Children, babies and ailments

Green Witch tips for mums of youngsters…

Nappy Rash:

A panicky phone call from a young mum prompted this wee tip as what to do when baby develops nappy rash and the normal cream isn’t helping and baby is crying and you are tired and at your wit’s end:

Firstly, try and keep baby out of nappies for as much of the day as possible and if you can, use cotton nappies not disposables as the chemicals in the disposable can make matters worse. Change baby more often than usual and don’t leave baby in a dirty nappy – change immediately. Clean baby’s bum with natural floral waters on pure cotton wool – lavender or chamomile water is ideal. Do not use these chemical wipes – poor baby’s bum gets exposed to all these chemical things these days and they are so tiny – their poor skin can’t cope!! Once clean and dry, a simple calendula cream applied to the sore area is of great help as it relieves any inflammation. Stir in a little lavender oil for added healing. If you take Evening Primrose oil, pierce one of these and apply to the area – handy wee tip and a great kitchen remedy!! An older kitchen remedy is to apply egg white to the sore area, then dry carefully with a hairdryer (obviously not on full power or full heat) then repeat half a dozen times to build up a layer of protection and repeat after each nappy change – a bit messy but it certainly works and is available to you as long as you have an egg in the kitchen. With all this natural help, baby’s bum should be back to normal in no time at all.

Colic:

Colic is miserable for both mum and baby but, if you are breastfeeding, try drinking fennel tea as it feeds through to baby via the milk and calms the little one’s digestive system. If you are not breast-feeding, try making very weak fennel or dill seed tea and feed to baby in a bottle between feeds.

Chickenpox

There it is, that dreaded word. The spots. The itching. That childhood illness that strikes with no warning. The child has been infectious for a couple of weeks before you realise, so everyone you know who hasn’t already had it will soon have caught it.

To a warm bath, add 1 cupful bicarbonate of soda. Then, dissolve 8 drops each tea tree and lavender in 5ml gin, vodka or bath dispersing oil and add to bath. This dose is for 8-12 year old, so adjust down for younger children and up for older.

Whilst they soak in the bath for 20minutes, make up your lotion. Again, dissolve in alcohol, 10 drops tea tree, 10 drops lavender and 5 drops chamomile and add 50ml rosewater and 50ml witch hazel. Shake well and use as a lotion on the spots, applying it with cotton wool over the entire rash. It will help stop the spread of the infection whilst helping to speed the healing process of the spots, greatly reduce the itching and prevent scarring.

This wonderful mix of bath and lotion should be carried out 3 times per day with extra lotion every time they start to scratch. It is very effective, my son having no itchiness at all by day 4, (day 1 being when the 1st spot appeared) the rash having stopped and all areas healing, most of which never even went into blisters. In fact the only blisters turned out to be those spots that appeared before we realised what was happening and started with the remedy. If only I had had the mix when I contracted it, I wouldn’t have spent 3 weeks indoors, lots of sleepless nights itching and have lots of scars as a result.