Re: Managing fever/illness in a toddler

[Guest guest]

Tilia tea and lavender tepid sponging.

once i used some very lovely poppy flower tea, (but don't know where

you would get some from) I think that it relaxed my daughter, so

that the fever cooled and she slept. Nowadays I think I would try

eschcolzia, or a little scullcap if the Tilia wasn't sufficient. The

Tilia also helps produce diaphoresis, which naturally lowers the

temperature.

Upset stomachs - wonderful ulmus. (Do you have Anne Mccintyre's

" Mother and child? "

Another thing that helped me (The one thing I don't miss about my

daughters' childhoods is the childhood illnesses!) was taking up

spinning yarn (i think music would also be good) it distracted me,

and had a sort of hypnotic effect on the children which they

obviously found reassuring - Mum there, but busy at something

pleasantly rhythmic.

My middle daughter was the most troubled (she was the only one given

antibiotics (we were at my Mum's ;-) ) and she then promptly entered

a monthly cycle of mild tonsillitis. I managed this with ech, garlic

and vit c, but it continued until she caught measles (no MMR then),

ran an impressive fever, convalesced well and never looked back. I

reckon it reset her immune system.

Very best wishes

> Hi all,

>

> This is a question about my own family... My toddler (2 years old)

> does

> high fevers - whenever she gets sick, we never seem to get away with

> less than 39C... At the moment, she's had a vomiting thing with

> conjunctivitis, cough, cold and fever. I think the vomiting has

> more or

> less abated, but she's not eaten really anything since saturday

> morning. She's surviving on sups of apple juice (with echinacea in

> it)

> and water. I try to avoid calpol as much as possible but last

> night she

> really did look like an extra from Night of the Living Dead and her

> temp

> was up to 40 so we calpoled her. Temp this morning was down to

> 37.5 and

> stayed that way till this afternoon when it started to rise slowly to

> 38.5 by about 5pm. Then started to go up more rapidly and reached

> 40.1

> by about 7.30pm. At this point, she was again looking like death

> warmed up and we calpoled her and put her to bed.

>

> What does anyone else do in this situation? Do you use other

> herbs? Do

> other people use calpol or avoid it like the plague?? This wee one, I

> have to say, is a nightmare to get herbs into. I can disguise

> echinacea

> in apple juice but most other things won't be taken at all. She will

> take homeopathic pills (nice sugary things!) and has taken belladonna

> for fever but it just doesn't seem to have enough effect.

>

> Any thoughts?

>

> Oh and, while I'm at it, I'm worried that the younger one (8 mos

> old and

> mostly breastfed) is going to get the same thing - do you get enough

> effect from herbs if given through mums milk??

>

> Thanks all!

>

> Schia

>

> --

> Schia MNIMH MIMHO

> Medical Herbalist

> Cambridge

> www.cambridgeherbalist.org.uk

>

>

> ------------------------------------

>

> List Owner: Graham White, MNIMH

[Guest guest]

Dear Schia,

elderflower tea is the best to bring the temperature down but don't wait till it

reaches 40C -start giving the tea as soon as the temperature is over 37C. My son

was exactly like your toddler - would run very high temperature very quickly,

it's not unusual and very alarming! I used Calpol occasionally but if you

combine it with elderflower you need less of Calpol. Tepid sponging works very

well too. I think a lot of people will find it controversial but I have found

that Echinacea given when the cold is already in full swing makes things worse.

If your child does not want to drink elderflower tea by itself, mix it with some

honey, sugar, syrup etc. Raspberry syrup (home made) is mildly diaphoretic

(salicylates) and it is yammy - again, not for very high fevers, but for mild

ones, so it is good for keeping the temperature down after it has been

reduced with calpol.

Hope it helps

> Hi all,

>

> This is a question about my own family... My toddler (2 years old)

> does

> high fevers - whenever she gets sick, we never seem to get away with

> less than 39C... At the moment, she's had a vomiting thing with

> conjunctivitis, cough, cold and fever. I think the vomiting has

> more or

> less abated, but she's not eaten really anything since saturday

> morning. She's surviving on sups of apple juice (with echinacea in

> it)

> and water. I try to avoid calpol as much as possible but last

> night she

> really did look like an extra from Night of the Living Dead and her

> temp

> was up to 40 so we calpoled her. Temp this morning was down to

> 37.5 and

> stayed that way till this afternoon when it started to rise slowly to

> 38.5 by about 5pm. Then started to go up more rapidly and reached

> 40.1

> by about 7.30pm. At this point, she was again looking like death

> warmed up and we calpoled her and put her to bed.

>

> What does anyone else do in this situation? Do you use other

> herbs? Do

> other people use calpol or avoid it like the plague?? This wee one, I

> have to say, is a nightmare to get herbs into. I can disguise

> echinacea

> in apple juice but most other things won't be taken at all. She will

> take homeopathic pills (nice sugary things!) and has taken belladonna

> for fever but it just doesn't seem to have enough effect.

>

> Any thoughts?

>

> Oh and, while I'm at it, I'm worried that the younger one (8 mos

> old and

> mostly breastfed) is going to get the same thing - do you get enough

> effect from herbs if given through mums milk??

>

> Thanks all!

>

> Schia

>

> --

> Schia MNIMH MIMHO

> Medical Herbalist

> Cambridge

> www.cambridgeherbal ist.org.uk

>

>

> ------------ --------- --------- ------

>

> List Owner: Graham White, MNIMH

[Guest guest]

" I think a lot of people will find it controversial but I have found

that Echinacea given when the cold is already in full swing makes

things worse. "

Interesting - I do think it seems to raise the temperature, but also

promotes sweating so my jury is out.- started late it doesn't seem as

effective at the time, but if taken until symptoms resolve seems to

produce a better " post cold " state of health. (When I worked for a

local charity, I was consistently disappointed that it didn't cure

me instantly ;-) but I did find that I was back at work (and healthy)

up to a week before my colleagues ) But I was not troubled by

excessive heat at the time.

(However I'm a big fan of elderberry for viral infections but

definitely didn't suggest it here because it clearly builds heat in

my opinion)

Something I forgot to mention, don't forget the power of mood in

children is astonishing - When one of mine was tiny, before I was

trained in clinical examination, we took her to the GP with a high

temperature and he confirmed she had quite nasty tonsillitis and gave

us a bottle of abx.

Before returning to our remote cottage, we called in at a very

sociable friend's house, where the friend's young son went out of his

way (and succeeded wonderfully) to charm her and cheer her up. By

the time we got home, she was obviously on the mend, and we carried

on with herb teas etc and fruit juice and the bottle of abx never

even got opened - it really wasn't needed - and as I know now,

wouldn't have affected her VIRAL infection. I suppose it could have

merely knocked her out and allowed her " Vis medicatrix naturae " to

restore health while she slept. (But ' method was way more

effective and had only positive side effects!)

Sally O

>> night she

>> really did look like an extra from Night of the Living Dead and her

>> temp

>> was up to 40 so we calpoled her. Temp this morning was down to

>> 37.5 and

>> stayed that way till this afternoon when it started to rise slowly to

>> 38.5 by about 5pm. Then started to go up more rapidly and reached

>> 40.1

>> by about 7.30pm. At this point, she was again looking like death

>> warmed up and we calpoled her and put her to bed.

>>

>> What does anyone else do in this situation? Do you use other

>> herbs? Do

>> other people use calpol or avoid it like the plague?? This wee one, I

>> have to say, is a nightmare to get herbs into. I can disguise

>> echinacea

>> in apple juice but most other things won't be taken at all. She will

>> take homeopathic pills (nice sugary things!) and has taken belladonna

>> for fever but it just doesn't seem to have enough effect.

>>

>> Any thoughts?

>>

>> Oh and, while I'm at it, I'm worried that the younger one (8 mos

>> old and

>> mostly breastfed) is going to get the same thing - do you get enough

>> effect from herbs if given through mums milk??

>>

>> Thanks all!

>>

>> Schia

>>

>> --

>> Schia MNIMH MIMHO

>> Medical Herbalist

>> Cambridge

>> www.cambridgeherbal ist.org.uk

>>

>>

>> ------------ --------- --------- ------

>>

>> List Owner: Graham White, MNIMH

[Guest guest]

Re 's comment about the homeopathic Aconite.

An elderly lady (80's or so) at a WI talk said her father routinely

gave her drops of aconite for a fever when she was little. It sounded

herbal rather than homeopathic. Her memory was that it had worked very

well. And, obviously, she was still alive and well at quite an

advanced age.

I'm not suggesting that anyone try it on their toddler, I just thought

it was interesting.

Natalia

Natalia Kerkham

natalia@...

> Hi Schia

>

> See you've been swamped with advice from all us 'mothers who've been

> through it before'.

> I think most of us learnt our herbal medicine dosing our kids when

> they were younger.

>

> Both of my sons were like yours - either they were normal or had

> temps at or above 40.

> It freaked me out the first time 4 mths old, 40 degree fever. then

> he did it again a month later.

> Younger one did it first at 6 weeks but by then I was so blase about

> it, although I have to admit that I ended up giving him Abx because

> he was quite unwell.

>

> My kids were pretty good at taking stuff apart from chamomile tea.

> I gave them lime blossom, as hot as poss without burning them. You

> can sweeten it to if need be or add e.g apple concentrate to it, but

> the taste alone is OK. It should induce a bit of a sweat, which is

> of course what you want.

> When the elder son was about 10 he had flu badly - so badly I called

> doctor, but while I was waiting for him to come (Sunday afternoon) I

> gave him elderflower, peppermint and yarrow and his temp dropped 2

> degrees by the time the doc arrived 20 mins later. I wouldn't give

> that to a little child but when she's older it's fine.

>

> I usually give people a mixture of Echinacea, Hypericum and often

> Galium for viruses. Have given it to children too and it's worked

> really well.

> if you're concerned about Echinacea making things worse, why not try

> some Baptisia instead?

>

> Actually you could make a virus tea of lime blossom and lemonbalm

> which would sooth her tummy and be diaphoretic.

> Just keep her fluids up and watch for whimpering or unusual behaviour.

>

> I've never done it but Tea tree EO in a bath is supposed to help

> with fluey viruses. Maybe adding that to you tepid water might help?

>

> incidentally, I'm no homeopath but i think Belladonna is indicated

> when cheeks are red. I believe - and I'm sure someone else will be

> able to say, Aconite might be a better remedy if she's pale and

> washed out looking. I recall it for being at start of fevers, during

> that chill phase, but maybe she starts a chill phase daily without

> going back to normal first.

>

> good luck and hope she's better soon (also the little one - she

> could have lime blossom too).

>

>

> ========================================

> Message Received: Dec 17 2008, 07:50 PM

>

> To: " ukherbal-list " <ukherbal-list >,

> " membersforum " <membersforum >

> Cc:

> Subject: Managing fever/illness in a toddler

>

> Hi all,

>

> This is a question about my own family... My toddler (2 years old)

> does

> high fevers - whenever she gets sick, we never seem to get away with

> less than 39C... At the moment, she's had a vomiting thing with

> conjunctivitis, cough, cold and fever. I think the vomiting has more

> or

> less abated, but she's not eaten really anything since saturday

> morning. She's surviving on sups of apple juice (with echinacea in it)

> and water. I try to avoid calpol as much as possible but last night

> she

> really did look like an extra from Night of the Living Dead and her

> temp

> was up to 40 so we calpoled her. Temp this morning was down to 37.5

> and

> stayed that way till this afternoon when it started to rise slowly to

> 38.5 by about 5pm. Then started to go up more rapidly and reached 40.1

> by about 7.30pm. At this point, she was again looking like death

> warmed up and we calpoled her and put her to bed.

>

> What does anyone else do in this situation? Do you use other herbs? Do

> other people use calpol or avoid it like the plague?? This wee one, I

> have to say, is a nightmare to get herbs into. I can disguise

> echinacea

> in apple juice but most other things won't be taken at all. She will

> take homeopathic pills (nice sugary things!) and has taken belladonna

> for fever but it just doesn't seem to have enough effect.

>

> Any thoughts?

>

> Oh and, while I'm at it, I'm worried that the younger one (8 mos old

> and

> mostly breastfed) is going to get the same thing - do you get enough

> effect from herbs if given through mums milk??

>

> Thanks all!

>

> Schia

>

> --

> Schia MNIMH MIMHO

> Medical Herbalist

> Cambridge

> www.cambridgeherbalist.org.uk

>

>

>

>

>