Tuesday, September 27, 2011

5 Herbs That Should Be In Your Baby's Herbal First-Aid Kit


Herbs are a wonderful, safe way to help treat baby when sickness arrives at your door & with little ones, it definitely will!  They're also super easy to learn about & use, but learning is the first step. Your confidence in your abilities & the herbs abilities to treat your family will grow over time & with practice.

Let me also say here that I'm in NO WAY saying to skip the doctor & use herbs instead. If you need to go by all means go. What I am saying is that many times you can use herbs to help your baby feel better & recover without going to the doctor as long as it's nothing major like an allergy to something.

So today, I want to share 5 herbs with you that you should be sure to include in an Herbal First-Aid Kit for baby. You can use these herbs to make things that will be used externally on your little one & they are easy to come by.

1.     Garlic

Garlic is one of the best antibacterial herbs out there. It also has antifungal & antiviral properties as well, but this is a must to have on hand if your little one gets cut, scraped, or burnt. It will help to prevent an infection from setting in which could end up requiring some strong antibiotics.

Ideally you would mix garlic with some other antibacterial herbs to make a salve that you can put on your little gals boo-boo several times a day, but a garlic poultice or some garlic oil will work just as well.

2.     Plantain

Plantain is one of the best astringent herbs available! It contains compounds that help pull toxins out of your body & it's great to use as a poultice for bee stings & bug bits. It helps ease pain quickly & pulls the poison out of the bite or sting which will minimize your babies discomfort. It needs to be used quickly for it to be effective though. Plantain is one of those "weeds" that grows everywhere...in your yard or alongside the road.



3.     Comfrey

Comfrey is a great herb that's know as a contact-healer & a bone-mender. It's good for cuts, scraps, & burns, sprains, broken bones, and even diaper rash or rashes in general. Comfrey has properties that speed the healing of your tissues. It should be used as a poultice that's applied to the area you need it on. It's also great combined with aloe gel & rubbed on rashes.

4.     Yarrow

Yarrow is an herb that is mainly known for being used internally when you get the flu or a fever, but it's also well known for it's ability to stop bleeding. Yep, ancient civilizations & soldiers in more modern times have used yarrow to pack into wounds to stop them from bleeding so much. As many of you know, little ones {especially those learning to walk & climb} have a tendency for falls & many times that leads to bleeding. If you can't get it to stop with some firm pressure, try yarrow out before heading to the doctor. {Assuming it's not a huge gash that needs stitches!}

5.     Jewelweed

Oh jewelweed! I love jewelweed! It's used to help counteract itchy rashes such as poison oak & ivy. This is why I love it so much! I'm so allergic to those stinkin' itchy plants & jewelweed has saved my hide a few times!

If you like to hike or you have woods nearby, chances are your little guy is gonna wander into some itchy stuff at some point. Be prepared with jewelweed! Mix it with plaintain & aloe in a blender & rub the goo all over his rash as needed to help it dry up {plaintain} & not spread so much. Plus it helps with the itching too!

So there you go!

5 simple herbs that you can use to help your little one feel better quickly with zero side effects. Of course there are many more & most of these herbs can be combined with others to make powerhouse formulas to use when you need them!

Was this information helpful to you? Let me know in the comments below & let me know what else you'd like to learn about!

*There is a very small chance that your child could have an allergy to one of these herbs. Try out a small amount on their skin first. If your child already has severe allergies, err on the safe side.
*These statements are not approved by the FDA & are in no way meant to treat, prevent, or cure any illness or disease. They are for informational purposes only.

1 comment:

  1. Awesome list! Are you thinking about adding some herbal first aid to your line? I think it would make a great edition to your already-awesome baby care collection. :)

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