Search Results for: baby sleeping
Jennifer has been my homeopath for the last two years and has helped me with various health ailments, emotional support, health support during pregnancy, labor, during the post-natal period and now healthcare for my baby. Her remedies were lifesavers during that sleepless newborn stage. She always seems to know exactly which remedy I need and often gives me an acute dose which offers almost instant relief from symptoms. However, Jennifer has offered much more than just homeopathy. She has been a tower of support for me on my journey, always there to listen and help in whatever way she can. Jennifer is a caring and sensitive practitioner who listens without prejudice and offers advice wisely. She always manages to create a wonderfully calm and welcoming environment that makes visits an absolute pleasure. I always leave her clinic feeling refreshed and renewed. — Female, age 32
While sleep is a topic I have written about before, I find in the clinic that problems around babies and sleep are the most common complaints that parents (exhausted and exasperated) come to me seeking help for. Again, this is an area where homeopathic remedies can in many cases provide natural and effective treatments, based on reports from parents. Because they are made from highly-diluted plants, animals, and minerals in origin they are appropriate for babies (even newborns) and children.
It is common for babies and small children to wake during the night from teething pain, coughs and colds, and nightmares. However, when the waking extends beyond the physical complaint or becomes chronic (frequent), there are homeopathic treatments that parents claim have improved the child’s sleep by addressing the underlying cause of the waking.
If it’s a physical symptom that wakes the child such as bed-wetting, stomach pain, or a chronically blocked nose or cough, then the homeopathic remedy is given at bedtime for the acute symptom. Other remedies are constitutional, which can strengthen the child’s immune response, and can make acute symptoms less frequent and shorten their duration.
If nightmares or night terrors are keeping the child from wanting to go to bed, or causing the child to wake in fear, then the treatment addresses any consistent themes in the child’s dreams (monsters, being chased, drowning, etc). Because small children are often affected and not able to verbalize the fear, the state or how the child appears on waking from the nightmare or terror (expression, perspiration, body position, etc) and the type of comfort the child needs (being held, rocked, singing or talking, etc) are often indicators as to the appropriate remedy. If the child is older, then having the child draw me a picture of their nightmare often discloses the content of the nightmare or terror, which again leads to the remedy that I would select.
Often the fear of the dark or monsters will affect a child’s sleep as the fear will create a light and restless sleep pattern. These children are the ones that are really difficult to get to bed at night and they often procrastinate through many (creative) measures to put off bedtime night after night. For parents who look forward to bedtime to have personal or couple time, this can be a very frustrating and exhausting time.
As a parent of a child (now nearly 16) who suffered countless night wakings and terrors, it was homeopathic treatment that resolved her sleep –after the very first remedy was given! This extraordinary result actually inspired me to train in the field of homeopathy. It made me wonder how different our early months could have been if we found homeopathy sooner, though at the time I didn’t think that anything could help. Personally and professionally, I can say without a doubt that homeopathy can help…here’s to sweet dreams.
I took my 2-month old to Jennifer to help him settle and sleep. Results are brilliant. Jennifer will establish your child’s homeopathic constitution and will prescribe a unique combination of natural and safe remedies. I recommend that anyone with children’s sleep issues should try her! — Female, age 26
Once again I am reminded in my practice where homeopathy can fill the gap, where conventional medicine and treatments are unsafe or ineffective, when it comes to treatments for babies suffering from colic pains and other problems in assimilation and digestion.
In the past month, I have seen weeks-old babies crying or screaming for hours each day or night, struggling with wind and explosive bowel movements, or twisting and turning in a futile attempt to relieve pain from cramping. In some cases the babies are being breastfed so issues around formula intolerance or incompatibility are not a factor. This is often especially difficult for the breastfeeding mother as she can begin to wonder if something is wrong with her breast milk or her own diet. She can feel as if she is doing what is best for her baby by nursing, only to watch her baby suffer and scream in pain. I am always very supportive of the mother to continue nursing as we begin to treat the baby to improve their digestion and assimilation.
Coping with a baby who spends hours crying in pain with no apparent consolation can be exhausting, both physically and emotionally, for both parents. These parents come to me depleted on every level and frustrated because nothing seems to help their child, and hours of crying or screaming feel unbearable. Conventional doctors say that many babies will ‘grow out of it’ within 12 to 16 weeks, but this can feel like a lifetime for the exhausted parents hoping this will be the case.
As a homeopath, I am looking at why the baby is in pain with the intent of improving their overall digestion, assimilation and elimination. Unlike conventional medical practitioners, I am not looking at symptoms except as indicators of what homeopathic remedies might address the underlying causes, by stimulating the baby’s own innate healing process or immune response.
Details as to what the baby is like when he or she is in pain (twisting, arching back, drawing her legs in, etc.), the time that the pain is at its worst, any relief from a bowel movement or passing wind , among others, will lead me to choose a remedy that is most similar (homeopathic) to her symptoms. Even the smallest detail will help me to select one remedy over another. For example, the common colic remedy Colocynthis (made from the bitter cucumber) addresses pains during which the baby draws her legs up and inwards. The remedy Dioscorea (made from the wild yam) addresses colic pains in which the baby arches backward. The precise symptoms, from a homeopathic viewpoint, are very specific indicators of what the body needs to heal itself.
Homeopathic remedies are made from highly-diluted substances derived from plants, animals, or minerals and are safe to take when pregnant or nursing, and in the treatment of babies and children, and alongside conventional medications.
While colic pains can initiate a visit to the doctor to rule out a serious condition, I have had a great deal of success with parents reporting a significant improvement in their baby’s condition within hours, and in some cases complete relief within weeks, which in turn improves the baby’s overall mood and restores sleep patterns. One mother told me only last week that it was as if she ‘got her baby back’ — another example of the power of homeopathy!
