Baby Colic, Teething & More: Natural Solutions for Common Newborn Issues

Your baby will grow more rapidly in the first 2 years of their lives than at any other time! Those first steps, teeth, and smiles are all amazing milestones. But some common ailments can cause your cute baby to cry their eyes out - and leave you feeling completely helpless.

If you're a new parent dealing with a colicky baby who screams for hours every evening, or a teething baby who won't settle no matter what you try, this episode is for you.

Today I'm walking you through 5 common baby issues and how to help them naturally. No conventional medicines with dodgy side effects - just safe, gentle solutions that actually work.

In this episode, I'm covering:

Colic: Hours of high-pitched crying, usually in the early evening. It's caused by trapped wind and it's absolutely distressing for everyone. I'm revealing the one therapy that works miracles for this condition (seriously, it can resolve colic completely), plus a simple massage technique and the foods breastfeeding mums should avoid. There's also a homeopathic remedy specifically for trapped wind.

Teething: Baby's first tooth is a big milestone but can also be a big pain! I'm sharing what babies actually want when they're teething (hint: it needs to be cool) and the homeopathic remedy that many parents say is a complete game-changer.

Umbilical cord stump healing: I'm sharing a simple solution you can use twice daily to help this area heal beautifully. Plus the warning signs that mean you need to contact your GP immediately.

Earache: Why do babies get so many earaches? It's all about anatomy - and I'm explaining exactly what's different about their ears. I'm also revealing which remedies help, and how to know which one to use based on your baby's specific symptoms.

Conjunctivitis: That horrible thick yellow discharge that makes their little eyelids stick together in the morning. I'm sharing cleaning techniques, what really soothes the itching, and even how breastmilk can help (yes, really!). Plus my number one remedy for this condition.

Using homeopathy for babies can give you a happy, healthy baby without pumping them full of chemicals. These solutions are safe from birth, have no side effects, and support your baby's developing immune system naturally.

If you're exhausted from sleepless nights with a crying baby and nothing seems to help, listen to this episode. Relief is possible.

Blue kit.

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to the Homeopath in Your Pocket, where I help busy working mums discover how to support their family's health with confidence. Hi, I'm your host, Neela Prabhu, a licensed homeopath with 20 years of experience as a pharmacist. As a mum of two girls, I totally understand the juggle of family life firsthand. Each week, I'll share practical, actionable tips that you can use today to support your family's well-being. So let's get started. Your baby grows more rapidly in the first two years of their life than at any other time. Those first steps, those teeth, those smiles, they're all amazing milestones. But some common ailments can cause your baby to literally cry their eyes out. So today I'll be sharing five common issues and natural solutions to help. The reality is many conventional medicines are not suitable for babies. Dosing can also be tricky. Babies obviously can't swallow tablets, and even trying to get a liquid medication into them can be really tricky. There are side effects to conventional medicine, even for babies, and that's obviously a concern for little ones. Natural alternatives often work just as well or better. So what are the benefits of homeopathy for babies? It's 100% safe, there are no side effects, it's gentle but effective, it supports their developing immune system, and you can use it from birth upwards. My personal experience of this is using homeopathy with my younger daughter from the newborn stage upwards, and it made a massive difference, and I wish I'd known about it earlier. So the first thing we're going to talk about is colic. Colic is generally caused by trapped wind. It normally presents as hours of high-pitched crying, which is distressing for you and the baby. And it's the timing is normally the early evening around 5 p.m. So quite often you're tired, the baby's tired, you want to get the baby to sleep, and they've got this high-pitched crying that's happening. So the baby seems to be in pain, baby pulls legs up to the tummy, and their face goes bright red. Nothing seems to help, and it can go on for hours at a time. It's really distressing for parents and for babies. So why it happens is their digestive system is still developing and they're struggling to process milk, which can be the cause. Wind gets trapped, that's small little bubbles which can't move rather than one big bubble that can pass obviously as a burp or as wind from the other end. And so this wind causes pain because it can't move, it's trying to move and it causes pain and discomfort. So what things can help? Cranial osteopathy can work miracles for colic. It's a gentle, hands-on treatment and it releases tension from the birth process itself, and it often resolves colic completely. In my opinion, it's worth every penny. Essential oil massage. So a clockwise gentle massage of the baby's abdomen using chamomile, lavender, and fennel essential oils. All of these must be well diluted in a carrier oil, such as olive oil or almond oil. Never use these oils neat on baby's skin because they can irritate. And this gentle clockwise abdominal massage can help with the pain because you're helping to physically move that trapped wind in the right direction so that the baby can pass it from the bottom end. If you're breastfeeding, mum should avoid the brassica vegetables. That's broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts, as all of these things can cause extra wind for the baby, as well as avoiding spicy foods that can also affect the wind in baby's tummy. The homeopathic remedy that I would recommend here is carbo veg. It's really helpful and it's specifically for trapped wind, so it can make a big difference. Number two is teething. A baby's first tooth is a big milestone, it's a big moment. It also can be a big pain for the baby and can be really quite distressing. I have to say, you do feel really silly brushing the baby's just one single tooth, but obviously the teeth brushing have to start there. So babies often want something cool and hard to gnaw on. So a cooled teething ring works well to keep one in the fridge handy, and the cold can help to numb the pain temporarily. The symptoms of teething are often quite well known. So red cheeks, dribbling, trying to chew on everything or put everything in their mouths. They're quite unsettled, they're not themselves, they can have disturbed sleep and sometimes loose nappies. So my number one homeopathic remedy here is chamomilla. It's really very helpful. Babies are often quite angry when they need chamomila, and for many parents, they say it's a game changer. Um, and it is in my blue kit, the link for which will be in the show notes. Number three, umbilical cord stump healing. So, normal healing, often the umbilical cord stump will dry quite nicely and it'll fall off naturally, usually within one to two weeks. So, if you want to help with that healing, you can bathe the stump in hypercal solution twice daily and then allow the skin to dry before putting the nappy back on. And it helps keep the area clean. So, hypercal solution is a mixture of hypericum and calendula, both of which are healing remedies. So they can be put in water and mixed and then applied that solution to the stump. It promotes healthy healing. Both of those remedies, sorry, hypericum is in my blue kit. So, what to look for? Warning signs if the stump is not healing as you want it to. If the area is oozing any pus, it smells offensive, it looks very red or inflamed. So contact your midwife or GP immediately because it may be infected and need medical attention. So, prevention is keeping the area clean and dry using the hypercal solution and folding the nappy down below the stump so that you can let air get to it to dry out properly. A quick story before we carry on. This one is for all the mums out there who've survived a fortnight of a poorly clingy toddler. You know exactly what I'm talking about. I had a three-year-old client who every time she caught a cold would it would turn into thick mucus in her nose, go straight to her chest, and then the dry barking cough would start at night time. Each time it would take two weeks to clear, a blue inhaler and sometimes antibiotics too. After working with me, when she did get a cold, the dry cough remedy I gave her worked after just two doses. She only needed her blue inhaler for one day instead of two weeks, and the cold was gone in a few days rather than dragging on and on. She started sleeping longer and heavier, stopped needing to be patted on the back to get to sleep, and stopped snoring. My personal favourite detail from this case is Mum is very happy she is less clingy. I mean, of course she is. I'm Neela, a licensed award-winning homeopath with 20 years experience as a pharmacist and over 30 five-star Google reviews. If your little one seems to catch everything going and never quite bounces back quickly, let's have a chat. Please book a free 15-minute discovery call, the link for which is in the show notes. And now back to the episode. Number four, why babies get earaches. So the Eustacean tube in young children is horizontal, meaning they are more prone to it becoming blocked with mucus or fluid, but it's more vertical in adults and older children so that it drains better. And earaches are quite common in children, but they can be really, really painful, and they're very distressing for your child, they're very distressing for you to watch them suffer. So, what things can help here? Cold or warm compresses applied externally, and see which one the baby prefers. That can really help to calm the pain. So a wet flannel, either cold or warm, and then you can gently hold that against the baby's ear. Homeopathic remedies here are belladonna or pulsatilla. Both are relevant, but it depends on their specific symptoms. So belladonna you would use for sudden onset, a high fever, red face, and throbbing pain, and the ear may well be red as well. Pulsatilla, the child will be more clingy, they'll want to be carried and have lots of cuddles, they're better for being outdoors, they can be quite tearful, and they might tug at their ear as well. So we need to match the remedy to the symptoms because not all earaches are the same. Number five, conjunctivitis. So conjunctivitis is a thick yellow discharge from one or both eyes, and you can also have redness of the eye alongside it. Often the eye is itchy, and the eyelids can be stuck together when baby wakes up, and often they will rub one eye and then rub the other, and that's how the infection can be transferred. So cleaning the stickiness away. Boil and cool some water, soak a cotton pad and wipe that over the closed eyes very gently to get rid of the discharge, and use a separate pad for each eye. If you need to use multiple pads for the same eye, just you know keep going, but obviously to discard the pad afterwards and wipe from the inner corner towards the outer corner of the eye. Cold compresses can help here as well, applied externally to soothe the itching and reduce inflammation. If you are breastfeeding, then breast milk dropped carefully into the eye can help because it has antibacterial properties and it's nature's medicine. My number one remedy here homeopathically is pulsatilla. It works really well for conjunctivitis, especially when the discharge is thick and yellow and the baby is often clingy and tearful. So, when to see a doctor, if it's not improving within 24 to 48 hours, or if it's getting worse, if the baby is very young, or if there's lots of swelling or pain, then obviously do go and see your GP. I've also got some general newborn baby tips here. So trust your instincts. Even if it is your first baby, you know your baby best. If something feels wrong, get it checked. Newborns don't have a huge immune system when they're born, so all of these minor ailments are part of building their immunity. Baby's immune system is learning, so each challenge makes it stronger, and homeopathy supports this process 100%. Prevention is also key, so it's keeping the baby's environment clean but not totally sterile because exposure to normal bacteria is good for all of us. Breastfeeding, if that's possible or wanted by mum, because baby will get antibiotics, excuse me, antibodies from the mum, and to for the baby to get fresh air daily, and that's often a really good thing for a new mum as well. Pop the baby in the pram and just go out for a walk, even if it's just around the block, it really helps. Also, trying to establish a good sleep routine, but that's not always easy with a newborn. So having these remedies ready, keeping them at home, can be really helpful, and my blue kit is perfect for this. This means you can treat those ailments immediately without having to wait for the pharmacy to be open. So the remedies in the blue kit that are useful for the ailments that I've mentioned for babies: chamomilla for teething, pulsatilla for earache, conjunctivitis, and a clingy baby, belladonna for fever and sudden onset issues, as well as having a red ear for earache and many many others. So all the remedies are safe from birth. You can't overdose, there are no side effects, and it's fast acting. They're very easy to give, so the tiny sugar pills dissolve in the mouth. But for babies, this is what I would advise. Crush the pill between two smooth two spoons, place the powder on the baby's tongue, or you can dissolve the tablet in a small amount of boiled and cooled water and slowly drip this into the baby's mouth with an oral syringe or on a spoon. So here are your action steps that you can do straight away having listened to this episode. Step one, get the blue kit. It's essential for parents, it contains all the remedies I've mentioned today, and it will give you peace of mind. It's £40 currently for the Blue Kit. Step two, consider cranial osteopathy if dealing with colic. Find a registered practitioner and you'll usually see improvement after one or two sessions. It genuinely can be life-changing. Step three, keep hypercal solution in the house. For the umbilical cord stump healing, it's also brilliant for nappy rash, cuts, grazes, or anything as the baby gets mobile. It's a multi-purpose healing solution. Step four, learn which remedy is for which symptom. So consider doing my homeopathy module six, which is a £35-pound online course which is on my website. It teaches you all about the 18 remedies in the blue kit, and you can then treat your baby with confidence. Step 5. Trust your instincts. If you're worried, get your baby checked. It's better to be safe than sorry. But you know that you have natural options too. And step six, book a discovery call with me if you're struggling. I'm really happy to chat about baby's issues or constitutional treatment that can help for baby and support the whole family. So here's a quick recap. Babies grow rapidly within the first two years of their life. Some common minor ailments can cause a lot of crying. So the five issues covered in today's episode are colic, for which you can give carboveg remedy, cranial osteopathy, and essential oil massage, teething, for which you can give chamomilla remedy, cooled teething rings, umbilical cord stump healing, hypercalcolution twice a day, and earache, belladonna or pulsatilla depending on symptoms, and lastly conjunctivitis, pulsatilla, breast milk, and cleaned clean the area with cool boiled water. Homeopathy is 100% safe for babies from birth. There are no side effects. The blue kit contains the remedies that I've mentioned. Using homeopathy means you will have a happy and healthy baby. These natural solutions that actually work and they support your baby's developing immune system. Thanks for listening to today's episode. If you found this helpful, I'd be so grateful if you could leave a review as it helps other busy mums discover the show. If you want to dive deeper, book a free discovery call to see how we can work together one-to-one, or join me on Instagram at Homeopathic Harmony, where we can continue the conversation. And don't forget to grab your free guide to beating insomnia when you join my email list, because I know sleep is precious when you're juggling everything else. The links are in the show notes. I'll see you next week.