Naturopathy for babies: alleviate discomfort

When your baby is born, it leaves the protective environment of your womb. This new foreign world holds many new impressions, but also problems. It’s not necessarily a cause for alarm if your baby cries or cries. Nevertheless, you should pay close attention to possible symptoms. Because some complaints can make your baby feel unwell and increase the crying. If you observe your baby closely, you can alleviate many possible symptoms in the first few weeks. Herbal medicines can support pain relief and the healing process.

Naturopathy in Babies

In the following, we list the most common complaints during babyhood and how they can be treated with the help of herbal medicine. Exact dosing is required not only for the use of chemically synthesized drugs, but also for naturopathic drugs. You should therefore discuss this with your aftercare midwife or pediatrician. They can question your observations in more detail and give you further tips.

• Stomach pain: Your baby’s stomach still has to get used to the new form of nutrition, so indigestion and stomach pain in babies are not uncommon. If your baby cries more often than usual and you can hear gurgling noises in your baby’s tummy and flatulence, then try to relieve your baby’s pain with fennel or rooibos tea and get the digestion moving in a gentle way. Find out more about the effects and uses of fennel and rooibos in our medicinal plant lexicon .
• Bloating: Bloating is caused by swallowing air or by the build-up of too much gas in the intestines. Gas in babies is often caused by drinking breast milk or formula too quickly. Bloating can cause abdominal pain in your newborn. To relieve the pain, you can use medicinal plants such as chamomile, lemon balm, anise or caraway. In our medicinal plant encyclopedia you can read about the best form of  camomile , lemon balm , anise or caraway to give your baby.
• Sore navel: If your newborn’s navel is swollen, bloody, purulent or smells putrid, you can support wound healing by gently treating the areas with ointments containing, for example, sea buckthorn, marigold or arnica. If your newborn’s navel still hasn’t healed after two weeks, then you should consult with your aftercare midwife or see a pediatrician directly. You can find more information about sea buckthorn , calendula and arnica in our medicinal plant lexicon .
• Eye infections: Babies often suffer from infectious conjunctivitis. Your child’s conjunctiva swells by the 14th day of life at the latest and clogs the eyes with pus or viscous mucus. After consultation with your aftercare midwife or your doctor, you can get a marigold tincture from the pharmacy to treat the inflammation. Find out in our medicinal plant encyclopedia why the marigold helps with healing.
• Teething: Most babies begin to erupt between the ages of five and ten months. Teething can be very painful for your baby. To relieve the pain, you can use sage or Bach flowers . In the Medicinal Plant Lexicon you will learn how to use sage or Bach flowers to make teething easier for your baby.
• Colic: A colicky baby cries and cries more than three hours a day and more than three days a week. A colicky baby is obviously in a bad way, suffering and unable to self-soothe. In general, colic is not dangerous for your baby, but you should consult a doctor to rule out a serious illness. Catnip can help your baby calm down. In our medicinal plant encyclopedia you will learn how catnip works and how it is used.
• Diaper fungus : Diaper fungus is also commonly called thrush and can occur throughout the diaper period . It is transmitted either directly through touch or indirectly through food or personal hygiene products. Sage inhibits the responsible fungi and relieves any inflammation that occurs. You can find out more about sage and its use for thrush in the medicinal plant encyclopedia . Chamomile can also help with thrush.
• Cradle cap: A crusty rash on your child’s head and face may be cradle cap. The yellow-brown crusts typically appear on the head after the third month of life. Herbal remedies containing wild pansies can help with cradle cap. They reduce itching and reddening of the skin. Find out more about the effects of the wild pansy in our medicinal plant encyclopedia.
• Cold : A cold is usually associated with a cold or flu. Your baby’s nasal mucous membranes swell and make it difficult to breathe. Drinking and sleeping become very tiring as your little one still has to learn to switch from nose to mouth breathing. Lime blossom and burnet contain active ingredients that help your child with a cold. Find out more about the correct use of linden blossom and burnet in our medicinal plant encyclopedia.
• Fever: Fever is not an illness but a symptom and shows that your baby’s body is fighting an illness. The increased body temperature accelerates the body’s defense reaction. Even without medication, you can fight your baby’s fever with active ingredients from nature. Find out more about how thyme , linden blossom or chamomile can reduce fever in our medicinal plant encyclopedia.
• Injuries during birth: During birth, the narrowness of the birth canal, the pressure during expulsion and mechanical obstetrics can cause injuries to your baby through bruises. This can result in strains and bruises, for example. Medicinal herbs can speed up the healing process of bruises. In our medicinal plant encyclopedia you can find out more about St. John’s wort , which should preferably be applied to the areas several times in the form of St. John’s wort oil. But an osteopath can also help your baby: He tries to “model” the deformation of the skull bones by applying gentle pressure or pulling from the outside.

Read other articles in the naturopathy guide, for example, what you can do about complaints…

• in infancy
• in children and young people
• with typical childhood illnesses