CHILDREN'S HEALTH
A Naturopathic Child is a Healthy Child!
If you are looking at this page you may be wondering if there is an alternative to the standard options of care given to you by your child’s doctor. Naturopathic medicine can offer you safe, viable options for your child’s health and development in both the short and the long term.
It is very important to support children with the correct diet and I recommend starting with our Bio-Compatibility Test, this test will identify foods that are problematic for the individual child. I once saw a four year old boy who had been following a gluten and dairy free diet for two years, most of his food was organic, prepared at home by a very conscientious mum who had also followed the GAPS diet protocols.
Despite this very clean diet the boy suffered severe abdominal pain and loose watery stools with mucous. He was a very fussy eater, was underweight and had been diagnosed as failure to thrive. Mum was also concerned about some behavioural issues.
Our Bio-Compatibility test revealed the boy was reacting to chicken, baked beans, eggs, mushrooms, potato, bananas and cranberries. Within two weeks of removing these foods he showed significant improvement to his symptoms.
You can see how important it is to get the diet right but sometimes medications are needed. Some nutrients and probiotics are available as powders made especially for children, there are liquid herbs and I love to use Australian Bush Flower Essences with children. When children realise their medicines are making them feel better they often ask to be given them, even the “yucky tasting herbs”.
Common childhood conditions helped byNaturopathic Medicine:
Common conditions like allergies, asthma, ADD, Autism spectrum, recurrent infections, upset tummies and developmental delays, can all be effectively and gently supported with natural therapies.
Even if you don’t see your child’s condition listed below, please contact us to learn more about how we may be able to help.
Childhood Allergies
Allergies are a common concern in childhood. They may appear as skin rashes, asthma, hay fever, frequent colds recurrent ear infections or digestive problems. Hereditary factors play a big part in determining whether a child has allergies. If one parent has allergies the chance of a child developing them is 30-50 percent. In infants allergies can cause many problems such as crying, colic, vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes, eczema and congestion. Other symptoms include: “allergic shiners” a bluish discoloration around both eyes. Puffiness beneath the eyes may appear or redness and irritation in the eyes. A child with allergies may have recurrent sore throats, chronic nasal congestion, and chronic ear infections.
Allergies have been known to be the underlying cause of attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in many cases. Some children with severe allergies are more likely to be aggressive, depressed or irritable, than children with no allergies
Childhood Asthma
Australia has one of the highest incidences of childhood asthma worldwide. It is important to note that “triggers” for example, exercise, cold air, pollens, pet’s hair, air pollution and viral infections while able to bring on an asthma attack should not be thought of as the cause of asthma. Read more
ADD/ADHD, Autism & Asperger's
There are so many factors that contribute to these conditions that each child must be assessed individually. We must consider, the diet, environmental toxins, medical history and genetics. These conditions are far more than neurological or behavioural problems. All the body systems are connected and perhaps they come together most beautifully at the gut level. What we bring into our bodies through our digestive system will impact our immune system as 70% of our immune cells are in the gut. It makes sense to start with dietary change and for most children improvements in many symptoms will be seen in a few weeks.
Nutrition is so important for these children and we can build upon a healthy diet with nutritional supplements as required.
Many of these children are extremely stressed, and finding it difficult to cope themselves, I find herbal medicine to support their adrenal glands and their ability to cope with stress is invaluable. One young boy went from pacing the floor and banging his head on the wall in the evening to settling quietly on the couch with his parents within a few days.
A young teen with Asperger’s and OCD started communicating with his peers and joined a homework group in school after 3 weeks. He was also extremely sensitive to noise and avoided shopping malls etc; he soon found he was more comfortable in very noisy situations.
Australian Bush Flower Essences can help with learning skills by balancing the hemispheres of the brain; Tim, diagnosed with ADD, improved his reading skills from a 7 year old level to a 13 year old level in 9 months. Read Tim's story
Frequent Colds
Most children will come down with the occasional viral respiratory illness such as the flu and the common cold. Many times these infections resolve on their own without any treatment; however, naturopathic therapies may help resolve the symptoms more quickly.
In other children, however, it seems like they catch every cold and flu that goes around and are constantly dealing with coughing, sore throats, sniffling, running nose, etc. If your child is in day care or kindy he or she will be exposed to a constantly changing mix of hundreds of viruses. Naturopathic medicine is a very effective way of dealing with the susceptibility to keep getting sick.
Recurring Ear Infections
Ear infections are another very common condition in young children. Children develop ear infections more frequently in the first 2 to 4 years of life for several reasons, mainly because their Eustachian tubes are shorter and more horizontal than those of adults, which allows bacteria and viruses to find their way into the middle ear more easily. These infections can be very painful and distressing to both the parents and the child. Many times, a pattern develops of recurring ear infections that never seem to fully go away and may recur over and over for years.
Because many childhood illnesses are actually caused by viruses, not bacteria, antibiotics may not be fully effective in stopping this cycle. Additionally, frequent use of antibiotics has been linked to digestive disturbances, impaired immunity, and the development of other conditions such as asthma.
Naturopathic medicine offers alternative approaches to break this cycle that doesn’t require the use of antibiotics. We work to identify the cause of these infections to see if an underlying stressor such as a food allergy, food sensitivity, or environmental factor is contributing to these infections. We also work toward boosting your child’s own immune system to fight an infection. When your child fights the infection themselves it prevents recurrences and chronic infections.
Digestive Health
Infant colic, stomach aches, diarrhoea, constipation, and general digestive health are all conditions seen frequently in children. Many breastfed infants are reacting to what their Mum is eating, so while we run the Bio-Compatibility test
for the baby the mother must follow the recommendations and be guided by the test results when introducing solid foods. Our Baby Items list has common infant formulas and commercial baby foods.
It is not uncommon to see constipation in young children, this can start out by holding on so as not to miss out on play etc. As they start kindy or school they can prefer to hold on until they get home. Over time the bowel can lose tone and this can lead to incontinence and soiling.
It can be difficult to know if a child actually has a stomach ache or is trying to avoid going to school especially if there is no bloating, diarrhoea or constipation evident. Abdominal pain can often be the only symptom of food reactivity and is linked to histamine intolerance. Our Bio-Compatibility test can help identify reactive foods that contribute to high histamine levels.
Naturopathic medicine is famous for helping to “heal the gut” and we have many safe and effective natural remedies that can help restore normal function to your child’s digestive system.
Eczema
Both eczema and psoriasis are potentially allergic conditions that can be triggered by common foods, environmental factors and dozens of other external irritants like laundry detergent, soaps and household chemicals. While some foods are generally known to make these conditions worse e.g. oranges, chocolate, eggs, cow’s milk, gluten and food additives; the foods that are the direct cause of the immune disruption are completely individual and are identified through Bio-Compatibility Testing. Read more