Motherwort tincture is a well-known and inexpensive remedy for relieving nervous tension. Motherwort, which is also called heart herb, is available to everyone - it is easy to collect, dry, and ready-made preparations - tablets and tincture are always available in any pharmacy. Adults rarely have questions about the use of this herbal remedy. However, when it comes to a child, everything changes. In this article we will tell you about whether babies can take the tincture and how to do it correctly.
What it is
Motherwort tincture is an alcohol solution. It contains 70% alcohol and an extract from the plant. The hood, by the way, unlike dry raw materials, is the most saturated with useful substances, it contains their maximum amount. The liquid has a greenish brown tint. Sold in glass bottles of 25 and 30 ml.
Motherwort is rich in alkaloids, tannins and essential oils, carotene, ascorbic acid and B vitamins, glycosides.
A set of substances of this nature has a strong antidepressant effect with anti-inflammatory and general strengthening effects. Motherwort has a beneficial effect on blood vessels and the brain.
In addition, motherwort tincture is an excellent diaphoretic, anticonvulsant, diuretic and expectorant, hemostatic, moderate antimicrobial and wound healing agent.
Indications and contraindications
For most of us adults, motherwort tincture is known to be a sedative. But only.
However, the drug can be useful for a fairly wide range of children's problems:
- Restless child syndrome, hyperactivity.
- Hysteria, panic attacks, neuroses of various etiologies.
- Stress, depression, depression.
- Violations during the period of teething.
- Sleep disturbances.
- Heart rhythm disorders.
- Circulatory disorders.
- Reduced immunity.
- Headaches.
It is naive to believe that herbal remedies are so harmless that they have no contraindications and side effects. Side effects of motherwort tincture can occur with an overdose. It manifests itself in disruption of the digestive system (diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, dry mouth, thirst), in nervous disorders (apathy, lethargy, drowsiness, dizziness, inability to concentrate, in case of severe overdose - confusion), in allergic reactions (appearance of a rash , itching, edema, urticaria).
The list of contraindications is relatively small: a tendency to allergies, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract in the acute phase, as well as gastric and duodenal ulcers, disorders of the heart and thyroid gland.
Application for children
Tincture of heart herb is sold in pharmacies without a prescription, but it is not recommended for children to use it without first consulting a doctor. Parents can be confused by the official statement of manufacturers in the instructions for use that the drug should not be taken by children under 12 years of age.
They write this because the effect of the drug was not clinically tested on children under the age of twelve, respectively, there is no documentary evidence of safety. However, the drug is often recommended by pediatricians. And you can use it for children in different ways.
The general principle when choosing a dosage for a child is as follows: 1 drop of tincture for 1 year of a baby's life. Doctors agree that the product cannot be used for children under 3 years old.
Thus, an overly excitable baby of 1-2 years old can be prescribed motherwort in the form of a decoction or homemade water tincture, but not in its alcohol version.
How to use
- Age 3 years old. Motherwort tincture can be given 1 drop at a time, mixed into juice or tea, no more than three times a day, and also use a drug for external use by adding tincture to a bathtub. Dosage - 20 drops of tincture per liter of water. Pour this solution into a bathtub.
- Age 4 years old. Motherwort tincture can be given in case of sleep disturbance, severe stress, as a course reception, the duration of which will be prescribed by the doctor, and as an "emergency aid", for example, if the child is very frightened and cannot calm down. Dose - no more than 1-2 drops 2-3 times a day. For bathing, a child can be added to the bath at the rate of 50 drops per 10 liters of water.
- Age 5-6 years old. A single dose for such children is no more than three to four drops. You can give the tincture no more than three times a day. It is best to dilute it in 150 ml of pure water or fruit juice.
- Age from 6 to 12 years old. For a single dose, children can calculate the dosage, adding drop by drop for each year, starting from the age of three. That is, a child at 7 years old needs 4 drops, a child at 9 years old - 6 drops. In adolescence, the drug helps the child to endure hormonal "battles" more easily, and helps girls in a more painless and gentle formation of the menstrual cycle.
Water tincture for babies
If the child is not yet three years old, then he can only take an aqueous tincture. It is not sold in pharmacies; parents will have to prepare such a drug on their own. To do this, you can buy a herbal collection in a cardboard box or motherwort, packaged in filter bags.
For a teaspoon or 2 sachets of plant materials, you need to take about 200 ml of boiled water, which was previously cooled to 80-90 degrees. Brew for about half an hour, and then hold in a water bath for about five minutes.
The herb tincture must go through the filtration stage without fail, if you brewed bags, you do not need to filter the finished broth. The dosage of such a remedy for children from 2 to 3 years old is 2 tablespoons three times a day, for babies from 1 to 2 years old - 1-2 teaspoons three times a day.
The dosage can be doubled for very nervous babies, but only a doctor can make this decision.
All about sedatives - in the program of Dr. Komarovsky.
