Reply To: Medicine Making | Internal Preparations
Hi Gabby,
Thank you for bringing this up and your questions. Yes there is a whole set of different dosing for children under 12 really, it is dependant on their age and weight. There certainly are some herbs to avoid with babies, toddlers and young children and this also varies. I will pass on the idea to have a pediatrics course to add to the program or as a one off class. I think that would be very useful because it is a whole class worth of information.
For you right now a quick calculation you can use for your son is: 1.5 X (weight of your son in kg) = percentage of the adult dose.
For example if you were giving him a formula that called for 5 mL, 3x/day of an adult dose, and your son weighed 13.5 kg (30 lbs).
You multiply 1.5 X 13.5 = 20.25% of the adult dose.
5 mL X 0.20 (or 20%) = 1 mL
So your son would take 1 mL 3x/day
Many of the herbs that we talk about in this course are safe for children aged three. I’ll give a list of herbs that are safe for children below (it’s not all of them however) then if you have any specific questions about certain plants you can ask about them separately or consult with a herbal practitioner (which you can do for free through the PRC student clinic sessions!).
Echinacea, chamomile, fennel, elderberry, dandelion, nettle, milk thistle, rose, hawthorn, plantain, self heal, strawberry, raspberry, burdock (small gentle doses), calendula, comfrey (external only-wash hands), mullein, licorice (small doses-short term), meadowsweet, thyme, ginger, garlic, (any culinary herb really), elecampane, hyssop, lavender, etc. This gives you a good list to work from here. So many supportive herbs.
One thing to be very cautious about is many essential oils, like peppermint. It is better to use whole plant preparations.
Warmly,
Benna