Q&A: How can I use chamomile for child’s stress, pain, or teething?

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Question: What can I give my child when she’s had a stressful day, is nervous, fearful and cannot seem to fall asleep?

Andrea Candee replies: Mrs. Rabbit’s secret tea is the answer to a multitude of baby and child upsets. Peter Rabbit’s heart went pit-a-pat as he ran from Farmer MacGregor, but his mother knew to calm him with a nice warm cup of chamomile tea. When he couldn’t sleep or had a tummy ache, good old chamomile came to the rescue.

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Another good use for chamomile tea is for teething pain. Dip gauze pads in the prepared tea, roll them up, put them in a plastic bag and freeze for future use. When your baby is teething, give her a frozen chamomile gauze pad to bite down on.

Chamomile tea is prepared by steeping 1 heaping teaspoon of the herb in a cup of boiled water. Let steep for 20 minutes and strain. For little ones, give mini-doses in shot glasses – much easier to handle than a big cup. The tea may be sweetened with a bit of honey.

Undoubtedly, if your child has had a stressful day, so have you. Make a cup for yourself, as well!

Another way to soothe your little one is with a chamomile compress. Making the tea as indicated above, dip a cotton cloth into the warm tea, wring it out and place over your child’s forehead and eyes. Soft music in the background, comforting words, and you’ll have a calm, happy child.

Purchase teas from Mountain Rose Herbs:

A chamomile bath can be very relaxing just before bedtime. This wonderful bath can be prepared in one of two ways.

• Add a quart of chamomile tea to the bath water (infusing the flowers as you would for a tea, but doubling the proportions to 2 teaspoons per cup). Steep 30 minutes.

• Turn your bathtub into an oversized teacup! Fill a muslin bag or a washcloth tied closed with a rubber band with fresh or dried chamomile flowers. If you know of a safe place to pick fresh chamomile flowers, the activity of walking, seeking out the plant and inhaling its flowers is fun and soothing.

Suspend the bag or washcloth from the bathtub’s faucet so that it is soaking in the bath water as the tub fills. Your child can also rub the chamomile pouch all over her body to derive further benefit from its relaxing properties through skin absorption.

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© Andrea Candee

Andrea Candee is a master herbalist, media expert, nationally known lecturer and author of the award-winning Gentle Healing for Baby and Child (Simon & Schuster), which received The National parenting Center’s Seal of Approval. Andrea is noted nationally for her unique and successful approach to Lyme Disease. She lives and maintains a consultation health practice in New York and shares much of her knowledge at www.AndreaCandee.com.