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I’m not a fan of most conventional medications.  No matter how bad an occasional headache might get, you’ll never find me reaching for a bottle of Excedrin.  The same goes for an upset stomach–I’d rather just ride it out than chug Pepto Bismol or chew those  chalky tablets.  Chest cold?  Call me Superwoman, but I’ll pass on those harsh, syrupy cough suppressants.  Instead, I turn to peppermint.

While you might keep it around for a batch of homemade thin mints or a pint of fresh mint chocolate chip ice cream, peppermint works wonders on a host of common ailments.  Recognized for centuries as a cure-all, peppermint was a favorite medicine among the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians.  While the leaves were probably the most commonly-used form back then, today peppermint essential oil is widely available, inexpensive, and in my opinion, much more potent.  You can pick up a bottle at your local health food store for instant relief from:

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Drippy.  Itchy.  Stuffy.  Groggy.  Sound familiar?  If you regularly suffer from springtime allergies, the answer is probably yes.  While loading up on the Claritins, Benadryls, or Zyrtecs is one option, you can also try some local honey.

When bees ingest the nectar from flowers, they’re also ingesting some of the plants’ pollen.  This nectar is later regurgitated by the bees and stored in their honeycombs.  After the bees use their wings to evaporate some of the water from the nectar, honey is created.

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In my first week of being a new mom my son developed Thrush. The midwives caught it and gave me a few natural remedies to treat it. A few of the items they mentioned we did not have on hand. Which meant that we needed to take a trip to our local health food store.

While searching around for a few homeopathic tablets we spoke with a nutritionist/herbalist. She asked us a few questions and suggested a few other solutions for Thrush. Then she took us to the book aisle and told us she highly recommended the book Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child. She further explained that she often uses it as a reference and said that every mother should own one. Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child is written by three authors: Janet Zand, N.D., L.Ac., Robert Rountree, M.D., and Rachel Walton, MSN, CRNP. 

The book ”gives you the best conventional and alternative approaches to create vibrant good health for your child”

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We’ve published some excellent natural health articles on Eco Child’s Play this year, and I’ve picked out 9 of the best, covering quite a few natural and home remedies for both kids and adults.

A great place to start when looking for ways to prevent sickness in the home is to go over the top 10 places that harbor cold and flu viruses in your home and clean them thoroughly. Household surfaces can spread common cold and flu viruses from person to person, with some germs lingering for days. This can mean a world of misery for families, so start today to keep those places sanitized.

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With green living, homeopathy and natural alternatives growing in popularity, soap makers are springing up around the world, concocting magical creations of coconut and lime in gleaming, glycerin-infused goodness that cleanse the body, mind and soul. 

Oh, and your hands too!

Growing up in my house, ‘handmade’ soap consisted of my mother gathering up all the remaining bits of bar soap from the shower and bathtubs, tossing them into a container with some water and shaking it up.  “Voila, hand soap!” she would state proudly.  But her objectives were to save money, not create a luxurious lather to soothe and soften the skin.  And, trust me, an acrid amalgum of Dial and Irish Spring was anything but soothing! 

But today’s handmade soaps are a beneficial blend of nourishing nutrients, rich with essential oils and alleviating aromatherapy that care for the skin and calm the senses.  And because they’re chemical-free, they’re an eco-friendly alternative to their caustic counterparts, making them a great way to indulge yourself and the earth.

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Instead, take some preventative steps and try some of these herbal remedies, often available at your local health food store.Before the flu comes your way, try some of these anti-viral and immune system building herbs.

1. Zinc - Zinc is an essential trace mineral that stimulates the immune system – great for those days when the flu is coming your way.

2. Echinacea - Echinacea a popular herb since the 70s is one of the two natural remedies that we start taking daily (with Vitamin C) around this time of year to boost our immune systems

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Image:  Biotech Weblog

Eating too much candy can wreak havoc on your kids’ digestion, causing nausea, vomiting, and stomach cramps.

Having some home remedies for an upset stomach can save the day (or help you get through the night). Many of the ingredients can be found in your kitchen, and if one doesn’t work for you, there’s a whole list of of remedies to try.

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One of the most misunderstood and over-treated childhood conditions is a fever. Fever is not a disease, and in most cases is nothing to worry about. An elevation in body temperature is one of the body’s strongest weapons to deal with infections, and is best left to run its course.

A fever increases the amount of natural antiviral and antibacterial substances in the blood. Fever also increases white blood cell count, to kill cells infected with viruses, and it improves the ability of white blood cells to destroy bacteria and infected cells, while impairing the replication of bacteria and viruses.

Western medicine has a limited number of treatments available for fevers, most of which involve Tylenol or Ibuprofen, which may mask the symptoms and actually prolong the illness.

Treating a feverish child with natural remedies is a gentler method that doesn’t introduce pharmaceuticals into their body or artificially force a fever down. Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, author of How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor, debunks the myth that febrile seizures (convulsions) and high fevers cause permanent damage the child’s brain or body. He does recommend seeing a physician if your infant (under two months old) has a fever over 100°. Fevers under 106° should be allowed to run their course.

Of course, when your child is miserable and can’t sleep, treating a fever with natural remedies may give enough relief for them to sleep and heal. You will probably need the sleep as well…

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We try to avoid traditional medicine as often as possible, but we will treat with medications that are necessary (antibiotics after a 72 hour wait, rescue medicine for asthma, etc…).

My mission this winter is to keep my children as healthy as possible and not have a repeat of last winter (15 Doctor visits, mostly for the six year old). We are doing a few things different to help achieve this.

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Several years ago I learned that pink eye can arrive from multiple reasons. One is bacterial, which isn’t the most common, but does require antibiotics the majority of the time. A much more frequent cause is a virus. That’s right, that cold settles into your eye(s). This can easily be treated at home or just waited out. If you are like me, the discomfort requires attention.

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Having a child with an earache is even more challenging. It can mean sleepless nights and irritable days for all of you.

An ear infection is one possible cause of that ache, but even if it isn’t an infection, a buildup of wax or dirt in the ear can still be extremely uncomfortable. And flying on a plane or driving to a higher altitude can bring on an earache pretty quickly.

When it happens, it doesn’t matter whether it’s an inner ear or outer ear infection, impacted ear wax, or an allergy response. You just want relief.

The doctor may see you during office hours, but it seems like earaches tend to appear in the middle of the night. What do you do at 2 AM?

Here’s a list of natural remedies that you might have in your home right now:

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CankerMelts not only heal canker sores in 1 to 5 days, but they help relieve the pain too. These slow natural dissolving discs adhere to the oral sore and provide anti-inflammatory pain relief.  Recently, my daughter thought she had another canker sore, although I could not confirm it by peering in her mouth. I let her try CankerMelts, and she did not complain about the sore again.  CankerMelts are not limited to canker sores, as they can be used on any sore in the mouth, such as from braces or biting one’s cheek.  It is advised not to use CankerMelts with children under six years of age, due to choking hazards.  CankerMelts are made in the USA.

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I called my mom.

Nothing, she had no advice for me. “Ask your brother, one of his girls had it a few times,” was her only bit of help. I call my brother who chortles, “Ha ha, it’s your turn to throw everything out.” I could hardly reply, I thought I was talking but the words wouldn’t come out. He continued, “Call the Doctor and get a prescription.”

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Pregnancy Herbal Tea Recipe:

To make this tea, add about 1 teaspoon of each herb, except the yellow dock, to a glass quart jar. Use just a pinch of yellow dock, as it has a strong flavor and should be used in moderation. Add boiling water to the herbs, and let the tea steep for at least four hours for maximum absorption of vitamins and minerals. This tea tastes good at any temperature, and a quart should be drunk every day by pregnant women and nursing mothers.

• Raspberry leaf: This herb has been called “The pregnant woman’s best herbal friend” by Jeannine Parvati, author of Hygieia: A Woman’s Herbal. The foliage has long been used by native people and midwives, as it relieves morning sickness and eases birth. This herb can also aid infertile couples.

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