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I am a mom of four and I have used most of these remedies on my family. If I haven't tried it I will say that I don't have personal experience. I am hoping that by sharing my experiences that I may be able to help another family. What I have come to understand about the human body is that NO TWO ARE THE SAME. Where one remedy may work wonders another person will get different results. It is always important to get all the possibilities and use the right one. If your instincts tell you to use natural or modern medicine please do so. I know that most good parents are just trying to do what is best for their children. Please do not hold me accountable if something doesn't work out for you. I am not advertising for any specific brands. but I typically use dr. christopher's tinctures and formulas and the oils I like are young living, doterra, ameo, and garden essence.
What do we know about cold and flues? We know that they are a virus. And there isn't any known cure for viruses such as these. There is type A,B, and C. A is one that can be transmitted through animals (bird,swine) and type B is only transmitted through humans. C is less severe and sometimes you don't know you are carrying it. B and C do not cause epidemics.
A cold is caused by a rhinovirus and there is so many strains that there is really nothing the body can do to be immune the the common cold.
So what do we do? build our immune systems!
Wash your hands often. It is simple but a very good "natural" way to prevent illness. If your family does get sick, you are not a bad parent and you didn't do anything wrong. Even when we do every possible thing to keep us from getting sick sometimes we do get it. We are mortals. So I will tell you how to try and prevent and then what to do when it happens.
Good diet:
The number one thing I do for us is do not eat any processed foods with preservatives and other chemicals. Our digestive health does have a lot to do with our immune system with the gut flora and digestive enzymes. When our bodies are too busy trying to break down foods that are too harsh on the intestines all of the energy is going towards digestion and leaves our body weak in other areas.
Essential Oils: (please note that I PERSONALLY use oils on my kids and you may find other information that says otherwise. please make sure you do research before you put EO's on your children)
My favorite for immunity is Thieves from Young Living and On Guard from Doterra.
Another brand I started using is Garden Essence and their immune booster is called X-Plague.
Another thing I use regularly for my kids is an eucalytpus salve that is like a natural "vicks."
At night I use that and the essential oils on my kids feet and put socks on them during a time where I think they are exposed to any sickness and also continue this remedy when they do get sick.
Another oil that I love is the oil called "breathe" it has worked miracles for Sage. One time Sage got a cough and it lasted weeks if not months. Every single night Sage would wake up and just cough and it was preventing her from getting a good sleep. I had considered asthma and looked everywhere for mold or something that she could be allergic to. I went to the health food store and they didn't have that many ideas for me. and so I went to a Naturopathic Doctor (ND) and he said that her lungs do sound a bit weezy and could have acute asthma. I prayed about it and asked if I could find the answer for sage's condition and I found Doterras Breathe. I used on her feet with the "On Guard" and salve and that very night she slept like a baby.
I would also invest in a good diffuser. I use this thing every day. For a long time I was using the On Guard and my kids were still getting sick so I thought how could this work if my kids are still getting sick? I asked a friend who was a Oil distributor and she asked how often I used it. I told her I didn't know, maybe every once in a while. She told me that I needed to use it everyday as a defense because it quickly absorbs into the skin and needs to be reapplied to get the results. So I decided to have it going in my diffuser and I put it in my cleaning supplies and I found a much bigger difference.
Supplements:
I use Dr. Christopher's Kid-E-Well as well as his Immune response formula. It is basically liquid echinacea. for babies this one is perfect because you can drop it in their mouths. I use it when they are not sick and when they are.
For a Cough
I use honey and cinnamon on a spoon for a cough and it quiets it immediately. Honey is your new best friend when you are sick. I also recommend a elderberry syrup or tincture.
NOTE: DO NOT USE HONEY ON CHILDREN UNDER ONE. There are a bacteria in honey called "spores." It can be deadly for a child that comes in contact with it. Over that age it is a very beneficial tool. It is extremely rare for a child to be allergic to honey. In fact it is a natural way to combat season allergies and also if you have food poisoning take honey to help ease the stomach.
When I get sick I immediately run for garlic. It is the most powerful food and it is a strong antibiotic. The best thing about it is that it is an antibiotic that will not kill off the good bacteria you need like a synthetic antibiotic does. The greek culture used to give garlic to their champions in the olympics because they believed it made them strong. They would just eat the raw garlic cloves.
The easiest way to take garlic is dried and capsule that you can get at the health food store. But if you really need to get better fast you can try and stomach a garlic clove and it will kick your sickness fast. Or what I have done is add a few cloves to a smoothie and drink it. It is very strong and really not that great so I have just choked it down. But having four little kids I just can't get sick. They depend too much on me and I need to be healthy for them.
I also drink echinacea tea and pound lots of vitamin C like emergenC and vitamin C supplements. if I have a sore throat I make lemon tea with honey.
Garlic is also going to be your go to for ear infections. I have personal experience with this because I have had very bad ear infections. Fortunately, my kids have never once got an ear infection.
I get garlic oil from Dr. Christophers herb shop and warm it up under hot tap water, and put some drops into my ear and lay down. An important thing is to put the oil in both ears. When I had a very bad infection and put it in it started to burn. I thought I was going to die for a minute and thought that was the worst idea. but after about 10 minutes all of the pain was gone. I didn't feel anything and it was the only relief I had felt in about a week. I put oil in both ears and laid down about 10 minutes in each side and about a week later I had cured my infection.
Rashes
The worst thing is when your child develops a rash because it can be very simple and it can be very dangerous so as parents we immediately panic when we see it. It all depends on the many factors as to where it is on the body, is it itchy, does it go away when you rub the skin, is it raised, or is it bumps. Once you can understand what the good and bad rashes are you can help the rash at home. Some common ones are lavender essential oil, diluted on the skin. Again remember use EO's carefully. Oatmeal baths are great. You can put some oatmeal in a cheesecloth and tie it and then put it in the bath with them and also epsom salt baths. And also we know that aloe vera is a great way of relieving sun burns, it is also about to help cure hives or the hot heated rashes.
cuts/burns
What I have used on my kids is a goldenseal root powder that you can put on your kids cuts and it will dry it out to make sure it doesn't get an infection. A good thing to have in your First aid kit at home is cayenne pepper. I am not talking about the store bought kind on the spice section but from a health food store. If you have a gushing open wound and you cant get it to stop bleeding throw the cayenne powder on the wound. It will actually be a pain reliever and also clot the blood and stop the bleeding fast. And then I would get them to a hospital to see if they need stitches.
If you child burns themselves on the stove or a curling iron. Immediately grab for your lavender. The sooner the better but if you coat the burn in lavender it will lessen the pain and speed up healing.
There are many great alternatives to curing common ailments in your home and I think it is an important thing to learn as a mother to heal things at home. When you have basic knowledge about viruses, fevers, rashes, infections,etc You won't panic and make fast decisions when it comes to their health. My personal decision is to treat things first naturally and then go from there but if you're child needs medical attention then it is important to understand when it is an emergency.Teaching your children that they have wonderful bodies that know how to heal itself and encourage your own body's natural healing it can help them as adults, and empowering for them to trust in themselves.
I hope this helps!
peace and love xoxo
