Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child

At-a-glance options for the most common childhood ailments are provided, along with a guide to common symptoms, dosage guidelines for herbs and nutritional supplements and of course the huge yet easy to navigate A-to-Z listing. Excellent suggestions for each illness are provided in 9 different categories of healthcare:

Conventional Treatment
Dietary Guidelines
Nutritional Supplements
Herbal Treatment
Homeopathy
Acupressure
Bach Flower Remedies
General Recommendations
Prevention

I pass by all the others on my bookshelves and never fail to find just what I need in this wonderfully written and thorough compilation. Between my conservative, conventional husband and my own more holistic instincts, Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child greatly pleases and helps BOTH of us.

With 470 oversized pages, this tome is HUGE and a great bargain even at the full ... retail price. I canýt tell you how thrilled I was when this book arrived in the mail! In addition to the main meat of the book, the authors thoughtfully provide a plethora of other helpful information to assist you in caring for your child, divided into three separate and neatly organized chapters.

Part One: The Elements of Healthcare
You'll get the basics (and then some) on all of the above listed 9 categories of healthcare ý history of each method, how and why they work, common treatments and how to administer them properly. There is even a ten-page section on pregnancy and your newborn as well as a helpful checklist for assembling a comprehensive home health kit.

Part Two: Common Childhood Health Problems
The nitty gritty of this book which features the A-to-Z listing and suggestions.

Part Three: Therapies and Procedures
So you might possibly be interested in using acupressure to help your child who keeps wetting the bed, but have no idea how to properly do this. This section of the book will give you brief instructions along with an illustrated chart of common acupressure points on a child's body. You'll also find other helpful information such as CPR procedures and illustrations for infants and children, first aid for choking, how to prepare herbal treatments (baths, teas, ointments, tinctures, etc.), relaxation techniques for your child, and more. The small section at the end of this chapter, on ýtime outsý, is the only part of the book that I do not fully agree with or recommend. The rest of the book is so incredibly valuable that it is easy for me to simply overlook these one and a half pages.

At the end of the book you will find a helpful glossary, a chart of common medical abbreviations, a guide to recommended suppliers, a listing of resource organizations and even a listing of toll-free hotlines on a number of parenting issues.

An excellent companion to this book is ýA Parentýs Guide to Medical Emergencies: A quick and easy-to-use handbook to the most common childhood accidentsý, written by the same trio of authors/experts and presented in the same easy A-to-Z format. Between these two books, my husband and I have become deeply educated about our sonýs health and have never felt more confident about the choices we are making on his behalf. If you are an involved parent, Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child is one of the best resources you will ever get your hands on!


Well thumbed and used   September 7, 1999
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

Being an RN, I thought I was prepared to care for my own children--little did I know. When faced with a fever at 0300, it is reassuring to have a sane voice that might save you a trip to the emergency room. I use this book constantly for my own household and to give recommendations to friends who call me about their children. I have just one complaint--wish it came in a small, travel-sized version. It gets heavy in a carry-on bag. I highly recommend having a copy of this book and using it in discussing your children's health with your healthcare provider. I know it eased my pediatrician's mind to see that it was not a bunch of "hocus-pocus"; but a well thought out and written book.


a treasure: still using it after 6 years   March 25, 2003
Molly Weigel (Pennington, NJ United States)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

I bought this great book when my 6-year-old son was a baby, and I still turn to it whenever he's not feeling well...and sometimes when the adults in the family aren't feeling well.

Here are 2 of the most valuable things about it:

1) It is very easy to navigate and has many lists of symptoms that help you identify what illness you're probably dealing with. For example, there is a table of different rashes by symptom. The book's many "When to call your doctor" sidebars listing severe or alarming symptoms help to sort out what's serious from what's not.

2) It presents conventional, herbal, dietary/nutritional, homeopathic and other treatments for every illness. Its information is balanced, informative, and easy to understand, allowing you to select a combination of treatments that works for you. At the end of each entry, it sums up with a common-sense list of "general recommendations" including some from all of the approaches listed above.

This book is especially good for nagging problems that conventional medicine has limited solutions for. For example, my son's recurrent thrush infections as a baby did not go away with the Nystatin the pediatrician prescribed; they did, however, go away when I treated myself with acidophilus and grapefruit seed extract as the book recommended.

I would recommend this to every new parent as a reassuring, well-balanced, and amazingly thorough resource to your child's health.


Hands down - the best gift for any new parent.   November 30, 1997
19 out of 20 found this review helpful

Calling all Parents: Today's allopathic world of modern medicine can be overwhelming and excessive for our children. Side-effects from even over-the-counter relief medications can be devastating. The greatest gift you can give to your children is health, and this does not come from doctors, it comes from you and your knowledge. This is simply the best book to help you understand the basics of just about any childhood illness. Where doctors are limited to one kind of medicine, this guide gives you a great advantage in diversity of treatments, from allopathic to naturopathic. Strengthen your childrens immune system and treat their illnesses through the use of nutrition, herbs, homeopathic remedies, and accupressure. Learn about your children and yourself and empower yourself with the knowledge of the healing arts. THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ANY PARENT!


Best book out of 3 shelves of health care books   July 21, 1999
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

Absolutely fantastic, must-have book! I have over 7 years of experience using holistic medicine for my family and 3 bursting shelves of health-care books. Whenever anyone in the family is sick, this is the first book pulled out for reference. I've given it to 5 mothers-to-be as baby shower presents, and whether they use conventional medicine or alternative medicine, they always rave about how much this book has helped them. I know one RN who bought a copy for each of her 5 adult children, she was so impressed with the quality and quantity of information it provided.