2 Natural Remedies for Our Growing Baby

One of the things about the first year of motherhood that nobody warned me about was how often caring for my son meant more than rocking to sleep, nursing, and changing diapers. I had no idea how self-destructive babies are. It seemed I was constantly running after my son as he rolled, scooted, crawled, and toddled into danger. Then, there were the times when I was too late, he was already crying.

Thankfully, years of treating myself and my husband with natural, herbal and energetic remedies had given me a leg up in the matter. I was able to combine the advice I'd read and learned from family about babies with what I already knew about herbs and healing. This gave me a handy medicine cabinet as well as confidence as a mother.

Olive Oil for Constipation

This natural remedy was one my mother-in-law recommended. I had no idea about it and am still not sure as to why it works.
For a baby who has constipation, rubbing olive oil on his feet, legs, and/or belly will relieve him gently. When I asked how, she shrugged and explained it was something she learned when she was taking care of patients at a home. A fellow care-taker did this for the elderly patients who had chronic constipation, massaging their legs downward with it and then their feet. My mom-in-law tried it on her kids and her sister's kids as well and it worked great.
I gave it a shot during those colicky days when my son hadn't had a bowel movement. It did work, like a charm as the saying goes. In fact, I learned that just a drop or two for his feet was more than enough. If i put it on his legs or belly, he went too much.
I later added a little but of lavender essential oil to the olive oil to help add a soothing, calming effect during the bad days when he was colicky and cranky.

Breast Milk for Conjunctivitis

When my son was eight months old, he had what looked like the beginnings of pink eye. Hoping it was just allergies, I called his doctor. The nurses at the office worked with me over the phone to take a picture of his eye and email it to them. After looking at the photo and talking to me about how he was acting, they explained that they didn't think it was pink eye. He didn't have the sticky discharge and crust around the eyes as part of his symptoms.
To relieve the eye redness and itch, they conveyed a remedy I had not thought of; breast milk. Squirting a little breast milk in the eye gives the area a safe dose of the body's natural antibiotics and cleans the eye out. Just a few times that day and the next and the redness was gone. My son stopped rubbing his eye and crying. The issue was taken care of.
The nurses also said that a squirt in the eye would remedy pink eye too in many cases. I was amazed and relieved to have a free and beneficial medicine near at hand.

*Please see your health practitioner for any health problems you or your child has. None of this is meant to treat or diagnose.
This is an excerpt from my book on my Spiritual Journey from Miscarriage to Motherhood.