Many moms are looking for a holistic approach to healthcare rather than conventional medical treatment, which is why many of them have turned to homeopathic medicines. Homeopathy is a system of medicine that is over 200 years old. It’s creator, Dr. Samuel Hahnemann focused on the principal of like cures like.
If you are looking for some more information on the basics of homeopathy, check out this article. It covers basic information about homeopathy and also points to some clinical trials showing its effectiveness in medical practices.
Now, let me warn you…many professionals in the conventional medicine arena will tell you that homeopathy is just a placebo effect. Just sugar pills. Most doctors have zero concerns about any side effects from homeopathy, but are convinced that due to low quantities of an active ingredient in homeopathic preparations, they couldn’t possibly be effective.
I won’t attempt to debate those objections here. I’ll simply point out that homeopathy is the 2nd largest system of medicine in the world according the World Health Organization (source). And they even call it an “integral resource” (source).
Furthermore, the global market for homeopathy is growing at a rate of about 16% per year, and is approaching $8 billion (source). That would be a lot of people continually wasting money on “sugar pills”!
It’s also noteworthy that there are almost 400,000 professional homeopaths around the world. That would be a lot of people devoting years of training and building careers on a placebo!
So, if you’re interested in alternative medicine for family health and want to get the quick scoop on how to use homeopathic medications, stick around. I’ve got some short videos to give you the basic, need-to-know-info.
(Please remember I am not a medical professional. I am a mom who loves homeopathy, and I’m passing on what I’ve learned to help other moms get curious and get started! I’ve led several local homeopathy study groups, and these videos seek to pass on the highlights from those classes. Please seek professional medical advice for your health condition when it makes sense to do so. Consider this educational information a conversation between 2 mom-friends. Do you own homework, and be diligent! Also, I’m including a few affiliate product links below to help you find the products I mention. You can read more in my policies and disclaimers.)
1. What is Homeopathy?
Many people mistakenly think that homeopathic treatment is just using home remedies. They get confused because of the word “home” in homeopathy. This short video explains what homeopathy is and what it isn’t.
2. How is Homeopathy Made?
Many people discount homeopathy without taking it seriously. That’s one reason it is important to see how homeopathic therapies like Calc Carb or Nux Vomica are made. Understanding how the homeopathic labs use the Law of Similars and the dilution/ sucussion process to meticulously create homeopathic remedies is fascinating!
3. How Do You Choose a Remedy?
New moms are often overwhelmed with choosing a remedy for their children. After all, there are literally thousands of homeopathic remedies to choose from! In this video, I’ll quickly walk you through discovering chief complaints and a few common modalities. Then I’ll show you how to take that information to your Materia Medica and Repertory to find the right remedy. You might also be interested in the cheat sheets that I mention in the video. These cheat sheets are so handy when you’re looking for ideas on how to treat ear infections or a runny nose.
4. What is Homeopathic Potency?
Lots of newbies try to relate homeopathic potency to what they know about conventional medicines and herbs, so they think of potency similar to milligrams (mg), but that is incorrect. For example, they may think of Tylenol. If you take one caplet, that’s 500 mg, two caplets would be 1,000 mg, three would be 1,500 mg, and so on. So, they will mistakenly think, if I take one Belladonna 30, that’s 30th potency. If I take 2 Belladonna 30, that’s 60th potency…WRONG! Remember, homeopathic products’ potency is related back to the dilution and succussion process. Because homeopathy is an energy-based medicine, not a chemical-based one…this method of calculation is completely unrelated. I’ll explain more in the video below.
5. How Often Should We Dose Homeopathic Remedies?
Dosing frequency is tough to figure out when you are new to homeopathy. I love how Homeopath Joette Calabrese reminds us to match dosing to the severity of symptoms. And Homeopathy Dana Ulmann reminds us that we dose as much as the body needs. Have you ever heard the toddler analogy as it relates to homeopathic dosing? Since most moms are familiar with helping young children learn to walk, I think it’s a great visual.
In the beginning of an illness (like in the beginning of learning to walk), more help is needed to stimulate the body. Therefore dosing may happen every 2-3 hours, or possibly every 15 minutes! But as the body starts to take over with more stability (just like a toddler becoming more stable on his feet), we pull back on the dosing. Dosing may decrease to only a few times per day.
In short, if you are working with a professional in classical homeopathy, he may give you a very specific dosing frequency plan. But for moms trying to treat their children on their own, there is a lot of watching and judging involved.
6. What’s the Proper Way to Administer Remedies?
Did you know that you are NOT supposed to touch homeopathic remedies? I’ve watched people dump half a bottle of remedies into their hands, pick out a few, and put the rest back in the tube…and I nearly DIE! Why? Because we should strive to touch the remedies as little as possible (or not at all!).
There are 2 main reasons for this recommendation. First, as the homeopathic remedies are made, high dilutions or the organic material are sprayed on the outer surface of the sugar globule. Touching the remedies could rub this sprayed medicine off the globule, reducing the effectiveness of homeopathy. I love this video from the Boiron manufacturing plant that explains more about how remedies are made. Second, because homeopathy is an energy-based medicine, touching it could change the energy of the remedy, also reducing its effectiveness.
So, how are we supposed to get the remedies out of the bottle and into our children?? By tapping them into the top. Let me show you what I mean in this video…
7. Is Homeopathy Even Legal??
Believe it or not, a lot of people think homeopathy is some sort of illegal, underground, drug scheme! Let me assure you, it is TOTALLY legal! In fact, if you’ve ever bought Hyland’s Baby Teething tabs or Boiron’s Oscillococcinum for flu, then you know that homeopathic remedies are available right on the shelf at Walmart, Target, Amazon, or Walgreens…but there isn’t a very large selection available in these places. While homeopathy is regulated by the FDA, due to availability in the United States, you may have to order the remedies you need from an online homeopathic pharmacy.
8. How Do I Know If I’ve Picked the Right Remedy?
When your baby is sick, it is easy to second guess yourself. You might wonder if you’ve got the appropriate homeopathic remedy or if you need to switch to another. This lack of confidence in our choices can cause weary mamas to jump around from remedy to remedy (I’m certainly guilty!). That’s why I love the Three Magic Markers that Joette Calabrese teaches her students in her Gateway to Homeopathy course. If moms use these three, measurable indicators, it can help them make an objective assessment of the situation rather than an emotional assessment. So what are they?
- Magic Marker #1: INTENSITY– A mom or child rates the intensity of the situation on a scale from 1-10. For example, if the child is screaming and whaling about ear pain, the mom might rate the pain level a 9. However, after 2 doses of the chosen remedy, the child is still in pain but calmly snuggling mom now. The pain level might be described as a 5. While 5 isn’t the ultimate goal, the mom can now see that the remedy IS working and pain is improving on the scale. This is a clue that she has chosen the correct remedy.
- Magic Marker #2: DURATION– A mom can note the duration of an “episode”. For example, if a child is dealing with a stomach virus and is spending 10 minutes in the bathroom vomiting. But after dosing the remedy, the next trips to the bathroom only last 1-2 minutes, the mom can note that the duration is improving. Again, the child is not fully well yet, but the improved duration time shows the mom that the remedy is helping, so she likely needs to stick with it.
- Magic Marker #3: GAP– A mom can note the gap of time that passes between each “episode”. For example, with the stomach virus example, if the child was vomiting every 10 minutes in the beginning, but after dosing the remedy the child is only vomiting every couple of hours, improvement has occurred. We are moving in the right direction.
9. How Do We Take Care of Our Remedies?
Building your homeopathic remedy collection is a big investment, so you’ll want to take good care of your remedies. Remembering these 5 things will help.
1. Keep your remedies out of direct sunlight.
2. Keep your remedies out of the kitchen and away from strong odors like onion and garlic.
3. Keep your remedies in temperatures below 100 degrees Fahrenheit (but I do choose to keep a select few in my car, knowing they will overheat).
4. Keep your remedies in their original containers. No reusing empty containers.
5. Keep your remedies off of the floor. If they hit the floor, they go in the trash.
10. How Do We Get the Medicine Out of Those Crazy Blue Tubes?
A lot of people are stumped by how to get the medicine out of the crazy Boiron tubes…but their tubes are actually genius! They are designed to help you get the quantity you need out without touching the remedies at all. This quick video will show you how they work.
11. What are the Top 10 Remedies that I Need to Own?
If you need to build your first aid kit a little at a time, you may be wondering which remedies you should purchase first. Well, I think different people would have different lists. But here I’ll show you which remedies I reach for most from my remedy kit and tell you what I use them for.
12. Do You Travel with Your Homeopathic Remedies?
Short answer: YES! I don’t leave my house without my homeopathic remedies! I have a set for my purse or diaper bag, a Major Emergencies Kit in my console, and of course my big kits that I take on longer trips. I’ll explain more and show you here…
