Kirsten Anderberg/Herbal Recipes for Babies & Moms
Herbal Recipes for Babies & Moms
Calendula flowers are mild on babies' skin...
DIAPER RASH
Soothing Calendula Oil Fill a jar with dried or fresh organic calendula flowers. Then pour olive oil (or other oils, such as almond oil) into the jar over the flowers to the top.
Then seal the jar and put it on a windowsill in the sun for
1-3 weeks. Take the flowers out (drain the oil), and then store it in a jar for use on baby's butt when it has a rash, etc. Calendula is well known for its mild skin healing properties.
Healing Comfrey Oil Comfrey heals skin fast so you do not want to use it on skin that is infected as it can seal in an infection. But for skin that is just sore but not infected, comfrey is very soothing and helps heal the skin rapidly.
You can make comfrey oil in the exact same manner as the calendula oil above.
Diaper rash is less likely if you use cloth diapers and woolen soakers as compared to plastic disposible diapers. You can add some vinegar to your laundry when you wash the
diapers to help keep the ph balance in the diapers proper for your baby's bottom, according to my midwife Miriamma Carson. You can get lots of cheap cloth diapers by calling your
local diaper service and asking to buy their used diapers they are selling. They usually have diapers that have little rips here or there that they can no longer use in their diaper
service and they sell these older ones for pretty cheap. It is worth checking it out, as I got a ton of diapers for next to nothing using this method in Seattle.
Once you have cloth diapers, you can make your own woolen soakers to go over the diapers out of old wool sweaters. You can get pretty colors and designs in wool sweaters, then just
shrink the wool sweater in the hottest washing water and then put them in the dryer on the hottest setting. The idea is to shrink that wool as tightly as it can be shrunk. Then once that is accomplished,
you cut out two pieces, in the shape above, and then sew the sides and crotch together. Pull up over the diapers and these will breathe, but also keep the wet from touching other things
outside the soaker.
For diaper rash, I used many different things. You can put french clay on the bottom, that helps. You can use aloe vera gel, that is also soothing. You can put a paste of
baking soda and water on it to soothe the red rash. You can make a paste of slippery elm and water, or of marshmallow and water, as both of those things have a sliminess (mucilage) that comes
out with water and protects and soothes the skin. You can apply zinc oxide, in tubes at pharmacies, and this is incredibly soothing and also protects very well against further chaffing.
More to come....
I highly recommend Mountain Rose Herbs (click on the banner below)...they sell high quality, fresh, organic herbs, perfect for your homemade cosmetics...
TEETHING
Marshmallow Root Teething Sticks Cut and wash a 3 inch piece of marshmallow root. Dry and peel the bark off, as well as trimming off any shoots. Make the root smooth, basically, then give to baby to chew on. Marchmallow has
a slimy mucilage that soothes irritated, inflamed gums typical when babies are teething.
SLEEPING PROBLEMS
Teas to Help Baby Sleep You can experiment to see which herbs work best to calm your baby down. You can put cooled teas in their bottles and breast-feeding mothers can drink the tea to help relax the baby and
herself...All of the herbs below are known for their relaxing qualities, and chamomile and catnip help relieve colic, as well.
You can make tea from a small sprig of lemon balm or catnip steeping in a teapot of water. Strain the herbs out, cool, then dilute with 50 percent water and give it to baby in bottle or baby
cup.
You can do the same thing, but with chamomile flowers...make a pot of tea with a teaspoon of chamomile flowers, steep 10 minutes, strain, cool, give to baby.
STOMACH ACHE
Teas for the Stomach You can make a tea for babies with upset stomachs out of 1 teaspoon crushed fennel seed and 3-4 chamomile flowers steeped in a pint of boiling water removed from the heat. Strain after 15 minutes,
then dilute it with 50 percent water, then give to baby in bottle or baby cup. Chamomile has an antispasmodic effect on the baby's digestive system, and helps babies sleep.
Fennel is carminative and soothes colicy babies.
CLEANING BABIES
Baby Washbags
Use these washbags as a gentle soapfree cleanser for baby. Muslin bags, lavender bud powder, camomile powder, colloid oatmeal fine, cornstarch, a few drops jojoba or other
oil...combine all the ingred in a blender and mix thoroughly. Pour small amount into the muslin bag. When bathing baby, soften bag in warm water then gently squeeze over baby
and lightly rub with bag.
BREASTFEEDING/MOM"S NIPPLES Calendula Oil Follow the instructions above to make your own calendula oil. Rub onto nipples when sore to soothe and help heal. It can help to apply this right *after* breast feeding to help the skin heal from irritations.
MOM'S VULVA Vulva Soaks and Baths You can make nice baths from herbs placed in a cotton reusable tea bag, used in your bathtub, just like it was a big teacup! Various herbs are beneficial to vulvas and vaginas and they made nice baths too! You can make an endless combination of herbs for baths, but if you want to center on vulvic herbs, you can add any of the following to your bath herb mixtures: Nettles, chamomile, plantain, aloe, pot marigold/calendula, comfrey root or leaves...
Slippery Elm is an herb that makes a slimy film when you add water to it. You can heat it or just mix it cold. Take 2 T slippery elm bark powder, and mix it with one cup of water. Mix until thick. This gel can be used on the outside and inside of the vagina and has a soothing effect. You can refrigerate it for extra soothing from the coolness.
Chamomile Compress for Vulvic Itching, Rashes, Etc. You can make a cup of chamomile tea with a teabag and then use the wet teabag like a compress on your vulva tissues, lying down.
Homemade Aloe Vera Gel for Vulvic Itching, Rashes, Etc. Homemade Aloe Vera Gel: This gel soothes vulva tissues but also makes a fabulous hair gel, holds braids well, and soothes burns and irritated skin, in general. The stuff on store shelves has preservatives in it that your vulva does not need. Make it yourself.
Slit open an aloe vera leaf, scrape out the inner gel with a knife and put the pulp into a blender or food processor. Dilute with water to desired thickness. Blend about one minute, and be careful to not overmix it or it turns watery.
Yeast Infections Pot Marigold (Calendula Officinalis) Wash: Boil 2 cups water, then take the pan off the burner. Place two handfuls of pot marigold flowers into the water and let steep for 15 minutes. Strain the flowers out of the water and wash the vulva with this liquid for yeast infection irritations.
Yogurt/Acidophilus for Yeast Infections: When I first met my midwife, Miriamma Carson, I had come to the Fremont Women's Clinic where she worked, for help with a yeast infection. She took out a yeast infection kit from the shelf, pulled out the applicator and then threw the tube of goo right into the trash! She gave me the applicator and told me to take it home and insert live acidophilus culture (via yogurt) into my vagina with the applicator to kill the yeast infection. Honestly, this is the only yeast infection cure I have used my entire life. The yogurt is incredibly soothing to the yeast infection itching and burning and it is effective. Be sure to get live acidophilus yogurt, the yogurt made with pectin doesn't work. Susun Weed suggests a less messy way to go: she suggests inserting 1-2 capsules of acidophilus powder into the vagina every other day for two weeks to treat yeast infections. Susun also reminds women to treat their sexual partners as well.
Vulvic Oils When vulva tissues are dry and itchy, you can use oils to soothe and nourish the skin.
Pot Marigold Oil: Fill a jar with pot marigold (Calendula Officinalis) flowers. Pour almond, olive, or wheatgerm oil (or really *any* oil will work, the idea is just that some oils are nicer for skin than others) to cover the flowers. Seal and leave on a windowsill that gets a lot of sun for a month. Strain the flowers out of the oil, then use it as desired.
Comfrey Softening Oil and Soak: Comfrey root makes things soft, hair, skin, etc. And it makes vulva tissues soft when applied in an oil, or even when used as a tea externally. To make comfrey oil, you can place cleaned, cut up, comfrey root in a jar, cover with oil, seal, place on the windowsill in the sun for about a month, then strain and use. Or you can make a tea from the root and then soak a cloth in it, and apply it to your vulva while you lie down on your back.
Chamomile Oil/Soak: Do the same things I detailed above, but with chamomile instead.
Plantain Oil/Soak: Same as the comfrey process above.
BREASTFEEDING AND HOMEMADE BABY FORMULAS * Fennel Tea to Help Increase Milk Flow Steep 2 teaspoons of crushed fennel seed to one cup of boiling water taken off the heat. Steep for 10 minutes, then drink this twice a day. Fennel (as well as Goat's Rue)
are traditionally known for their abilities to help increase breast milk flow.
USE GLASS, not plastic, BABY BOTTLES!!
I make absolutely **NO** claims about the nutritional value, or medicinal quality of the following recipes. I have **NO** medical or nutritional credentials whatsoever. I do not recommend these recipes. I am merely sharing my own personal experience. That is all. Talk to your own medical professionals about how you can make your own homemade infant formulas. These recipes are merely for people to look at and see how people have previously dealt with wanting healthy infant formulas to feed their kids.
In 1986, at the Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington, singing with friends in a swing band on the street, with my son (Gibralter) at age 2 looking on!
Gibralter's Homemade Formula I made this for my son Gibralter, and fed it to him constantly. We had breastfeeding problems, and I had to feed him a formula but I refused to feed him dead chemical corporate formula, so I had to make my own. My midwife Miriamma Carson gave me an Adelle Davis formula recipe that she had fed to her son. And then I substituted things, and came up with the formula my son drank daily for months as his only real sustenance. My son is now 22 years old and has been phenomenally healthy his whole life. He rarely had even a cold as a child. As I have said above, I make no claims about this recipe. It is merely up here as historical midwifery history, really, as this is one of the ways women fed babies when they could not breast feed before commercial formula came about.
I fed my son this formula in 1984.
MAKE ONE QUART AT A TIME. Mix the following ingredients in a blender, then store in the refrigerator. Shake well before pouring out to heat for use.
1 quart whole milk
2/3 cup distilled water
3 T. pure lactose (decrease to 1-2 T after 3-4 months old) - you can get lactose, which is a milk sugar, in drug stores and some health food stores.
2 t. of Dr. Bronner's Calcium-Magnesium powder
1 Schiff Natural 250 mg. Vitamin C with rose hips, crushed to powder with back of spoon
1-2 t. Lewis Laboratories Brewer's Yeast
pinch of granulated kelp (to help build brain)
1/2 t. cold-pressed safflower, soy or corn (or combo of them) oils
3/4 - 1 t. granulated lecithin (you can get lecithin in most health food stores and drug stores)
1-4 T. plain yogurt (with no gelatin, only with live cultures) - Make sure not to use any yogurt with HONEY as an ingredient, honey is dangerous for babies
I was told that this recipe gave a growing infant all the protein, water, sugar, calcium, magnesium. Vit's C,A,D,B's,E, iron, and iodine in a digestible manner. I have no credentials in this area and have no idea if this is true or not.
This formula recipe came from my naturopathic doctor (N.D.) who is also a Medical Doctor (M.D.) back in 1984. He was not sure how he felt about me feeding my son cow's milk and offered this alternative recipe to me. I never made it up, and never fed it to my son, as I stuck to the recipe above (Gibralter's Recipe). I kept this recipe in case I needed it for a child I had who was allergic to cow's milk, etc. So, again, I make no nutritional or medical claims about this infant formula. It is posted here as a reference, a historical view of what people did in the 1980's when we did not have any healthy alternatives available commercially for baby formula. I know that several of my ND/MD's patients did use this recipe for their kids but I do not know what the health of those kids was. The only infant formula recipe I can vouch for as far as personal experience, and personal experience alone, is Gibralter's Formula, as that is the formula I fed my son who grew up very healthy.
1 quart soy milk (should add human milk fortifier and watch kind of soymilk you use so it supplies enough calories and don't skimp on the maple syrup)
1 c carrot juice
1/4 t. spirulina
1/4 t. nutritional yeast
200 mg. Vitamin D
100 mg. Vitamin C
1 T. Safflower oil
3 T. pure maple syrup
250 UGM Folic Acid
I was told to mix this in a blender, store it in the fridge and to shake before pouring into pan to warm it for bottles.
DISCLAIMER: Do not eat or drink tea from any plant you have not fully studied and identified properly. Please consult with your local alternative herbal care specialist before using herbs you are not familiar with.
Kirsten Anderberg. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint/publish, please contact Kirsten at kirstena@resist.ca.
Kirsten Anderberg. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint/publish, please contact Kirsten at kirstena@resist.ca.