Most of us are on a journey to healing our body our herbs and a more holistic lifestyle.
Combining the right foods with mindful exercise, calming practices, and using herbs for common ailments is helping our bodies get back to balance and allowing it the opportunity to function properly! With this balance, we feel better, move better, and can find joy in more moments in our lives! The big question is...what about our kids!?
If you're a parent, you're a little more hesitant about giving your children certain things. You won't know their reactions to it or even how it's helping them. Over-the-counter medications are getting expensive plus most have harmful effects. As parents, we want to protect our children and hope they grow to be big and strong and healthy!
This is why I wanted to give you a guide of some simple herbs you can use in your child's everyday life and know they'll be safe and healthy!
Some herbs carry nutritional values that are just as amazing as the food we eat! They can replenish our bodies of the nutrients lost or become an additive! Think of it as taking a multivitamin but wasn't made in a lab!
Nutritional Herbs
Nettles are considered the supreme nutritive for humans and animals. Nettles contain nutrients like calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, and chlorophyll. These nutrients can improve overall vitality, nutrition, and helpful for growing pains and post exercise aches. It decreases allergies histamine, tightens and tones tissue to help protect and strengthen your organs, and helps flush toxins from the body! It can be taken as a tea, tincture, pill form or even in cooking!
Rose Hips contain antioxidants that improve immune, respiratory, and skin health. They are also known to decrease inflammation and oxidative stress. They contain vitamins such as vitamin C, bioflavonoids, and blue-purple-red pigment antioxidants. They can be used in tea, tincture, and yummy jam!
Dandelions are fun to pick and mineral-rich! You can use the roots, the flowers and leaves to add in your picking fun! They are beneficial for acne, ridding of allergies, improve poor digestion, and a great liver detoxifier! Use as a tea, tincture, or making food.
Herbs for the Brain and Nerves
Chamomile is a go-to for me! It has a gentle calming effect on the nerves that helps with agitation, anxiety and insomnia. Relieves colic, gas, pain, and bloating. Has pain-relieving properties and is effective for teething pain and topical rashes. Improves digestion and has anti-inflammatory properties. Can be used in tea, tinctures, and topically.
Lemon Balm is very similar to chamomile but is loaded with antioxidants. This can help with overactivity, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, memory, and insomnia. Great for digestion and helping with digestive issues. Is a natural antiviral so helpful to fight against the flu. Great as a tea, infused water, and tincture.
Gotu Kola energizes and helps the body adapt to stress while also improving cognition and memory and relieving anxiety. It improves circulation and heart health. It's wonderful for promoting skin health and wound healing. It can be taken as a tea, liquid extract or powder.
Holy Basil/Tulsi has the ability to calm and energize, relieve anxiety and grief, and balance cortisol and blood sugar levels. It improves immune health to fend off colds and other infections, strengthens digestion, decreases the inflammation response to quell chronic pain. Holy Basil helps us feel less hopeless and more in tune with the world around us. Great as a tea, tincture, or even in cooking.
Herbs for Digestion
Mints improve digestion, ease gas, bloating, and colic. Peppermint can ease nausea, help open the lungs, perks up the spirits and clears the sinuses. Best for headaches and muscle spasms. Use in tea, infused water, tincture, capsules, or essential oil.
Fennel quickly relieves colic, gas, pain, bloating, and nausea. Considered one of the fastest acting digestive aids. Can provide antispasmodic action for coughs and respiratory complaints. Use in liquid form, powder, tea or in food.
Ginger improves digestion, relieves lower gut pain and colic, warms the body and prevents and treats nausea. Great for an upset tummy and helpful to break a fever. Use a tea, infusion, glycerite, even candy or food.
Cinnamon has astringent, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties, which help tighten, tone, and heal gut damage, ease diarrhea, and discourage pathogens. Add in food, infusion, or make a tea!
**Chamomile, catnip, and lemon balm all carry benefits for digestion and calming of the nerves. Chamomile is safe and effective for babies!
Herbs for Skin
Calendula is one of my favorite plants to use for the skin! Healing for any kind of rash! It's soothing for irritated skin and promotes healing. Beneficial for diaper rash, cradle cap, eczema and safe to use in your everyday skin care. Make an herbal oil with the flowers and have a skin care remedy for everything!
Plantain is best used fresh! Mash it up and apply as a poultice for bee stings, insect and spider bites, and poison ivy. Plantain is known to draw out venom, skin irritants, reduces inflammation, promotes healing and is a light astringent. Safe for internal use but best if used on the skin!
Yarrow stops bleeding, discourages infection, and promotes fast healing for wounds with minimal scarring. It is best used in a fresh poultice.
Arnica is best used topically. Reduces bumps, bruises, and aches from trauma or injury. Best not to apply to broken skin.
Immune Support and Infections
Elderberries prevent viruses from entering cells and replicating, which helps shorten a cold or flu. They strengthen the overall immune response. Elderflowers act as a diaphoretic to help break a fever and reduce the histamine response to ease both infection and allergy symptoms. Best in a syrup or tincture. Can be used as a tea but best used dried and make sure all parts are strained out.
Mullein opens the airways and soothes irritation in the lungs to help with respiratory issue such as asthma, bronchitis and coughs. Can be used in tea or tinctures.
Oregano and Thyme have antimicrobial and antiseptic which aid in respiratory, oral, topical and gastrointestinal infections (Bacterial, viral, fungal, yeast, and worms). Oregano targets the gut and thyme targets the lungs. They both improve digestion, ease respiratory issues, kick out colds, and can kill off bad bacteria in the body. Can be used in teas, cooking, and tinctures.
Use your intuition when it comes to giving your kids herbal medicine. The plants listed above are known for the least interactions for kids. I am not a physician and am only sharing information. I use these herbs with my family and I use them responsibly.
I hope all of this was helpful!
💚 Austin
I am referencing a book called, "Body into Balance" by Maria Noel Groves.