Whether you are a parent or not, this post is for you. We were all children once and my guess is by the end of this post you will be able to draw some connections from your childhood symptoms to those you are struggling with as an adult.

Most parents seek sage advice, keep abreast of the latest health trends, and spend hours trying to prepare the healthiest meals possible. Yet our kids get sick, and some of them sicker than others.

Some children, no matter all the care and precautions of loving parents, seem to recover from one ear infection only to develop another, or maybe it is strep throat or the eternal stuffy or runny nose. The thought for the past generations has been that these childhood symptoms are just outgrown. In my practice I’ve found just the opposite. When taking case histories from my clients, I often hear current complaints that are directly related to those childhood conditions, which they “outgrew.”

I’d like you to rethink the theory that childhood ailments are inevitable, benign, and just magically fade away. I don’t believe children outgrow these conditions. Quite the opposite, actually.

Here’s what I think is really going on:

1. Symptoms like allergies or eczema appear because the body is unable to completely clean and heal itself.
2. Predisposed genetic dispositions, while complicating the picture, can be shifted with the right natural interventions early in life.
3. Addressing and supporting the body’s natural ability to clean and heal in childhood will prevent chronic diseases later in life.
4. Recurrent acute childhood conditions happen due to the body’s inability to clean and heal. Suppressing with medication or leaving them unaddressed sets your child up for serious chronic conditions later in life.
5. The longer in life we wait to restore the body’s ability to clean and heal itself, the longer it takes. As with so much in life, early intervention is the key to getting the body quickly back on track.

Here is a graph that depicts exactly this thought process:

Get the full, detailed version of this graphic here.

How do you get the body to a place where it is able to completely clean and heal itself? For many people the most important first step is to change the input and for kids, this alone often does the trick.

Last week I presented for you the various options available to choose from when experiencing acute symptoms. Whether the choice is antibiotics, over the counter medications, supplements or homeopathy & gemmotherapy there are clear upsides and challenges in the short term. Today I want to address their long term impact. When taking this view, the better choice becomes evident.

Healthy Elimination is the Key to Self Healing
The underlying premise behind the use of all natural medicines is that when the body can clean itself it will heal itself. The attention here needs to be directed at the body’s ability to clean itself. If elimination is in any way compromised, natural healing methods are not going to produce good results. While we may be, or should be, well aware of our own elimination patterns, many parents are not so attune with those of their children. Mostly we joyfully turn the responsibility of self-toileting over to our toddlers and soon dismiss their daily habits from our radar. I would like to create a greater awareness around these habits because they serve as a very basic barometer of health.

First Signs of Compromised Elimination
I am fortunate to have many new moms and new babies in my practice these days who know the importance of good early digestion and elimination and ask for help whether it be for colic, acid reflux, or constipation. This is wonderful because they are catching early in life the very first signs and they are treating their young babies with gemmotherapy in teeny tiny doses. Gemmotherapy is unique among natural medicines in that it has been proven to heal and feed cells. Using it early on will actually heal and fortify the tissues of those maturing organs—preventing the body from needing to compensate later on.

Because of gemmotherapy’s dual action, the use of it early in life not only addresses the current symptom but offers long term benefit to the affected organs. If these moms had chosen any of the available over the counter medications or prescription medications their baby’s symptoms may have improved, but the underlying condition would not have been resolved.

Next Signs
By treating the very first signs as they did I feel certain these moms will see fewer common childhood issues such as ear infections, sinus conditions, eczema, and sleep disturbances develop in their young children. If they do, they already know how to handle it because they know these symptoms are related to an underlying elimination issue that needs to be addressed. The ears, sinuses, and skin are all secondary ways, or emergency exits, for the body to clean itself when the bowels and kidneys are not eliminating at full capacity. Supporting the organs with gemmotherapy now at this critical stage when these vital organs are maturing and developing will prevent even further conditions that can become chronic. Had recurring ear infections, sinus congestions and excema been treated with antibiotics, antihistamines or topical creams the underlying condition not only would have been ignored, but an opportunity to heal early on would have been missed.

It’s Never too Late
So what happens if you missed this opportunity with your babies and young children? The good news is that it’s never too late. The body does not lose its ability to heal. The work, however, takes a bit more patience as it becomes a matter of cleaning out accumulated inflammation at a rate that the elimination organs can handle. Not adding to the inflammation is also essential, which means eliminating dairy and sometimes gluten for many. See the graphic below that depicts the increasing effect of not addressing elimination at an early age. You can see here the remarkable difference in handling elimination issues in the early years vs. later in life.

I say, “Well done!” to all the gemmotherapy-using mamas out there!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Eight year old Ryan came into my practice last spring with his mother. She began his story by telling me it seemed like Ryan consistently had a runny or stuffy nose. Sure enough Ryan had quite the mucus-y congestion going on and angry red irritation around his nose as a telltale sign that this was not a one-off experience. His mom went on to tell me that when he was young she believed he would just outgrow it, but that was not the case. It drove her crazy she said because he was always sniffling and congested. Once Ryan was in school it seemed like every 6 weeks the congestion would be accompanied by a sore throat or barking cough that would keep him home.

Ryan’s mom said of course he had been given more antibiotics than she would have liked, but she didn’t know there was really another option. However, it seemed to her as if he would just clear up from one round of antibiotics and within ten days the sinus congestions was right back where he started. I asked Ryan’s mom about his health during early childhood and she shared he had also had his share of ear infections which she believed was just part of the territory.

Hearing Ryan’s mother tell their story, I understood her frustration. Real options to successfully break the cycle of chronic ENT’s are not readily available or necessarily discussed in the pediatrician’s office. That is because the problem is seen as being located in the sinus area, not where it really exists. Like all mothers though she just wanted her son to feel better and not be missing so much school.

The clues

I was not at all surprised that Ryan had repetitive ear infections as a baby and toddler, or that he seemed to have his symptoms return in such a short time after antibiotics. The ear infections are actually a sign in babies of overworked kidneys. When the kidneys are compromised, it then puts further pressure on the digestive system to take on some of the work. In a young child / baby with an immuture digestive system, we find often the acidic lymph fluid backs up in the ears. When the lymphatic system slows down or becomes stagnant the sinuses often become congested. In regards to Ryan’s sinus congestion, I would refer you back to my article on Seasonal Allergies. The body will use the sinus cavity as an emergency elimination route when the bowels and kidneys are compromised in any way. Basically, what is consumed during the day that isn’t either digested or eliminated will show up as a stuffy nose in the morning. Adding antibiotics that destroy gut flora to the mix only makes matters worse.

My job was twofold. First, to look for ways to make the job easier on Ryan’s bowels through dietary changes and second, to support his kidneys and bowels so they could properly drain the mucus that was going up instead of down and out.

What we did

Ryan was in an acute stage of a chronic condition of congested sinuses. When this is the case, the treatment can take a bit longer to act. We needed a protocol that would reduce the acute stuffiness and simultaneously shift a long-term pattern of unhealthy elimination. While Ryan’s mom was not quite onboard to make any dietary changes, she was happy to begin the gemmotherapy protocols I suggested.

Ryan began taking a combination of three gemmos each morning that would support lymphatic drainage in his sinus cavity, decrease the inflammation and shrink mucus membranes. This same protocol also would boost his immune system and protect him from the secondary infections he was previously getting. In the evening he would take one gemmo after dinner that would support the healthy function of both bowels and kidneys.

Mom’s response

When we began the gemmotherapy treatment, I honestly did not expect it to make any difference. In the beginning we did notice that Ryan didn’t seem to be getting the sore throats any longer, but he did stay congested. Eventually his runny nose seemed to improve for periods of time, but you could still hear he was stuffed up. We continued on the gemmo protocol and actually did not need antibiotics the rest of that school year. Over the summer we went ahead and eliminated dairy products as a family just to see what would happen. While Ryan’s nose did clear up I figured it was just because of the time of year, but here we are months into the school year and his stuffy nose has not returned. Of course it was a challenge at first to make the changes in our diet, but now we are rewarded with Ryan’s improved health and it is now just what we do.

Next week I’ll be diving in to how to boost your immune system during these cold, flu and allergy-prone winter months.

Stay well,

Gemmotherapy for Everyone:
Building Immunity In Babies & Young Children 

This book is full of easy to use Gemmotherapy protocols for everything from colic and sinus congestion to skin conditions and ear infections. An indispensable guide for anyone caring for young ones.

Buy the Book