Sunday, April 29, 2007

Catnip and Chamomile New Mom Necessities


No mom should be without these two herbs. When Ella hit the 8 week mark colic kicked in. I was having trouble with heavy letdown of the breast milk, she had gas and was miserable (manging this will be discussed in another article). I found out later that she is sensitive to dairy in the breast milk so that has been removed from my diet. At around 4 PM it starts, the screaming and constant crying. Now I am nursing so Kava Kava tincture for my stress is out of the question. Something had to be done. I reached for my herbs. Catnip, Chamomile, linden flower (Passionflower would also be good if you had it) Lemon Balm, a little Spearmint to mask the Catnip taste. I made and infusion and gave it to her using a tincture dropper filled approximately half way. Within 5 to 10 minutes the crying stopped. She did not wake crying in the middle of the night. I ran this by my Doctor and she said none of this absorbs in their system anyway so the herbs can't hurt (do you think an 8 week old knows what a placebo is?) Needless to say I have a new Doctor.
This is a life saver! Ella is 5 months old now and she still loves chamomile & Catnip, now that the teething has started this formula works great for that as well, especially with the linden flower added (thank you Rosemary Gladstar). The infusion does not interfere with my nursing regimen, I am able to give her a little more now than the 1/2 dropper full. She enjoys it. We are happy :)

Photo used by permission from http://resolutionhost.com/flora/

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