Thomas Jefferson once said that if people let thegovernment decide which foods they eat and whichmedicines they take into their bodies, they will findthemselves in as sorry a state as the souls of those wholive under tyranny.

From the moment our children are born, they are put on the cradleto-grave medical path. The baby has to have the well-baby checkup anda slew of vaccinations. We are taught that if our children have the slightestsniffle or tummy ache, they should be taken to the doctor right away.Antibiotics and immunizations dominate the practice of modern medicine;dietary and herbal remedies, and plain old common sense, have been stuffedinto the closet like a bunch of grandma’s clothes, fusty and old-fashioned,not worth considering in this enlightened scientific age.

When we take the power back into our own hands as mothers andparents, and use the wisdom of home remedies to treat our children, weare adhering to that responsibility for health to which Thomas Jeffersonreferred. Instead of bequeathing the health of our children to a governmentalbody, parents need the knowledge and confidence to be primary caregivers.

My father is a doctor. He was an old-timecountry doctor who would make house calls inthe middle of the night with his black bag. Hewas the kind of doctor you could call at two inthe morning if your child had a fever of 105, andhe would come over. Those doctors don’t existmuch any more. I grew up watching him practicemedicine in a traditional way. Even though hewas a conventional doctor, he still practiced verytraditionally. When I was a little girl, I wouldoften go on house calls, go to the hospital withhim and make his rounds. A lot of my expertisecomes from the wisdom I observed growing upwatching my dad in his medical practice.

ADVANTAGES

On reflection, the advantages of home remediesare obvious. First of all they are non-toxic.Recently, we have been hearing about cold remediespulled off pharmacy shelves. Some of themhave been on sale for decades and suddenly in thelast month or so we learn that these should not begiven to children under six years old. That newswas a shock even to myself, jaded as I am aboutover-the-counter medicines and pharmaceuticaldrugs. At least with home remedies, you knowyou are not going to poison your children.These remedies are also low in cost. Manyof the best home remedies don’t cost any moneyat all.

Another advantage concerns speed of treatment.You don’t have to call anybody or wait fora call back.

Home remedies prevent your child from beingused as a guinea pig. With home remedies,your child is not going to be one of the statisticsfrom a toxic over-the-counter medicine or apharmaceutical drug that was never approvedfor children but is now prescribed for children—something that happens often these days.

Home remedies work with the immunesystem rather than suppressing it. Acute illness—manifesting as diarrhea, runny nose, vomiting,headache, and so forth—is actually good foryour child. Managed properly, acute illness cangive your child more vitality and prevent chronicillness—which is not good for your child.

Home care also strengthens the bond betweenparent and child. When my nine-year-old son isnot feeling well, he comes to me and tells me howhe feels. He trusts me, he knows I can make himfeel better. He is not afraid of me. Most childrenare afraid of doctors. But they have a relationshipwith their parents and when their parents are ableto make them feel better at a time when they areat their weakest and most vulnerable, the bondwith their parents is strengthened.

With these advantages in mind, let’s turn tosome traditional remedies for common childhoodillnesses.

EAR INFECTIONS

Childhood ear infections are intimately connectedto diet. Well-fed children do not get earinfections and breastfed children whose mothershave a good, traditional diet simply do not get earinfections. If you are breastfeeding and the yourbaby is getting ear infections, then you need toreexamine your own diet.

The most common dietary culprit is pasteurizedmilk—both in the infant and in the breastfeedingmother.

If, despite your best efforts, an ear infectionoccurs, a warm wheat bag on the ear provides enormous pain relief. A warm wheat bag is madeof fabric filled with plain unground wheat kernels—you can make your own if you want. Theseare widely used in Australia. The only reason wehave ever used the microwave in our house is toheat the wheat bag. You put it in the microwavewith 1/2 cup of water for a minute or two so thatit becomes just hot to the touch. These are reallycomforting for the child.

Drops of warm olive oil in the ear providerelief although it may be difficult to get yourchildren to agree to this.

Ear candling also provides relief. This is howwe healed the double ear infection my son hadat 15 months (this was before we discovered theWAPF diet). Ear candles don’t really clean outyour ear —that is misinformation—but they blowwarm smoke into your ear that helps dry out anymoisture that may be in there.

Headaches

Many kids are getting them these days. Onceagain, diet plays a big role. If your child is eatingright, he just won’t get headaches. Headaches oftenoccur when blood sugar is low, so three solid meals a day, with adequateanimal protein and plenty of fat, form the basis of prevention. Avoid sugarand MSG—both will cause headaches.

They only time my children get headaches is when they are dehydrated—often after playing soccer. Coconut water, kombucha and otherfermented drinks are the best way to rehydrate; they are much better thanplain water. We use canned coconut water at sporting events. If none ofthese types of beverages is available, have your child drink plain water,but not more than two four-ounce drinks every 30 minutes; otherwise itwill just go to the kidneys.

Another remedy is a mild cup of green tea, but this should only beused as a last resort. Small amounts of caffeine and caffeine-like substancesfound in tea can have a medicinal effect but obviously should not be givento children on a regular basis.

Fevers

Many parents panic when their child has a fever. I did too the first timemy child had a high fever. Rule number one: don’t try to lower a feber,and certainly don’t use Tylenol or ibuprofen. It would be best if you justthrew these drugs away. Instead of panicking, honor your child’s fever—itis accomplishing important things in his body.

My father never brought down our fevers. I am one of seven children,so we had a lot of fevers. He taught me that bringing down a fever onlyprolonged the illness and weakened your vitality for the next illness to come. I remember him saying, “No, I can’t bring down your fever becauseyou’ll get sicker quicker and next time it will be worse.”

Repeated forced reduction of childhood fever has been linked to childhoodcancer. And eliminating fever will usually cause a secondary infection.When you bring down a fever you start a domino effect toward antibioticuse. If you want to avoid antibiotics, don’t bring down the fever. Feverreduction suppresses the immune system. Your child is trying to get wellhimself with the fever and when you bring it down you are opening himup to a secondary bacterial infection that will further entrench the virus orbacteria. It cannot be stressed enough that fever has an important role toplay in your child’s overall wellbeing.

Why do our bodies produce fever? One reason is that fevers slow downpathogens. The germ,bacteria or virus causingthe child’s distress wantsto replicate every fewminutes and the feverslows this process down.It slows down the spreadand severity of the illness.So when you bring thefever down you are givingfree license to the virusor bacteria to run amuck.And don’t panic if yourchild’s temperature getsto 102-103 degrees—thisis the ideal range for afever.

I find that holdingyour child is the besthome remedy for fever.When they are feverish, they want to be with you. Put on a light robe andcrash on the couch with your child and hold her for hours if you need to.If you let the fever go and just let the child’s body do what it is trying todo, the fever won’t last very long – just a few hours.

You can take their temperature if you want to, but it is not necessary.Put your lips on their forehead, and if the child seems hot, you know theyhave a fever. I can tell within a point or two what their temperature is.My dad taught me that—he never took our temperatures. He knew thetemperature.

Sometimes a fever will go for three days. It will go up and down, withpeaks and valleys, and it usually peaks about 4-6 in the afternoon. If yourchild has a fever in the afternoon followed by a good night’s sleep and nofever in the morning, that doesn’t mean he is over it. Don’t send him toschool until you know what happens at 4-6 in the afternoon. The fever islikely to come back in a lot of cases. Until you’ve passed a late afternoonwith no fever, your child is not yet on the road to recovery.

Should you feed or starve a fever? My father taught me that food willnaturally drop a fever within about 20 minutes and this drop will last for anhour or two. My father always believed that it wasfine to feed a child with a fever if the child waswilling to eat. But don’t force food if he doesn’twant it. And you don’t have to give your child alot of food. Just a few bites of scrambled egg ora few sips of broth can bring that fever down abit. It will not make the fever go away but willmanage it hopefully within the 102-103 degreerange.

If a child’s fever is very high—over 103degrees—then you need to take steps to bringit down. A cool water enema is one good wayto do this. Enemas havesuch a bad rap. Nobodylikes them but they are avery effective remedy formany things. You can getan enema bag from anypharmacy for about tendollars and they’re easyto administer. If the feveris getting really high, justget a thick beach toweland put it in the tub. Layyour child on his sidewithout taking clothes off.Slide their pajamas downa little. Place 1/2 to 1quart warm filtered waterin the bag and insert theenema nozzle. Your childwill start to feel pressureand will want to go to the bathroom—the waterusually doesn’t run out. Then gently put him onthe toilet and let him go. This will usually bringthe fever down by a degree or two.

High fevers—those that range between 104 and 105 degrees—are not dangerous in themselves, but they make the metabolism run very fast and increase the risk of dehydration. Blood sugar often drops, which can lead to convulsions. Your child can sip 50 percent diluted fresh fruit juice to keep tissues hydrated and blood sugar levels in the normal range. If your child will nottake anything, you can administer about 4 ouncesdiluted fruit juice rectally using a bulb syringe. The body will absorb it rectally. It won’t run out. This may save your child a trip to the emergency room.

Fever also depletes vitamin A so be sure to give your child drops of cod liver oil under thetongue while the fever is high.

On the other hand, if your child is runninga low-grade fever day after day, you can helpher generate a fever by giving her a fever bath.Put her in the tub. Fill it with water as hot as shecan stand. You can get it hotter for them if youput them in it while you are filling it. You wantit pretty hot, but still comfortable. Leave her inthe bath for 10-12 minutes, then get her out, dryher quickly and wrap her up tight. Put her intobed, well covered up. This should help the feverrise to the point where it can be effective and bymorning, she may have a normal temperature.

Tummy trouble

This usually happens when we travel. Slipperyelm tincture is my favorite home remedy. Wehave in our medicine cabinet and always take itwith us. Give a few drops in a little water and thetummy ache is gone in about 10 minutes. Thishelps for a little bit of gas. You can purchase aglycerin-based, non-alcohol tincture of slipperyelm at the health food store. Follow the directions on the bottle for the dose. Also, a wheat bag on the stomach or a warm bath will do wonders for a tummy ache.

Vomiting

Here’s a country doctor tip: once your childstarts vomiting, don’t give him food, water orliquids for two hours. The stomach wants to restand if you give food or liquids, it will prolong thevomiting. This can be hard because after vomiting,children are thirsty. Wait as long as you canbefore giving liquids—two hours is best. If thechild is very thirsty, he can suck on an ice cube,but even that may be too much.

I once contracted salmonella and experiencedsevere vomiting. Even sucking on ice chips mademe vomit. I was dangerously dehydrated. In caseslike this, administer 50 percent diluted fresh fruitjuice rectally with a bulb syringe.

Diarrhea

Nothing works better than broth for stoppingdiarrhea—what a wonderful, wonderful food!However, many parents give it in the wrongway—as an 8-ounce serving all at once, and thenagain several hours later. Instead give broth a few tablespoons at a time and much more frequently.Broth works because the gelatin in broth binds up the liquid in thecolon. It gives bulk and helps to stop the loss of fluids.With really severe diarrhea, you can give an enema to counteractdehydration.

PINK EYE

Place a drop or two of raw milk or colostrom in each eye—this workswonders. Frequent pink eye may be a sign of vitamin A deficiency, so payattention to the daily dose of cod liver oil.

CHICKEN POX

Let the illness run its course; and let any fever do its work. The mainthing is to relieve itching, which can be done with baking soda baths. Usea one-pound box per bath.

BOILS

Boils are another way the body gets rid of toxins. Don’t give antibiotics—honor the boil!The best way to treat a boil is to apply a compress of gently warmedcabbage leaves, cooked onion, slices of tomato, plantain leaves, chickweedor crushed garlic. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap and tape the edgeswith surgical tape. This will keep the poultice wet. Change the poulticeseveral times per day. This can help bring the boil to a head. Then it can begently pricked with a sterilized needle, drained and and allowed to heal.

SORE THROAT

My father refused to prescribe antibiotics for sore throat but insistedon letting it run its course, even if it was very painful. The best remedy forsore throat is a fever. If fever is not developing, use the method describedabove.A gargle with hot salt water or hot water with honey and slices ofginger can help, and a hot lemon-honey drink can also be soothing. Brothand cod liver oil are very important in treating soar throats.A prolonged and severe sore throat may be cultured and diagnosed asa strep throat, but these diagnoses mean little as every throat contains thestrep organism. Strep can have complications and you may be tempted togive an antibiotic—this is your decision based on how strong you gaugeyour child to be and how long you have followed the dietary principles.

WHOOPING COUGH

This is a terrible illness but a vital strong child can handle it. The harshcough lasts an average of seven weeks. It is contagious so they can’t goout. On whooping cough.net you can play a recording of a cough to knowwhether this is what your child has.My three children had whooping cough for a month. I never usedantibiotics. My children blew out so many toxins that not one had a coldor even a runny nose for over a year. And children who have whoopingcough never get asthma.Remedies that work for whooping cough are lacking. Drosera, a homeopathic preparation, is often suggested butmy experience is that it is not very effective. Elderberry syrup is another traditional remedy forthe cough, but I found it of very little help. Evenantibiotics don’t do much at all except eliminatethe chance of spreading whooping cough. Oncethe cough starts, it must run its course and nothingmuch can reduce its severity.

The one thing we found that helped withwhooping cough was purchasing a (very expensive)HEPA filter for the kids’ rooms. Thishelped to reduce the frequency of coughing fits,as anything can set off a coughing fit, from eating,to getting a tickle in the throat to simple dust inthe air.

Be sure to keep up the cod liver oil duringthe illness as vitamin A helps lung function.

HONORING THE ILLNESS

The goal of home remedies is not to stopthe symptoms, just reduce their severity. Honorwhat the body is trying to do and facilitate theconclusion of the process without complicationsthat might land your child in the emergency room.Let the child be sick to its conclusion.

There are many other home remedies, suchas echinacea, garlic, oil of oregano, grapefruitseed extract, and what I call the master tonic, afermented brew of garlic and onion, for infections.These all can be useful but I find evenholistically-minded parents use them too quickly.The first sign of a runny nose, out comes theechinacea. My dad taught me that if you alwaysgive the body a crutch, it is always going to expectone. If you can avoid giving the body a crutch,don’t give it. Let the body do the work itself.

Once when I was 15, I got hives from thetop of my head to my feet. My father wouldn’tgive me anything. I suffered for four days withhorrific hives—all he needed to do to relieve thesuffering was give me Benadryl. But after thathorrible experience, I have never gotten hivesagain in my life. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Over time, even natural antibiotics canweaken the body’s ability to generate an acuteillness. An example is a child who gets a 103.7 fever every time she teethes. What an incrediblevitality that allows this child to generate such anice high fever! You don’t want to keep bringingit down to the point where the body gives upand doesn’t generate a fever like that any more,because fever can be so beneficial to health.

CHRONIC DISEASE

When your body gives up and stops generatingacute illness, you have set the stage forchronic illness. Many cancer patients have nothad a cold in years. My dad used to see that. Hehad a patient come in who hadn’t been sick inyears and tests showed he had cancer everywhere.When your body has become too weak to generatean acute illness, the toxins are going to buildup and result in chronic disease.

Nephritic syndrome in children is a conditionwhere the kidneys leak protein. The only knowncure for this serious condition is contractingmeasles—the measles vaccine does not work.Somehow when the child has nephritic syndromeand contracts measles, the acute symptoms blowout the nephritic syndrome.

Cancer remission is frequently triggered bygetting strep. Doctors have known about this foryears. In some cases, using strep, they have triggereda 40 percent remission rate.

THE COMPASSION TO ALLOW SICKNESS

In summary, when your child gets ill, don’tpanic. Children fed a traditional diet are wellable to meet the challenges of an acute illness.Children that are allowed to get sick and thenrecover under their own power end up infinitelystronger as adults.Can we have the compassion it takes to justlet our child be sick? Our tendency is to jumpon it, squash it, fix things and get them back tonormal right away. Instead, take a step back, takea deep breath and ask what you can do to helpyour child weather the challenge? Because acute illness can be a real gift.

Sidebars

WHEN HOME REMEDIES ARE NOT APPROPRIATE

TRAUMA: If your child has a serious injury, head for the emergency room. Our trauma doctors are wonderful gifts toour society and we need to make use of them when bad things happen. When your child falls out of a tree and a boneis sticking out through his skin, you don’t want to treat that at home.

EXTREMELY HIGH FEVER: Most fevers play a beneficial role in your child’s health but an extremely high fever (over 104degrees) can be a dangerous situation for a young child and you may need to get emergency care.

TROUBLE BREATHING: This is another situation that calls for quick action. If a child is unresponsive, limp in your arms,or has glazed eyes, you need to get help. Dial 911 or hurry him to the emergency room.

MODERN MEDICINE FROM DAY ONE

Modern medical intervention begins the moment a child is born—baby’s umbilical cord is quickly severed, he isseparated from mom, is poked and prodded, gets things squirted in his eyes, fed sugar water and stabbed with vaccinationneedles. Both parents need to be prepared in advance to prevent these unnecessary and often harmful practices.Here’s a checklist to use for guidance:

BIRTH CENTER: Most of these modern practices can be avoided if you have your baby at a birth center. You have a lotmore control about what goes on there and can usually prevent these interventions unless they are absolutely necessary.If you are going to have your baby at a hospital, you should discuss your wishes with your obstetrician beforehand, backedup with a typed and signed list of your instructions to give to hospital staff.

UMBILICAL CORD: The umbilical cord should not be cut until all the cord blood has drained back into the baby. Thiscord blood serves as an important source of iron during the first six months of life.

MATERNAL SEPARATION: Baby should not be separated from mom at birth. If you have had a natural birth, both you andyour baby will be on high-adrenaline mode for an hour or so aftewards. This is a very special bonding time that shouldnot be interrupted by poking and prodding.

NO SUGAR WATER! Baby will begin breastfeeding immediately if you put him to your breast—you will be amazed athis rooting and sucking reflexes. Immediate breastfeeding stimulates the production of colostrom, Nature’s wonderdrugfor the immune system. Baby does not need sugar water!

VITAMIN K SHOT: Just say no! This is actually a vaccination that has been linked to childhood leukemia. The vitaminK is synthetic and it comes in a liquid that contains benzyl alcohol, carbolic acid, propylene glycol (which is antifreeze),acetic acid, hydrochloric acid, lecithin and castor oil—all these injected into the blood of your newborn. The rationalefor the shot is that infants don’t have vitamin K—needed for blood clotting—in their bloodstream for the first eight daysof life, so if there is bruising during delivery, or if he is in a car accident on the way home from the hospital, he mightbleed to death. But if Mom’s blood level is very high in vitamin K during pregnancy, some will go through the placentaand into the infant. Goose liver, cheese and egg yolks are excellent sources—and these are foods Mom should be eatinganyway. A cup or two of nettle tea each day starting about 36 weeks gestation is another way to build vitamin K stores.

EYE DROPS: Even birth centers have to be dissuaded from putting silver nitrate eyedrops into a newborn’s eyes. Therationale for this practice is the prevention of blindness due to infection encountered in the birth canal. But we knowthat a diet containing lots of fermented foods ensures the right flora in the birth canal, flora that actually protects thebaby against infection. While the drops may not be particularly harmful, they obscure baby’s vision during the criticalfirst hour of bonding. If baby gets a little infection, express a few drops of colostrum into a cup and put one drop in eacheye—this will clear it right up.

JAUNDICE: Most babies are jaundiced a few days after birth; if they are boys and breastfed the likelihood of jaundice ishigh. This happened with my first son when I took him to the pediatrician for his 48-hour check up. He was quite jaundicedand the doctor read me the riot act on all the bad things that can happen with jaundice. He wanted to send mehome with special equipment that required blindfolding and putting him under lights for a certain period of time everyday, to break down the bilirubin in his blood. I called my country-doctor dad, who was incredulous. He explained thatthe baby’s liver doesn’t work well until about day four. Put his crib by the window, he told me, and the baby will be finein about five days. In the vast majority of cases, jaundice is nothing to worry about but the doctors will try to frighten youanyway. This was an important new-mom lesson for me—never make a medical decision quickly on the basis of fear.

VACCINATIONS: Whether or not you decide to vaccinate your child, vaccinations should not be given before the ageof two. To ensure that no vaccinations are given just after birth, present your obstetrician and the hospital with a signedand notarized statement, preferably accompanied by a letter from your lawyer, that your child is not to be vaccinated inthe hospital. Just to make sure, do not allow your newborn to be separated from you or your partner during your hospitalstay.

DIET BASICS FOR PREVENTING CHILDHOOD ILLNESS

Children need a diet of basic, wholesome foods. They need these foods three times a day. They need meals preparedby a real person, not a machine in a factory. It doesn’t matter whether the meals are plain or fancy. To keep things simple,just remember these basics:

RAW MILK: You can make a lot of mistakes and still have healthy children if raw milk is included in their diet. Do not givepasteurized milk to your children—it is associated with frequent ear infections, allergies, digestive problems and lots ofother maladies. If you cannot get raw milk, then use raw cheese and bone broths as sources of calcium.

USE BUTTER LIBERALLY: Butter is a healthy food. Butter substitutes are poison.

COD LIVER OIL: Children should receive a dose of cod liver oil that provides about 5000 IU vitamin A and 500 IU vitaminD daily. Use an eyedropper or mix the cod liver oil with a little water or fresh juice. Cod liver oil can be started as earlyas three months.

EGG YOLKS: Very important for neurological development. Children can have the whites also after the age of one year,but the yolks are the important part. Fix eggs the way your child likes them—the important thing is that they get thoseyolks. Do not feed raw egg whites.

LIVER: Introduce puréed calf, chicken or duck liver early so your child becomes familiar with the taste. If older childrenrefuse liver, chop it up very fine and add it to soups, chili, ground meat dishes, etc. Be sneaky!

FERMENTED FOODS: Yogurt or kefir, sauerkraut and other fermented foods will provide beneficial bacteria, so critical forphysical and emotional health.

AVOID: Do your best to avoid junk food, fast food, microwaved food, breakfast cereals, soft drinks, sugar and whiteflour.

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Winter 2007.

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