Managing the sick child – consider alternative?

These past weeks, I’ve been talking to a couple of friends. One of who has a child who’s been sick a lot, and one of whom has one that hadn’t ever been sick for his entire one year. God bless that little guy BTW… mine decided to go by the book and have 8 colds in the first year of her life. Nebuliser/baby inhaler and everything. That’s the kind of textbook child I could do without, thank you very much!

Regardless of whether you’re used to it or not though, sick kids are hard. No, I’m not talking about the major illnesses, thank the lord. These are the smaller trouble like sniffles and fevers and allergies and teething ails (for parents, lest you get carried away and think we’re worried about the kid ;)). God, I couldn’t even imagine anything worse, and have humongous amount of respect for parents who handle that!

When kids, especially babies and toddlers, are ill, the major challenge is the guessing game. Because, most often, they can't tell you what’s wrong and its up to you to figure it out. God bless the medical system in Canada, but at best it’s rushed. Going in there with a vague wondering and a screaming child is going to get you on THAT list. You know the one… it just might bump you up in the line though!

I find it’s much, much easier when you seriously watch your child and figure out a few symptoms. Is he arching his back? Gas? Is she grabbing her ears? Ear infection? Sniffles? Cold? You get my drift. Decide based on that if its home remedy time and quickly stuff the appropriate one in right quantities up or down accurate orifice!

Its really hard when the little b^ggers are yelling and even an attempts-to-be-flippant mom like me will tell you its heart wrenching when they are miserable and you can’t do a bl00dy thing about it. So… put down what you’re thinking maybe? And if you’re lucky enough to have a significant other who not only cares but also is a competent parent (I am, knock on wood), run over it together. It’s amazing what the tired mind will miss/conjure up. I’m guessing you’ve figured out how tired you’ll be if you’ve had a sick kid. I’ve had everything from her only sleeping on my chest while I reclined at an awkward 120 degree angle (reflux) to not letting go of my hair (weird family habit that manifests itself especially when she’s sick and insecure).

Once you think you have a few symptoms down and its serious enough to have a quasi-competent conversation with a human being, what next? Here’s what I do… I splash out for alternative medical care. We have a naturopathic doctor for our daughter. Agonized over the decision and researched the sh!t out of it (gotta love the Google age). Found that here in Ontario, naturopathic doctors are meant to have to go through 4 years of training, like mainstream doctors, in order to be able to call themselves that. That made me call a few and we found one. Most will give you a 15 min phone consult for free. Best decision we ever made… that and Montessori early learning, but that’s another post.

Alternative medicine for the most part looks at things holistically. You have to fill out long forms that ask you about everything from the wart on your grandma’s left cheek to what you were wearing when your waters broke. Ok, ok I’m lying; it’s not quite as random. Though it may feel like at times. But there’s a method to their madness. Further, they have longer, fully paid for appointments, which means it’s less rushed and they’re better able to spot potential issues. And lastly, call me crazy for going into this, I’ll have a hundred arguments… but to my mind, alternative medicine with its herbs and its massages and its tissue salts and its needles seems a lot more benign that stuffing a bunch of chemicals into a tiny body.

Does it work? Well it has for my little girl. Most importantly it helped us spot issues like a milk allergy, which had been bothering her for a year. The difference in her was miraculous! To the point that a good bit of our family, including some die hard naysayers have come around to the treatment method. I know I have. It’s helped my migraines and reflux. So I believe.

This is not a pitch for naturopathy, just so I’m clear. It’s me sharing with you what’s worked for me. And asking you to open your minds to options. Because in this long journey to adulthood (the child, not you silly ;)) you’re going to need all the help you can get.