by Mary Melling – Naturopath, Acupuncturist and Founder of Paddington Clinic.

Over the years we have treated many children ranging from new born babies to teenagers. We love treating children at Paddington Clinic and feel they are entitled to good health. We like to see newborns for a check up and or to treat any problems such as colic or reflux that seems to be a growing concern. The younger the baby, often the quicker it is to turn around any health concerns. From a naturopathic perspective, with babies who are breast fed it is often the mother’s health that needs to be addressed as well and some dietary changes can make a huge positive impact on babies’ digestive concerns. I often tell mothers that if they eat what suits them, then it will suit the baby. For many mothers, following the blood type diet will only enhance babies’ health.

If your children or babies have a cold, cough or other immune problems then antibiotics are not necessarily the first option. In fact the overuse of antibiotics in young children is being discouraged in recent years. Many years ago I treated a 15month old child for a bad case of eczema. On taking a case history I found that the child had had 15 rounds of antibiotics for ear infections! On further questioning I found that the ear infections started when he stopped being breast fed and was given cows milk. This milk obviously didn’t suit him and caused immune disturbances resulting in ear infections. The constant use of antibiotics caused a detrimental impact on his immune system and resulted in skin problems. For this child he was put on goats milk, given a healthy gut flora for children and some herbs to build up his immune. His skin cleared, he no longer got ear infections and was at long last a healthy child.

In a world where food is rapidly losing its nutrition due to farming methods and processing, and the temptation of junk food so easily available, it is difficult for some families to train children to eat well. Fresh foods are always best and at Paddington Clinic we often find that children will listen to us as the practitioner when we advise them which foods we would like them to eat more of and why. I once treated a man who drank 3 litres of milk a day and wondered why he had such bad sinus and immune problems. Months later he brought his son to see me who was sick and the doctors were testing for leukaemia. I found that the boy was a great milk drinker like his father and suggested he should cut out the milk for now. The father declared he wouldn’t be able to do this as he found it too hard himself!! I spoke to the boy about how the milk may be making him sick and it would be good to stop it until I next saw him. When I saw him the following week we found that he didn’t have leukaemia, he had had no milk and his symptoms had cleared. Children will often give up things more easily than their parents if they understand why.

Children often get quicker results than adults. If you think of an onion with its outer layers, many adults are multi-layered. Children however are at times less complex and it can be some simple changes to their lives that can vastly improve their health, or some herbs or nutritional supplements that are needed short term. At Paddington Clinic we have a range of products that are suitable for children if needed and are not full of sugars and other “fillers”.

Obviously if your child is sick they need to be very carefully monitored but we do find that children instinctively know when to stop eating in some sicknesses. Sometimes the parents worry about weight loss but as long as the child is drinking lots of fluid, they will be fine and always put the weight back on very rapidly once they start eating again.

Looking after your child’s health naturally is the starting point of their long term health and happiness and we are here to assist in nurturing your child and to keep them happy and healthy for the rest of their lives!

by Mary Melling – Naturopath, Acupuncturist and Founder of Paddington Clinic.