by Demetria Clark
Global Director at Birth Arts International
Director at Heart of Herbs Herbal School
Children are amazing, resilient, robust and in my experience when herbs are appropriately used act as building blocks with children’s bodies. Herbs can fill in nutritional gaps, offer fortification and protection from or fight illness. Most children overall are healthy, using herbs is a great way to stop a common illness in its tracks or to help the body fight off an illness.
I believe and raised my children with the belief that they needed to build their bodies and fortify them when they were becoming ill. I used to get them to imagine their “knights” in their bodies (white blood cells) were battling the germs or illness.
Stinging Nettle or Nettles (Urtica Dioica) Nettles can be eaten in foods, used in teas, syrups, and are rich in rich in iron, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper, boron, strontium. They also contain vitamins – A, C, K, and B vitamins. Nettles has many nutritional benefits, but it can also work to fortify when a child is starting to get a cold or flu, has stressed adrenals, PMS issues, wanting clearer skin, has seasonal allergies or suffering from diarrhea.
Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) This herb is rich in many mineral contents such as iron, calcium, potassium, copper, manganese, zinc, magnesium and alpha hydroxy acid and packed with antioxidants. This herb is absolutely fantastic for children who stress out or can’t seem to hold up to stressors. This tea tastes lovely can be used to flavor blends and for children can aid in headaches, sleep issues, colic, and anxiety linked with stress.
Muscle Recovery Tea
Have a child athlete?
This mild tea is nutrient dense, tastes excellent and safe for almost everyone, and can be made as a blend and used or one cup at a time.
Parts — a part is any unit of measurement you desire. So if you want to make just one large canning jar/ teapot, you would use one tablespoon each. If you want to make enough mixture for the week, a part can be 1/4 cup.
I am going to give you the bulk measurements. Use 1-2 teaspoons of the mixture per cup of hot water.
1/4 cup Nettles
1/4 cup Rooibos
Super simple and easy.
Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis) Lemon balm for is exceptionally suitable for children. The herb has anti-viral properties, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial properties, can help to strengthen the neurological system, reduces pain, helps with digestive issues, and assist with sleep issues. Lemon Balm is what is known as gentle power. It is a powerful herb, but also one of the gentlest. Children love the way it tastes and smells, and it blends well with the first two herbs I shared. Love this herb for overall reasons like stress and anxiety. However it is also beneficial for specifics like gas and gas with cramping, headaches, viral issues, issues relaxing, as a wash for chicken pox, a tea for sleep issues, anxiety linked to outside stressors, lemon balm is versatile and it is easy to get kids to drink the tea, because it takes like lemons.
Milky Oats (Avena Sativa) You can purchase the milky tops or use oatmeal. Keep it simple and easy for yourself. You can even use oatmeal from the grocery store, try to get the best quality you can for your budget. Oats are excellent for topical issues like chicken pox, eczema, nervous system issues, restlessness and feelings of fidgetiness, or nervous/anxious movements. Kids can eat oats or take in tea form, and it can be used in a bath, as a wash or compress. It is versatile and easy to find.
It is often used as a nerve system restorative.
Chicken Pox Wash
This wash or compress blend can be used to ease the itchiness and pain associated with chickenpox in children or shingles in adults.
As a compress
Fill a large stock pot, with water and 1 cups oats and 1 cup fresh lemon balm. Both can be found at your grocery store, oats in the cereal aisle and lemon balm in the fresh herb section. Or you can use 1/2 cup dried lemon balm.
Bring the water to a boil
Add the herbs, simmer for 20 minutes and remove from heat.
Allow the mixture to cool, strain and use large washcloths or kitchen towels as the compress. Dip in the cloth (making sure the water is cool enough for the skin) Wring gently and apply to the child’s back, legs, etc..
You can also fill a bathtub for your child and add the strained tea to the bath.
You can also strain and add to a spray bottle and use as a spray for 24 hours. For shingles you can add a tablespoon or two of Listerine, yes, the mouth wash to the spray, it is wonderful for shingles. The active ingredients in Listerine bottle are essential oils such as thymol, menthol, eucalyptol and methyl salicylate.
Calendula (Calendula officinalis) is used externally to support wound healing and reduce inflammation. Calendula has antiseptic, astringent, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and wound-healing qualities. It has a healing impact on cuts, scrapes, bites, stings, bruises, and sunburns. For a wound-healing compress that is also excellent for sunburns, bug bites and stings, use two teaspoonfuls of calendula herb to one cup of water boiling water, remove from heat and allow the herb to steep until cool enough to use as a compress. Strain and use. It quickly soothes the pain and irritation and can work to prevent infection. It relieves the itching and inflammation of skin eruptions, like hives, contact dermatitis and chickenpox, and diaper rash.
A compress is a cloth dipped in tea slightly wrung out and laid or placed on the area of inflammation. The compress can be used on bruises, cuts, scrapes, sore muscles, sunburns, chickenpox, measles, fevers or cystic acne. One of the reasons I love compresses is that the child can take control of the application. Even at two or three years old can learn about self-care and determine if something is helping them. Empowering children in their health care from the start is essential.
Cheat Sheet
Skin Issues inflammation- Calendula, Oats
Skin Issues, herpes based like chickenpox, shingles, and cold sores or other itchy rashes) Lemon Balm, Calendula, Oats
Headaches- Lemon Balm, Rooibos
Anxiety- Nettles, Lemon Balm, Rooibos
Cold and Flu coming- Nettles, Lemon Balm
Muscle Recovery or overexertion- Nettles, Rooibos, Calendula
Allergy Relief- Nettles, rooibos
Stomach Aches- Lemon Balm, Oats, rooibos
Diarrhea- Nettles, viral responds well to Lemon Balm.
Diaper Rash and rashes- Calendula, Oats (unless candida based, some feel the oats may feed the outbreak, the natural sugars in grains)
Demetria Clark author of the best seller- Herbal Healing for Children and Aromatherapy and Herbal Remedies for Pregnancy, Birth, and Breastfeeding and the Director of Heart of Herbs Herbal School
