Herbal Remedies - A case for using them

The Dad and I disagree on the use of herbal remedies. He would prefer that I not use herbal medications to treat our children and I would prefer to use natural sources when possible.

This is not to say that I don't go to the doctor, I do and I do immunize and they get traditional treatment for things that need treatment but I have no qualms about giving The Pie Cranberry suppliments to help prevent bladder infections that he has been prone to - or for that matter, giving him a pile of cranberry juice or concentrated cranberry if he starts to get an infection on the weekend when it's hard to see a doctor. Many times it has enabled us to forget the doctor all together if we get it soon enough.

I like to use melatonin to help the kids get their internal clocks set or sometimes just to help them get to sleep.

Now most information sources I've seen do not recommend giving melatonin to children as there have not been sufficient studies to verify it's safety so please don't take what I say as medical advice or direction because I am not an expert.

What I have done for myself is to read about melatonin and about the few studies that have been done with children and determined that I feel it is safe to use moderately and occasionally.

I also did some reading on herbal medicines in general and feel much more comfortable using an herbal remedy when possible and feasable than to use over the counter or prescription drugs. In an article about alternative medicine I found at this online health guide the authors, practitioners of Chinese medicine and as medical herbalists, discuss why herbal medications can work with less side effects and more efficiently than their synthetic counterparts.

When my intense children go from just being normally intense children to being abnormally difficult and challenging children, I have used New Era homeopathic remedy "Biochemic Tissue Salt 6" "Kali. Phos." which was suggested at the health food store. It is recommended for tension and insomnia brought on by stress and it seems to help when things, or children become a little too tightly wound. They feel better and I feel better - that's a good thing.

I think that anyone who is looking to use homeopathic or herbal medicines should do their own research. As I said, I'm not an expert and I have no medical background - this is just my own experience and what has worked for me. Each parent should make their own decisions.