Customer Reviews

Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child: A Practical A-to-Z Reference ot Natural and Conventional Treatments

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Written by a medical doctor, a naturopath and a pediatric nurse, this comprehensive A-to-Z quick reference guide gives you what you need, when you need it, without having to waste any time wading through all the fluff.

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 cant 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  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 time outs, 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 A Parents Guide to Medical Emergencies: A quick and easy-to-use handbook to the most common childhood accidents, 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 sons 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!

This would be a great gift for new parents - it is a wonderful resource for parents who want the most information possible when making health care decisions for their children. It includes everything from more conventional treatments for illnesses to less conventional methods such as dietary changes and homeopathy.

This book is also a great reference for parents who are unfamiliar with less conventional treatments - it gives helpful descriptions of what homeopathy and other natural methods actually are, the principles for treatment they use, and why these methods work. It is written in an easy-to-use format and really opened my eyes to alternative methods of helping my child stay healthy.

The only thing I feel should be omitted from this book is the section on time-outs - I didn't buy a health book for it's parenting method, and would prefer not to be given parenting suggestions from this author. Otherwise, it's a great book.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Smart Medicine does a wonderful job listing multiple approaches to common childhood ailments. The authors list conventional methods of treatment as well as natural and homeopathic methods. It has been helpful in my household in the decision-making process of what to do when one of our children show symptoms of distressed health. I recommend it to all parents who are sick of giving others control over their child's health.

I bought this book shortly after it was published 5 years ago and swear by its results. My copy is well worn. I too have given it as baby gifts and am always looking something up for friends. I love its simple format and easy to understand overview of the ailment. It's wonderful to also have some home remedies that I can try. I often discuss what's in the book with my physician so I can work with and not against him. I've used this book so often I recently bought the adult version.

This is the companion book to Smart Medicine for Healthier Living for those with children. As the mother of 8 children I reference both often. The main difference in this book is that dosage charts are given for herbal and homeopathic medicinal options for children. It is also in alphabetical order which makes finding information quick and easy.

I love this book so much! As a mom of 2 boys, I use it all the time for myself. And I am frequently pulling it off the shelf when a friend's child is ill. I have given it to a friend who loves it, too!

One of the best things about this book is that it is organized with many different suggestions (conventional, herbal, homeopathic, nutritional and more) for each ailment. A very thorough and useful guide for any parent.