Ask Andrea

The Holistic Specialist

My passion is teaching families how to take charge of their wellness naturally with talks at schools, parenting programs, corporate wellness centers; and making information easily accessible with my books/articles, TV & radio interviews and private tutorials.

Nature’s pharmacy can provide a natural and effective alternative to antibiotics and over-the-counter medication. We will explore the world of natural healing in articles and Q&A’s for familiar imbalances, both acute and chronic. Easy to use preparations such as encapsulated herbs, botanical extracts and herbal teas will be discussed.

The caregiver will feel empowered which translates to empowerment for the child in knowing that help may be found in the kitchen cabinet, in the vegetable garden, or at the local health food store. Learn how to make the health food store a user-friendly alternative to the pharmacy.

My books and herbal preparations are available at www.AndreaCandee.com.

I’ll be writing about

Children’s first aid
Ear infections
Natural approaches to asthma
Food sensitivities
Lyme Disease / tick prevention
Skin issues
Lice prevention
How to make medicinal teas
How to dose herbs for children
Natural insect repellants
Creating herbal first aid kits
Natural approaches to upper & lower respiratory infections
Teething remedies
Reducing fevers
Vaccinations
ADD/ADHD
Fever reducers
How to muscle test foods
And so much more!

Andrea Candee, MH, MSC

Professional Profile

Well versed in the benefits of nature’s pharmacy, Master Herbalist Andrea Candee brings over 30 years experience in the natural health world to her seminars on medicinal herbs.

Presentations

A motivational speaker, her workshops have been enthusiastically received throughout the country by those new to healing plants as well as experienced practitioners. Andrea has brought her lectures on herbal self-help to educational facilities, corporations, health food stores, spas, as well as on a QE II sailing to England.

An Instructor for the New York Botanical Garden, she teaches classes on nature’s pharmacy.

Informative slide talks include:

The Healing Power of Herbs
The Natural Approach to Menopause
Gentle Healing for Children
The Natural Approach to Lyme Disease

The Health Food Store:

A User-Friendly Alternative to the Pharmacy
Revitalizing Your Immune System Naturally
The Healing Kitchen ~ The Healing Harvest

Print/Broadcasting Media

Andrea has written and hosted The Healing Power of Herbs, for television, and Revealing Secrets for Mind and Body, for radio. She has been interviewed on television and radio and been featured in national newspapers and magazines.

Andrea has authored Gentle Healing for Baby and Child…A Parent’s Guide (Simon & Schuster), awarded The National Parenting Center’s Seal of Approval, as well as Herbs, Recipes & Guidance for Winter Wellness; The Cell Phone Dilemma…options for protection in an unseen world; and Sparkling Home ~Healthy Planet ~ Clean Green.

Professional Affiliations

Andrea is on the Executive Board of the Holistic Resource Network. She publishes the Holistic Resource Network Directory, a professional listing of healthcare practitioners.

Andrea is a member of the American Botanical Council, the Herb Research Foundation and the Katonah Study Group for Integrative Medicine.

Consulting Practice

Andrea consults with physicians and healthcare practitioners, designing protocols of botanical medicine for their patient population. She has presented programs of natural remedies to staff of hospitals and wellness centers. Andrea is known nationally for her protocols reversing chronic Lyme Disease and its co-infections..

Andrea’s practice in South Salem, NY includes individualized health consultations as well as Face Rejuvenation: herbal/aromatherapy facials, and lymphatic drainage.

email your questions to askandrea@whatandwhen4kids.com

——————————————————————————–

Article I

KITCHEN FIRST AID: FOODS TO HEAL & SOOTHE YOUR LITTLE ONES

-Andrea Candee, MH, MSC

THE MASHED BANANA TRICK: the ouchless way to remove splinters! Instead of going after something embedded (splinter, glass, thorn) with tweezers (ouch!), try some ripe, mashed banana on the area, covered with tape, overnight. The enzymes in the banana draw it to the surface for easy removal the next morning. Mashed banana also works for drawing out a pimple!

THE SMELLY ONION: for the sting of a bee, the bite of a bug. Been bitten or stung? Take away the hurt or the itch by rubbing with a freshly cut onion!

THE VINEGAR BATH: to soothe the pain of a sunburn put one cup apple cider vinegar in the bath (buy wood aged from the health food store, not chemically aged from the supermarket). Soothes and cools!

MRS. RABBIT’S SECRET: for tummy aches, sleeplessness and nervous upset. Peter Rabbit’s heart went pit-a-pat as he ran from Farmer MacGregor. His mother knew how to calm him: a nice warm cup of Chamomile tea. When he couldn’t sleep or had a tummy ache, good old Chamomile came to the rescue.

THE SMELLY ONION – AGAIN!: for bumps, strains and sprains. When my athletic boys had minor injuries, we taped on a sliced, yellow onion overnight. It reduces pain and swelling.

KISSED A FROG – GOT A WART?: the Castor Oil trick. We don’t really think that frogs give us warts but whatever does we can banish them this way: every night for 3 weeks, make a paste from baking soda and Castor Oil. Place on the wart and cover with tape. Remove in the morning. Stop after 3 weeks and then the wart will most likely turn black, dry up and fall off, never to return!

PETER PIPER PICKED A PECK OF PICKLED PEPPERS: If Peter Piper had picked Cayenne pepper he could have used it to stop bleeding! Putting powdered Cayenne on a bleeding cut not only doesn’t hurt but stops the bleeding in 10 seconds! Apply and cover with bandage. It even stops the heavy bleeding that can occur with head wounds.

THE BROWN PAPER BAG TRICK: to stop a bloody nose put a small piece of a brown paper bag between the upper lip and gum as high up as it can go. The top lip will hold it in place. Bleeding will stop in a few minutes!

WINNIE-THE-POOH’S BURN REMEDY: Honey, the sweet and sticky solution to minor burns. Gently apply to take the hurt from a burn. Use only raw, natural honey from the health food store, full of enzymes. Winnie-the-Pooh wouldn’t have gotten his honey from a supermarket!

OIL OF EUCALYPTUS: Man/Woman and Dog’s best friend! If you’ve got a cold and can’t breathe, put a few drops of oil of Eucalyptus (found in health food stores) on a wad of cotton stuffed inside a small container. Every time you need to clear your head, open the container and breathe deeply. It’s really a safe and natural inhaler!

THE FASHIONABLE PET REPELS TICKS: Dip a rope in oil of Eucalyptus, wrap in a bandana and tie around your pet’s neck. The Eucalyptus repels fleas and ticks. Pets look cute, too! Refresh the rope twice a week. You can also put one part Eucalyptus in 16 parts water into a spray bottle and spray on your pet and on yourself before gardening, hiking, playing in the grass.

THE SMELLY ONION – YES, AGAIN! To put a stop to non-stop coughing, thinly slice a yellow onion, wrap in cheesecloth and warm in the oven at 200 degrees for just a few minutes. Place on your sweet child’s chest and cover with a T-shirt. By the time I got from my son’s bed to the door, the coughing stopped! Onion is a well-known European remedy.

PEPPERMINT TEA: the nicest way to help a headache and stomachache. Steep a Peppermint tea bag (it shouldn’t contain anything but Peppermint) in a cup of boiled water, covered, for 10 minutes. Add honey, if you like, and watch those sad lips turn into a smile when they soon feel better.

ECHINACEA: Bless you! What sounds like a sneeze is actually something to make you well. If you are interested in natural healing for your family then you must find out about Echinacea (eck-i-nay-sha). It is almost like an herbal antibiotic and anti-viral and stimulates the immune system. When a child has come home with some kind of bug, you give it to that child to help make them well and you give it to the rest of the family to help keep them well! This way illness need not travel through the entire family.

For more information about Echinacea and other child-friendly herbs, see my book, Gentle Healing for Baby and Child…A Parent’s Guide (Simon & Schuster)…awarded the Seal of Approval by The National Parenting Center at www.andreacandee.com

——————————————————————————–

HOW TO DOSE CHILDREN

Children at any given age can vary greatly in size and weight, therefore dosing by weight rather than age is best.
• We create a mathematical fraction by using an adult weight of 150 pounds as the baseline constant.
• Put your child’s actual weight over 150 to determine a fraction of the standard adult dose. (Thus, if your child weighs 50 pounds and the standard baseline is 150, you will want to give 1/3 the adult dose.

50 pounds (child’s weight)
150 pounds (baseline adult weight)

The following general guidelines apply:
10 pounds = 1/5 dose*
20 pounds = 1/8 dose
30 pounds = 1/5 dose
40 pounds = 1/4 dose
50 pounds = 1/3 dose
60 pounds = 2/5 dose
70 pounds= 1/2 dose
80 pounds = 1/2 dose
90 pounds = 3/5 dose
100 pounds = 2/3 dose

• The smallest dose of a liquid extract is 3 drops diluted in 1/4 cup breast milk, formula, or water, or 2 teaspoons of tea.

Reduce quantity, not frequency
We always reduce the quantity of the dose (using the weight/dosing guideline above) not its frequency.
• For example, the standard adult dose of 1 cup of medicinal tea taken 3-4 times a day translates into 1/3 cup, given 3-4 times daily for a 50-pound child.
• To make the math easier, it is often helpful to first convert cups to ounces. For instance, an 8-ounce adult dose becomes 1 ounce for an infant of about 20 pounds.

Dosing eardrops
•   The standard adult dose for eardrops is 3 to 4 drops in each ear.
•   A toddler’s dose would be 2 drops; an infant’s, 1 drop in each ear.
•   After treatment, to avoid an uncomfortable oily buildup in the ears, cleanse the ears by inserting a few drops of hydrogen peroxide.
•   Helpful hint: the easiest time to insert eardrops (especially for very young children) is when they are sleeping.

Dosing garlic (great anti-everyting!)
FRESH CLOVES
Depending upon your child’s age and preference, garlic can be used fresh, which is the best way to use it, or in perles, tablets, or oil, 3-4 times a day.
To give fresh garlic, you can:
•   chop it and put on toast drizzled with olive oil or spread with butter (real garlic bread!)
•   add to mashed potatoes
•   put in a sandwich
•   add to a sald
•   cook with vegetables
Experiment to find out how much garlic your child will happily accept in his or her meal.

PERLES AND TABLETS
• One perle or tablet 3 to 4 times a day for a child up to age 12.
• After 12 years of age, 2 tablets or perles are recommended.

GARLIC OIL
•   Give 2-3 drops to an infant.
•   4 drops for a 4-year-old;
•   8 drops to an 8-year-old, until your child is old enough to swallow a perle or tablet.
•   You can dilute the garlic oil in ¼ to ½ cup juice in baby’s bottle, or in a shot glass for toddlers and older children.

——————————————————————————–

Q: Some herbs are really not palatable to a child. How can I get my child to take them without a battle?

A: The best ways to administer herbs to a child

• Creativity is the key in getting your child to take herbs! The unfamiliar tastes of an herb tea or extract can be masked or enhanced by the addition of a small amount of juice (my sons preferred apple and cranberry).
• Using mini-cups and shot glasses is another way of making the dose seem less imposing.

When my son, Brian, was five, he had to take an extended course of a vile-tasting liquid extract – a concoction so distasteful that virtually nothing I tried could mask its taste. I finally figured out a way to get this into him 3 times a day without causing permanent trauma to us both! I took Brian to the grocery store to let him pick out a juice he’d never had before (empowering for him). He made his choice knowing that the only way he could have it was with his important herbal medicine. The technique worked like a charm. I never brought that juice into the house after the therapy was over, and when he was older and tried some on his own, he was surprised it didn’t taste at all as he had remembered!

•   Teas given for ongoing therapy, such as for blood/liver cleansing or digestive support, can be steeped a little stronger and frozen into ice pops (always a favorite with my son, Chris). Note, however, that respiratory issues respond best to warm infusions of tea.
•   If your child cannot swallow a capsule, open it up and mix into a little applesauce.
•   If your child is nursing, the benefits of herbal therapy may be had via mother’s milk. Mother needs to drink more frequent doses so that the herb’s healing properties pass into her bloodstream and thus into her milk – and into the child’s system as well.
•   Spearmint is my favorite way to mask unpleasant flavors. Its refreshing taste and aroma can transform the experience into a most pleasant one.
•   To give your infant doses of tea or liquid extract, try using an eyedropper. Fill it first with the correct dose of the herb, then draw up some water or juice to dilute it. Pull your baby’s cheek out and deposit the dose in the mouth.

——————————————————————————–

Q: My 2 year old son had RSV as an infant, and since then is very prone to coughs that take months to clear up.
It doesn’t seem to bother him too much; I occasionally give him a homeopathic cough syrup at night to help soothe him. I also give him a probiotic for general immune system support. Is there anything else I can do to either strengthen his system so he won’t be so vulnerable, or to help less the severity/duration of the cough?

A: Congratulations on taking a pro-active approach to your child’s health issue. First, I advise all parents of children with chest issues to omit cow’s milk and cheese products from the diet. They are mucous-forming foods and create additional burden on the already weakened area. You can find many acceptable substitutes for milk and cheese in the health food store made with goat’s milk, rice milk, almond milk.

I find Dr Christopher’s Lung & Bronchial formula very soothing and healing for children. Please refer to Article II on the ‘Ask Andrea’ page for easy to follow directions on how to properly dose herbs for children.

I also work with vibrational remedies, these are frequencies designed to clear the body of residue pathogens. (For more on this, go to www.healerswhoshare.com). We do have a remedy for RSV (Respiratory Synctial Virus). This would remove the underlying weakness your child has for the lung/bronchial area. If you would like to pursue this path, feel free to contact me through my website.

——————————————————————————–

Q: What can be done to help a toddler (4yr old) sleep through the night?
A: What I call ‘sleep hygiene’ is important.
•   Not letting your child eat/drink too close to bedtime (the digestive process may awaken him).
•   No stimulating activities at least a half hour before bedtime.
•   Prepare for bed with a soothing story or song.
•   A sound machine set up in the child’s room may help to soothe her back to sleep if she awakens.
•   Dr Christopher makes ‘Relax-eze’, an herbal extract of nervine (relaxing) herbs, safe for children. See Article II on my page, ‘Ask Andrea’, for dosing guidelines.
•   Check with your local health food store for a homeopathic sleep aid safe for children.

——————————————————————————–

Q: My son had RSV as a baby and as a result he is very susceptible to chest colds and bronchitis. Is there anything I can do to strengthen his lungs?

A: Your son and many others have had RSV as an infant. Yes, there are natural things you can do to strengthen his lung/bronchial area so every passing infection doesn’t go straight to his chest. I refer you to the Q&A above regarding RSV.

——————————————————————————–

Q: My recent test for lyme came back positive BUT I have no signs or symptoms. I decided not to treat and repeat lab in 1 month. What do you think?
A: Sounds like a good plan to re-test in another month. If you do receive another positive test, I suggest you send me a saliva sample and let me test you. Standard Lyme testing does not consider viruses which can be very much a part of what the tick passes in. The good thing is that you are not experiencing symptoms. You would not want the residue of any pathogens in your body to be kicked up the next time your immune system was challenged. If my testing came up negative, I would tell you and that would be the end of the story. However, if it came up positive, we could create a protocol to rid your body of the residues completely.

——————————————————————————–

Relieving Motion Sickness Naturally
Q: My son gets car sick, our pediatrician recommends giving him 1/2tsp of Benadryl before a long car ride, do you have any suggestions?

A: The two best herbs for nausea are ginger and peppermint. There are many ways to try them…in herbal extracts, teas, capsules, even candied ginger. Details are provided in my book, Gentle Healing for Baby and Child (Simon & Schuster).
The Throw Up Button
In my home, this is what we call the acupressure point that relieves nausea.
•    Place the index and middle fingers of your right hand on top of the “knob” of the child’s right clavicle bone in the neck area.
•   Slide your fingers into the hollow along the inside of the bone and hold firmly for several minutes. (See the diagram below.)
•    It may be sensitive at first, but this will pass.
I once used this point on the passenger sitting next to me during a bumpy plane ride.   It spared us both the unpleasant consequences of her motion sickness. I’ve even used it in the bathroom of a restaurant on a pregnant woman who was suffering from morning sickness. Teaching this point to your children may help them to get to the bathroom when they feel the urge to throw up.

——————————————————————————–

Q: My 3 month old infant cries when she drinks her formula, and throws it up. There’s a rash all over her body, including her face, and when she’s not sleeping she is very irritable. The pediatrician prescribed an antacid for the vomiting and hydrocortisone cream for the rash. She has not responded to either. All in all, I have a very unhappy baby…what can you suggest?

A: This is a common response to a sensitivity to the formula baby is drinking. When all she is being given by mouth is formula, it is pretty easy to pinpoint the offending substance. I have seen this so many times and have helped parents bring the situation to a happy resolution with an uncommon approach.

I ask the parent to purchase every can of infant formula that can be found on the supermarket shelf – and to keep the receipt because all but one or two cans will be returned! Note that there are many different kinds these days…with and without iron, soy based, milk based, varying amounts and types of sugars, etc. In these tender, new bodies, any variation could make the difference at this point.

Baby and all the bags of formula are brought into my office where I do kinesiology, also known as muscle testing. For more on this and for detailed instructions on how to do this yourself, please read the chapter on food testing in my book, Gentle Healing for Baby and Child (Simon & Schuster).
The principle here is to remove from the diet whatever weakens the body’s electrical system.

We are able to test each can of formula (unopened) on baby’s body allowing her energy field to dictate which formula tests well for her and which does not. Or, expressed another way, which formula strengthens her energy field and which weakens it. Rather than relying upon our intellect, in muscle testing, we allow the child’s body to communicate its own strengths and weaknesses. It’s an unequivocal response, not something that is difficult to interpret.

After having tested countless babies this way over many years of practice, I have yet to see one who didn’t begin to thrive on the newly chosen formula.

If baby is not bottle-fed but is having symptomatic responses to nursing, then we need to test baby for the foods the nursing mother is ingesting and passing on through her breast milk. Identified foods will need to be eliminated from mother’s diet while breast-feeding.

Often, but not always, a baby sensitive to formula may be sensitive to other foods later on. It would be wise to introduce foods slowly and one at a time to such a child, keeping a food diary of reactions. Often the child with ADD, ADHD, skin reactions, constipation, headaches, recurrent ear infections, asthma and chronic nasal congestion can be greatly helped by identifying and eliminating offending foods.

If there is a history of allergies in the family, plan on introducing foods to your baby as if he or she were food sensitive and you may avoid problems in the future. Often, as a child’s immune system matures, foods can be better tolerated and what may be an issue early on, may no longer be one later.

Andrea Candee, MH, MSC

www.AndreaCandee.com