Essential Children's First Aid Remedies

 

by Louise Mclean, LCCH.

There are certain remedies that are extremely useful in an emergency and you should keep in your bathroom cupboard when your child has an accident.

The first of these is ARNICA.  You can get the Arnica cream to apply to the skin for bruises but the homeopathic Arnica remedy is far more effective. Buy Arnica 200c and Arnica 30c, depending on how serious the accident.

For a very bad bruise to the soft tissue, i.e. thighs, buttocks, abdomen give one dose of the 200c potency.

If your child has a bad head injury, Arnica is invaluable, even if slightly concussed. Arnica 200c is the first remedy to be given in any head injury.  It will bring up the bump and then heal it very quickly. 

Arnica 30c is also the remedy for a sprained ankle, for a pulled muscle as well.  It can also be given for whiplash in a car accident.  It is a very versatile remedy!

You will find that children love taking homeopathic remedies, as they taste nice and sweetish, are very small and do not need to be swallowed, just sucked! For this reason they might want to take more! It is very important not to give more than one 200c but two 30c can be given.  The point is when the remedies work, no more need to be given as homeopathic remedies keep working long after they are taken.

For blows to the actual bones, you will need Ruta Grav 30c. For example once a child had a hard ball hit her nose and she was better very quickly with Ruta Grav and when I say quickly for Arnica and Ruta, I mean within a few hours!

For broken bones or just a fracture of the bone, you can give Symphytum 200c and the bone will knit together fast. Symphytum is the herb Comfrey or Knitbone, made into a homeopathic remedy.

For less serious bumps and blows you can rub the Bach Flower Rescue Remedy Cream on them, which works very well.  

Bach Flower Rescue Remedy Cream can be used for burns.  Rub the cream on thickly and there will be no mark on the skin from the burn.

Rescue Remedy Cream is also very good for insect bites. One friend of mine was stung by an African bee in South Africa and I had given her a tube of the cream.  It was a Sunday and she tried everything, then used the cream which worked perfectly, giving great relief and healed the sting.

Rescue Remedy Cream will get rid of the itchiness after any insect bite.

Rescue Remedy Cream is excellent for Chicken Pox!  When the spots have come up and then become extremely itchy.  I found it much better for children than old fashioned calamine lotion that was used in the past. If you put the cream on the spots, they will not be itchy and therefore not scratched, which would leave a small lifelong scar. 

Aromatherapy Lavender Oil is another absolutely invaluable thing to have in your first aid cupboard! If your child has a bad cut which is bleeding, get them to the bathroom, drop about 8 drops of lavender oil into the wash basin or bath.  Fill it with warm water.  Get cotton wool or a wad of cosmetic pads.  Soak this in the lavender water and bathe the cut.  So the lavender is Antiseptic and will kill off all germs.  It should stop the bleeding.  You will find the next day the cut is almost completely healed.  Lavender heals really fast!  Also it is very soothing for your child to breathe in.  It will calm your child down after the fright of the injury.

For a wound which is bleeding profusely, you can give the homeopathic remedy Calendula 30c or you can apply Calendula cream on it.  Calendula is also Antiseptic and kills germs. It will stop the bleeding.

Likewise if you have a fractious, bad tempered or over excited child, before bedtime you can run a bath and drop some lavender drops in it and this will calm your child down and help them sleep better.

If your child falls heavily on their coccyx at the end of the spine, bangs their elbow hard or injures it, or crushes their finger tips in the door, the remedy is the big one for Nerve damage, which is Hypericum 30c. The coccyx, elbows and finger tips are places rich in nerve endings.

Splinters will come out very quickly if you give one dose of Silicea 6c. I have seen them come out within 5 minutes of taking this remedy, which ejects foreign objects from the body.  NOT to be used on people who have metal fastenings or hip operations or any foreign object in their body, as the Silicea will try to push them out!

For a child that has repeated blood tests requiring needles, you can give them Ledum 6c, which is a remedy for puncture wounds and it will heal up the needle wounds speedily.

You will find these things are quick and effective and much better than dragging your already traumatised child to Accident & Emergency at the hospital and possibly left to wait for hours.  These things can be dealt with quickly at home. Of course for serious accidents, it is obviously necessary to go and see a doctor immediately.

Arnica, the First Remedy in Head Injuries

by Louise Mclean

Arnica Montana, also known as wolf's bane and leopard's bane, has been used for centuries.  People tend to buy Arnica cream and this can be used for bruising, sprains, strains, muscle aches.  The cream should not be rubbed into open wounds but the remedy is safe.

As well as the cream, Arnica can be purchased as a homeopathic remedy and it is essential, in my opinion, for parents with small children to have a bottle of the Arnica 30c and Arnica 200c in their first aid cupboards.

This is because Arnica is the first remedy to take in a homeopathic dose after a head injury.  It is brilliant for very quickly healing.  You can save a lot of trouble by giving your child Arnica 200c if they have a bad fall.  The bump will come up quickly and heal quickly.  This is because it acts on the blood circulation.

The homeopathic Arnica is also a remedy for Shock, which is exactly what happens after any accident!

Arnica is also excellent for people who have had a blow to the body and bad bruising.  Arnica should be taken if someone falls over, is hit hard or punched. The body and limbs might ache all over.  It is mainly for bruises to the soft tissues and Ruta Graveolens is the remedy for bruises to the bones.

It works for black eyes but if there is damage to the actual eyes themselves, try the homeopathic remedy Symphytum 200c instead.

Arnica is a wonderful remedy after over-exercising, running too long and the whole body is aching.  As it is for strains, a dose will quickly alleviate any pain.

I have used it myself on a sprained ankle, which I twisted whilst walking in high heeled sandals over cobbled stones on holiday.  It cured it overnight but I had to wear flip flops for the next few days!

It also works on pulled muscles.  My mother needed it after had taking out the dog for a walk.  The dog ran off so suddenly the whole lead expanded to its full length, pulling my elderly mother with him, nearly knocking her over.  She had a pulled muscle in her shoulder which healed quickly.

Another person I know was given a black eye and punched hard in the kidneys, so he could barely urinate.  A dose of Arnica 200c fixed both the eye and the kidneys and he got better quickly.

Another important use is Arnica after tooth extraction, where the gums feel sore and are bruised.  The remedy will help.

Arnica is also a remedy for septic states after injury.

It is an excellent remedy after a difficult labour and childbirth, when the mother feels bruised.

Another use for Arnica is for those people who have had a very bad tickling cough, which goes on for so many days, that eventually their whole chest hurts and feels bruised from coughing so much.

Arnica is a great friend to the sportsman or woman.  Frequently they will overstrain, pull muscles or bruise and again Arnica is the best cure for this, either by rubbing the cream on the muscles or bruise, or taking a dose of the homeopathic remedy.  However tennis elbow is more likely to resolve with the remedy Rhus Tox and there is also a cream for this.