teaspoon of carob powder or slippery elm to 1 cup boiled skim milk.

* Fever: raspberry leaf or peppermint tea; sponge body off with tepid to cool water; fever up to 105 degrees is the body's way of killing organisms. Above 106 degrees, there is danger; sponge baby and call health care practitioner; infants under 3 months or a child who has a fever for more than 3 days should also be taken to your health care provider.)

* Gas: peppermint or ginger tea

* Head (headache, head cold); 1/2 ounce elder flower tea a day

* Infection: calendula (can be included in soups) is an antifungal and immune tonic; 1 ounce of astragalus a day (can be used as a tea or broth, and has a sweet taste kids like. (avoid sugar in any form, it's a known immune suppressant); for ear infection, place a drop or two of garlic oil in baby's or child's ear once a weak as a preventive or pain reduction measure.

* Loss of appetite: chamomile tea

* Mucous membranes (cold/flu) and digestive distress: 2-4 heaping tablespoons of slippery elm bark made into a paste with water.

* Nosebleed: ask child to inhale or sniff, or drop into the nose with an eyedropper, sandalwood oil, ice water, alum powder, camphor powder or ginger juice (this is hot; use just 1 drop!).

* Pinworms: chamomile tea

* Sinuses: 1 ounce lemon grass tea a day

* Sore Throat: 1/2 ounce a day of elder flower tea

* Teething: wash your hands and rub almond oil or vitamin E (prick a vitamin

* Yeast Infections: place garlic water on infected area

This article is for information purposes only. For treatment consult your health care practitioner.

Sources:

Robyn Landis, Herbal Defense. NY, Warner Books.

Penny C Royal, Herbally Yours, Provo, Utah, BiWorld Publishers.