Natural Alternatives To Kid’s Medicines

In a day and age when everyone wants a quick fix, prescribing pills always seems to be a first resort for doctors. If you’re lucky enough to see a homeopathic doctor or even a more holistic minded practitioner, then they may steer you towards some alternative methods first, but most people go where their insurance covers it- their local doctor. We all know kids come with a slew of germs. Sometimes I swear they just manufacture them out of nowhere and come down with these mystery illnesses! While most people reach for over the counter medicines or prescriptions to see their children through the fevers, the colds, stomach bugs, or even on an ongoing basis for issues like allergies, you may want to think twice.

Let’s take a look at Children’s Tylenol Cherry Blast as an example of a popular over the counter children’s medicine. It’s basically full of crap that not only has no benefit for your child’s body, but actually gives their body even more junk to filter out and fight off:

Active ingredients

Acetaminophen 160 mg in each 5 mL (5 mL = 1 teaspoonful)

Inactive ingredients

anhydrous citric acid, butylparaben, FD&C red no. 40, flavors, glycerin, high fructose corn syrup, microcrystalline cellulose and carboxymethylcellulose sodium, propylene glycol, purified water, sodium benzoate, sorbitol solution, sucralose, xanthan gum

Yes that’s butylparaben you see there. Guess they haven’t gotten the memo about parabens being a strongly suspected carcinogen, along with FD&C red no. 40, which is banned in some European countries for it’s well known link with hyper-activity in children and strong evidence it’s carcinogenic. Then there’s sodium benzoate, which is fine on it’s own, but becomes highly carcinogenic when mixed with citric acid (which is nice that they included both in their medicine). Add on to that the fact that Acetaminophen is very taxing on your liver, and especially those of small developing children who’s livers do not operate as efficiently as adult’s and it suddenly doesn’t seem like an appealing quick fix anymore. Look, you may be surprised to hear that I actually have given my kids Acetaminophen before. I believe that medicine has it’s place and the times my children have had very high fevers (surprisingly, low fevers are actually useful at fighting off viruses and best left untreated, but high fevers can be dangerous and should be treated/monitored) or are on night 5 of not sleeping due to a miserable teething episode, I’ve giving them some medicine, but it has always been a last resort, not first resort. When I have given them Acetaminophen before, I’ve used the brand Little Remedies, which *to be clear* is slightly better than Tylenol. At least you skip out on the parabens, artificial food dyes and artificial flavoring. So don’t take that as a blanket recommendation, but as a last resort option. But Tylenol is not the only bad guy out there. Look at the label on any of the medicine bottles in the children’s aisle of the drug store and you’ll find all that and more on the back of most all of them. So what can you use instead? Here are some of our favorite natural alternatives to kid’s medicines. 

**I’m not a doctor. These are suggestions, but please check with your doctor about any treatments for your children**

Tummy Bugs/Upset Stomaches 

For nausea our favorite go-to is Zoe Organics Refresh Oil. You can pick it up at Target. The rollerball applicator is great for quick application during carsickness, tummy bugs or just when your kids generally feel icky. Lime peel, ginger and mint do a surprisingly good job at fighting queasiness. For diarrhea, a small amount of activated charcoal can help get the tummy back in order. Here’s the Mayo-clinic’s dosing guide. Also, extra fluids plus dietary changes will dramatically help. Foods like bananas, applesauce, rice, mashed white potatoes, and yogurt, can all help to calm their little tummies. A probiotic also works wonders for getting things back on track and really helps to strengthen their immune systems. I give these to my children each morning.

Colds

The first thing I recommend is getting a diffuser. We have this one and use ours all the time! Not only is it an easy way to fill your house with a nice scent, but it also offers immediate benefits of aromatherapy when needed. I use eucalyptus and white fir essential oils when one of my children is congested. It dramatically helps to break up congestion. You can also use lavender to help them sleep if they’re being kept up by the cold. There are so many therapeutic uses for different essential oils! Basically one for any symptoms you’re feeling. A humidifier is also good to keep on hand to use in addition to the diffuser. (note: I tried using essential oils in our humidifier once and it ate through the plastic and made the tank leak. I would stick to using them just in the diffuser). We also love Breathe Balm from Zoe Organics. Think Vick’s Vapor rub, but without all the petrochemicals and synthetic menthol that actually offers no therapeutic value. Organic essential oils of eucalyptus, tea tree, lavender and cedar help the Breathe Balm to work wonders with little one’s congestion and coughs.

Allergies

My son has bad allergies. When he was two he started coughing all night long and the doctor wanted me to put him on once a day Children’s Claritin. Aspartame, artificial food dyes and flavors? No thank you. Instead I use all the cold remedies mentioned above, along with a hepa air purifier in his room (we like that one for the price and it works) and I’ve found that when allergy season is at it’s worst Hyland’s 4 Kids Allergy relief tablets seem to help him some too. These do not work on food allergies, however. He has some pretty severe food allergies, so we keep fast melt Benadryl tablets and eli-pens on hand for emergencies. There’s no natural remedy for that unfortunately.

Teething

White fir essential oil is Aaaahh-mazing for teething. Little Annabelle was one of the worst teethers known to man, and this was life changing for us. It really helped, especially at night. I would use a very small amount and dilute it with olive oil and dab it on her gums or somewhere in the vicinity of where the tooth was popping out. I’ve also used it around her ears while she’s had ear infections. The white fir seemed to be even more effective than acetaminophen for teething, in my opinion. 

For any ongoing conditions requiring medication, you may want to seek out a naturopathic or homeopathic doctor (depending on your preference) to see if they can address the root cause of the issue and/or help come up with another treatment plan that doesn’t include daily medicine. If you google natural remedies, so many crazy things come up. I highly recommend seeking out some type of expert opinion, especially when it comes to children. Hopefully this gives you some good natural alternatives to kid’s medicines, though. Be sure to stay tuned on Instagram– I’ll be giving away some of our favorite remedies later today! xo