healing with

healthy remedies
kiwi cares
Motion sickness: Before you choose a treatment for
nausea, find out more about what makes your child feel ill
(or better). If his upset stomach is further aggravated by
the sight or smell of food, Jeney recommends trying cocculus, like Heel BHI Lightheaded ($14.50 for 100 tablets,
heelusa.com) from the cocculus indicus plant, which works
to counteract the effect of food on nausea in particular.
If he feels better in fresh air, try a remedy containing
tobacum, derived from the tobacco plant (but safe and
not addictive). Instead of making him nauseated—the
way a cigarette might!—it encourages his body to fight
the nausea. Try Hyland’s Motion Sickness ($7.70 for 50
tablets, hylands.com).
healing with
homeopathy
colic: Colic can be one of the more difficult ailments to
How a centuries-old practice can ease today’s
bumps, bruises, and more by Dana Wilkosz
treat, since a baby can’t tell you exactly what hurts. Olsen
suggests looking at how your child is handling the pain: If
he’s bending forward, try a medicine that uses colocynthis,
like Boiron’s Cocyntal ($6.60 for 20 unit-doses, boironusa.
com). Derived from the fruit
citrullus colocynthis, colocynthis works to ease spasms
in the digestive tract. If
she won’t stop crying and
can’t be comforted, try a
chamomilla-based remedy,
like Hyland’s Colic Tablets
($10 for 125 tablets, hylands.
com). Chamomile is known
for its calming effects, and
is particularly helpful with
restlessness and irritability. l
HomeopatHy safety
22 kiwi april/may 2012
Allergies: Because allergy symptoms can vary widely,
it’s tricky to recommend just one remedy. Start with
Boiron’s Children’s Sabadil ($11 for 160 tablets, boiron
usa.com), pellets that contain a variety of plant extracts,
including ambrosia artemisiifolia (derived from ragweed)
for coughing, and allium cepa (derived from red onions)
to relieve runny noses, says Heather Jeney, M.D., who is
certified in clinical homeopathy. Or, try another allaround allergy product: Heel’s Adrisin is also safe for
children, and young kids need just half of a tablet ($18
for 60 tablets, heelusa.com). If your child’s not feeling better after 24 hours, it’s probably best to see a homeopath
who can recommend a remedy targeted more specifically
to what’s bothering your child.
Aches And pAins: Arnica, made from the arnica montana plant, has anti-inflammatory properties when diluted
for homeopathic treatments; it’s the most common
homeopathic medicine for relief from everyday aches and
pains. For instance, arnica can be used as a topical gel on
a leg that’s sore from a long soccer practice (it’s not for
open wounds, though), or taken by mouth in tablet form
for bruising and swelling from a fall. If you can, treat your
child’s injury within an hour of when the pain begins, Olsen says, to stimulate her body’s healing system as quickly
as possible. Try Hyland’s Bumps ’n Bruises ($8.30 for 125
tablets, hylands.com), or Newton Homeopathics for Kids
Bangs and Scrapes ($14 for 1 ounce, newtonlabs.net).
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W
hen your child’s sick or in pain but you’re
wary of conventional meds, you might
wish you could give him something that
falls somewhere between a kiss on the
forehead and a tablet of Tylenol. Fortunately, you can: a
homeopathic remedy.
Homeopathy is based on the principle that “like cures
like.” The idea is to treat pain or other symptoms with an
extremely diluted version of the kind of substance that can
cause that reaction. For instance, if you were stung by a
bee, your skin would burn, swell, and turn pink. So, if you
have a rash (from a bee sting or not) with those symptoms, a practitioner trained in homeopathy might give you
an ultra-diluted dose of bee venom, causing your body to
react to the venom and start healing itself. Other homeopathic remedies come from plants and minerals, and
they’re repeatedly diluted so that only a tiny amount of
the original substance is left. A homeopath then prescribes
tablets, gels, or liquid mixtures with these natural extracts.
But do they actually work? And are they safe for kids?
Skeptics say that the extracts are too diluted to be effective, and any healing is the result of a placebo effect. Homeopaths and some other doctors disagree: They say that
even the most diluted solutions have enough particles of
the original substance left for your body to recognize it
and trigger its own healing system. Plus, their watereddown form makes them perfectly safe for people of all
ages, says Steven Olsen, a homeopathic doctor and author
of Homeopathy—Nature’s Way to Better Health. “Used in
the right way, homeopathy is very, very safe,” he says.
If you want to try homeopathy, treating one of these
common kid health issues might be a good place to start:
When shopping for a homeopathic treatment, make sure ingredients are labeled HpUs.
that means the product was made in accordance with the guidelines of the Homeopathic
pharmacopeia of the United states, which is also recognized by the fDa. as with all medicine, speak with a health care practitioner before use, and if symptoms get worse, or don’t
improve after 48 hours, see a medical professional.
healthy
remedies
lice-free,
naturally
m
lice and their hard-toremove nits. Two good
options: LiceMeister
($10, schoolhealth.com)
and Nit-free Terminator
($13, nitfreecomb.com).
how to do it: Place a
towel around your child’s
shoulders and sit her in
a well-lighted area (the
better to see the little
buggers). Wet her
What about
hair with condipreventing lice
tioner to make
in the first place?
combing easier,
Learn more about
warding them off
and separate the
at kiwimagonline.
hair into small
com/lice.
sections. Get the
comb as close to the
scalp as possible and
gently pull it through
each section several
times. Dunk the comb
in a bowl of water after
each pass to rinse off lice
and conditioner, and then
wipe it off with a tissue,
says Altschuler.
what to know: To make
sure you’ve removed all
the lice at every stage of the life cycle,
you’ll need to comb your kid’s hair for 21
days in a row, says Lori Moll, owner of
the Lice Clinic, a lice-removal service in
the Seattle area.
eek! Is that a louse in your kid’s hair?
here’s how to get rid of lice without resorting
to chemical warfare. by Linda Rodgers
20 kiwi august/september 2010
the sketchy chemicals
for these natural—yet
still effective—methods:
Comb them out
Removing nits and lice
with a comb is one of
the safest and most
effective delousing treatments, says Deborah Z.
Altschuler, president of
the National Pediculosis
Association (pediculosis
means a lice infestation).
It’s best to use a specially designed metal comb
with closely spaced teeth
to trap the fast-crawling
Lice 101
The enemy: these off-white, six-legged parasites are about the size of sesame seeds, and
take up camp in human hair. they suck blood from scalps and lay oval-shaped eggs, called
nits, on hair shafts. though they’re less active when away from the scalp, lice can still live up
to two days without blood, says John C. Watson, m.D., of the CDC.
Their transportation: Lice are usually spread through direct head-to-head contact, most
often in kids ages 3 to 11, especially in girls. While less common, it’s possible to catch lice
by using a helmet, hat, scarf, jacket, or comb that belongs to a child infested with lice.
Your mission: Avoid spreading the pests to other family members. here’s how:
l Wash all bedding, towels, clothes, and stuffed animals that your child with lice touched, in
hot water (no need to buy special detergents—your regular one’s fine), and dry on high heat.
l Dry-clean clothes that can’t be washed and put fragile stuffed animals in a sealed trash
bag for two weeks.
l Soak combs and brushes in very hot water or rubbing alcohol for 10 minutes.
l Vacuum rugs and furniture (especially in the bedroom of your child with lice).
dry them out
Andrew McCaul
Most parents freak out when their child
comes home with lice—and Jill Armus
was no exception. “It’s embarrassing!
Even though getting lice has nothing
to do with cleanliness, it feels like it
does,” says the Jersey City mom, whose
daughter, Gina, got lice two years in a row
(and spread it to her mom both times).
It didn’t help that the drugstore lice
shampoos smelled awful and were packed
with chemicals, says Armus. “It was just a
horrible experience,” she says.
Like Armus, many parents are leery of
the common delousing products that use
harsh chemicals to kill the critters. Most
shampoos contain pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide, ingredients designed to kill
lice (but not their eggs, called nits) by
affecting their nervous systems, says John
C. Watson, M.D., public health expert
from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. And you have to use the
shampoo twice: once to kill the adult lice,
and then a week later to kill any that have
hatched since the first application, says
Jennifer Shu, M.D., a pediatrician and
mom in Atlanta. The chemicals can cause
skin irritation, such as itching and redness, and there’s evidence that some lice
are becoming immune to them anyway,
says Watson. Like bacteria and viruses,
lice can develop resistance to chemicals
and pass that ability on to their offspring.
So what can you use instead? Forgo
It’s possible to kill lice with heat, and
that’s the principle behind the Lousebuster, a hot-air device that hit the market this past spring. After several years of
using the comb-out method, Moll says
she now uses the Lousebuster on her
clients, with excellent results.
how to do it: The Lousebuster looks like
a small vacuum cleaner with a hose at-
tachment, but instead of using suction, it
blows a constant flow of hot air through
a pronged applicator applied directly on
your child’s scalp. After 30 minutes, the
hot air has completely dehydrated the
lice and eggs, which can then be carefully
combed out.
what to know: Only trained pros, such
as school nurses, health-care providers,
or delousing salons can use the Lousebuster. You can find one in your area
at lousebuster.com. Tempted to replicate
the results at home with a hair dryer or
straightening iron? Don’t—you’d need
to get the dryer or iron next to the scalp
where the nits and lice cling, but you’re
likely to end up burning your child’s scalp
and still not snuffing out the lice.
BACK-TONATURE
CLEANING.
FROM A
COMPANY AS
OLD AS DIRT.
Smother them out
Some moms swear by olive oil, petroleum
jelly, mayonnaise, or essential oils like tea
tree or rosemary to cover lice, plugging
their breathing holes until they suffocate.
There are also natural lice products made
to work the same way, such as Lice Ice, a
hair gel infused with neem and tea tree
oil ($20 for 8 ounces, liceice.com), and
Licefree! Gel ($20 for 2 applications,
licefree.com).
how to do it: Saturate your child’s
entire scalp and hair with your treatment
of choice, and leave it on for two minutes. Comb out the excess product, and
then use a hair dryer until the scalp, hair,
and product are completely dry. Leave
the dry product in your child’s hair
overnight (for at least eight hours), and
then wash it out with regular shampoo.
Repeat the process three times over the
next two weeks.
what to know: Before you apply any
product or treatment, check with your
pediatrician, especially if your child is under the age of three, and be sure to follow
directions carefully. l
kiwimagonline.com 21
Back when we started in business,
you didn’t need a chemistry degree
to read an ingredients label. Today,
our products are still free of parabens, phthalates, isopropyl, formaldehyde, dyes and a whole raft
of stuff you’re better off without.
Little did we know that by being so
old-fashioned, we’d be way ahead of
the curve.
Natural since 1868.
And way too stubborn to change.
healthy
remedies
so long,
stress!
We all know the frenzied feeling of stress
taking hold, but what’s actually going
on inside? “When your body perceives a
threat, your nervous system reacts with
a fight or flight response,” says Mubina
Jiwa, a naturopathic doctor and assistant
professor at the Canadian College of
Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto. Your
body floods with adreneline to rev you
up to react. A helpful response in the
past—if you were, say, being chased by a
saber-toothed tiger—but as a response to
daily stressors like work and school, it’s a
case of serious overkill. In the short term,
this stress response can result in headaches,
sleep problems, and irritability. In the long
term? Stress can take its toll in the form of
heart disease, digestive problems, and even
decreased fertility, says Jiwa. Fortunately,
getting a handle on how your family reacts
to stress now can help avoid those issues
later on.
Pregnant moms
Stress source: Major events—such as job
loss or relationship problems—aren’t just
stressful for moms-to-be. “Increased stress
can affect a baby’s brain development, and
possibly the baby’s own stress response
system,” says Monique Robinson, Ph.D.,
a psychologist at the Telethon Institute
for Child Health Research in Australia.
But the issues don’t have to be big; daily
stressors (like getting stuck in traffic) can
be damaging, too.
24 kiwi august/september 2011
Stress solution: Get moving! Exercising
at a moderate level releases endorphins,
helping prevent the body’s ability to
detect stress-inducing threats. Two to
three 45-minute sessions a week of yoga
or walking are great choices for momsto-be, though taking time for any activity
you enjoy (that gets the okay from your
doc) will help you—and your baby—relax.
Babies
Stress source: You wouldn’t think some-
one who spends most of the time sleeping
and eating could get overwhelmed, but babies experience stress, too. “Babies receive a
huge amount of sensory information that
they have to process,” says Megan Faure,
author of The Babysense Secret. “Their brains
haven’t mastered the ability to filter out information, so too many things at once can
make them overly sensitive and stressed.”
Stress solution: Babies recharge their
sensory threshold through sleep, so getting
the right amount is essential, says Faure.
Help your child stick to a regular sleep
schedule (find a baby sleep chart at kiwi
magonline.com/babysleep), and watch for
signs that she’s reaching her sensory limit,
like if she’s sucking on her hands or crying.
Kids
Stress source: Much as we’d love to
think otherwise, kids aren’t carefree.
“Children are aware of a lot of things we
don’t expect them to be—they’re quick to
pick up on negative emotions and family
struggles even when you don’t talk about
them,” says Sarah Watamura, Ph.D., a
psychology professor at the University of
Denver. The result? Stress from worrying
about the unknown.
Stress solution: Give your child a sense
of reassurance and control. “If your family’s
going through a stressful time, acknowledge
it and let your child know you have a plan
to take care of it,” Watamura says. Providing a heads-up on upcoming events and
giving your child options on how to react
helps, too, says Watamura. For example,
if you’ll be out next Friday night, let your
child choose whether he wants to watch a
movie or play a board game with the sitter.
Tweens
Stress source: Between school, extracur-
riculars, and friends, preteens have a lot on
their plates. And when there’s too much
to do, it’s harder to accomplish anything.
Stress solution: Mindfulness meditation
can enhance a person’s ability to pay attention and minimize distractions, reports a
recent Harvard Medical School study. And
fewer distractions make for calmer, more
focused tweens, says Kristen Race, Ph.D.,
a psychologist in Steamboat Springs,
Colorado. The next time your tween is
feeling overwhelmed, try this meditation
exercise: While sitting upright, have her
close her eyes and spend three minutes
focusing on inhaling and exhaling. If her
mind wanders, tell her to simply bring her
attention back to her breath. “Taking a
few minutes each day to sit and focus on
breathing is a simple act, but it can yield
great relaxation benefits,” Race says. l
How does your family handle stress? Share this article with
your moms’ group or discuss it at greenmomsmeet.com.
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w
Homework, after-school activities, weekend soccer games...
before you know it, you’ve got an overbooked, stressed-out
family on your hands. Here’s how to relax—stat. by Marygrace Taylor