Watery Diarrhea|Vomiting And Diarrhea|Toddler Diarrhea

As moms we are always looking for safe, drug free ways to keep our babies comfortable when they are sick. For our family, homeopathic remedies have been an effective answer. When I first started studying single homeopathic remedies, I was amazed at how many factors are taken into consideration when deciding which remedy to choose. Although babies communicate in their own way it is really difficult to know exactly what they are feeling. You know they have a fever, but do they have an earache a sore throat or tummy ache with it?

I decided to ask the practitioner who introduced me to homeopathics. She taught me about muscle testing or applied kinesiology for my children. Studies have shown that this method is 98% accurate. Testing in this way shows the persons "tolerance" of a substance. If the muscle is weak there is no tolerance so it would not be the remedy to use. If the muscle is strong, it's like your body is saying yes this is good for me and it makes me strong. Because mom and baby are so energetically connected, the muscles of mom will respond when testing for baby. It takes practice but once you get it, it saves a lot of time and takes a lot of the guess work out of which remedy is best for baby.

Here is a good way to practice and to get a sense of what is strong and weak for your body. One of the easiest muscles to test is the strength of your arm. You will need another person to help you. Hold one of your arms straight out in front of you and ask your body how would it respond if something is good for you. You can just say something like, "strong is yes" and see how strong your arm is when you resist someone trying to push it down. Then say "weak is no", then notice if you are able to resist as someone is pushing it down. Now you know what weak and strong feels like.

Now try it with an actual substance. Hold a pound of refined white sugar or flour in one hand and see how your muscle responds. Now try it with a carrot or an apple, notice the difference. Just keep trying different things and notice other feelings that come into your body. You may immediately feel the energy come into or out of your body. This is such a great way to become more aware of how your body speaks to you. You can use this technique for vitamins, foods and remedies. Your body will also respond to positive or negative thoughts. Once you have practiced and are more confident with your body's response, you can use the same technique while you are holding your baby. The only added thing when testing for baby is that you should have the intention that you are testing for your baby, not for yourself. So you could try thinking or saying something like, "Is this good for baby" before you test the strength of your muscle.

Here is a simplified list of remedies that I always have on hand. You can buy yourself a household kit and build it from there. There are many different materia medica books to choose from that break down each remedy into symptoms the person might be feeling.

Constipation - Nux Vomica
Fever and inflammation - Belladonna
Teething and irritability - Chamomila
Earache and inflammation - Pulsatilla
Vomiting - Ipecacuanha, arsenicum album (especially good for food poisoning)
Bumps and bruises - Arnica. Arnica ointment is great for external use.
Diarrhea - Podophyllum

Because there are so many different cold symptoms there are also many different remedies for those symptoms and this is where muscle testing comes in. It will help you determine what is best for baby. One signal I have noticed that you have the right remedy is that your baby will drift off into a nice peaceful sleep and their mood will change. It is like it has taken the edge off of the symptom and is giving their little body support to fight the symptom. My practitioner has recommended giving one dose, then 15 minutes later another dose and 15 minutes later another dose. This seems to get the remedy into the body more quickly and is usually enough for the day. For more information consult a homeopath.