DR. SHAZIA

Homeopathic Doctor

How do you feel about things like homeopathic remedies for babies?? Colic Calm?

November 25th, 2010 |

Author: kk

Question by Lil Bit: How do you feel about things like homeopathic remedies for babies?? Colic Calm?
I have been looking into this. My stepsister has a friend that owns an all natural store. My baby has really bad gas problems and she gave me a mixture that they make at their store. She gave it to her two kids one had colic, the other had acid reflux and it worked wonders with them within a month and she didn’t even have to give it to them after that month. The owner of the stores daughter had horrible acid reflux and they used it on her and cleared her up in a month also. I know it has several different things in it and it’s all natural. All of their kids were put on meds from pediatricians and they didn’t want to go that route so invented this one. I know if has worked on several babies but I haven’t ever done homeopathic remedies before. I know if has probiotics in it and things like that to help digestion. My baby has a horrible time with gas and fussiness.
I ran across the colic calm website and am thinking this is the same thing pretty much and didn’t know if anyone has really tried these kind of remedies to help their little ones. I am just tired of my baby hurting all the time after she eats.

Best answer:

Answer by Luv my kids 4evr
I am a fan of some of the homeopathic remedies. I swear by BioGaia which is a probiotic that promotes healthy bacteria in the colon and aids in digestion. It reduces colic a lot and helped me keep my sanity.

I found Hyland’s products completely ineffective for my children. I have tried their colic tabs and their teething tabs and noticed no difference. However, there are tons of women who swear by them. So i’m sure that they do work for many children.

I think using all natural/homeopathic methods is a much better choice then loading a child up on baby Tylenol (Tempra) and teething gels.

I never used Colic Calm so I can’t give any opinions on it, but I highly recommend the BioGaia which is available at select pharmacies without a prescription.

What do you think? Answer below!

Posted in Digestion & Nausea |

Tags: About, babies, Calm, Colic, feel, Homeopathic, like, remedies, things

4 Responses to “How do you feel about things like homeopathic remedies for babies?? Colic Calm?”

Baloneyus_Monk:

November 25, 2010 at 7:06 am

I understand your concern for your baby. We get to the point sometimes when we’ll “try anything”. You seem to have done your research. If I were you, I’d give it a shot. Is your baby allergic to anything in the med?

Like you, I never used any homeopathic remedies until very recently. I tend to get ‘pinkeye’ very often and when I used prescribed meds it is stubborn to get rid of.

One doc said “I am not entirely convinced that it’s pinkeye.” He may be right, b/c I do not get the gooey discharge. Anyway, I found a homeopathic remedy and I tried it. Zingo! I was better in a day! Whatever it is, it worked.

I am telling this story b/c it relates to the homeopathic remedy hesitance.

Good luck!
mystic_eye_cda:

November 25, 2010 at 8:00 am

I’m sure homeopathic remedies are completely safe, I just don’t believe they are anything more than placebos

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy#Dilution_and_succussion
Since homeopathic remedies generally contain few to zero pharmacologically active ingredients, they are generally thought to have no effect beyond placebo by mainstream medical practitioners.[2] Modern homeopaths have proposed that water has a memory that allows homeopathic preparations to work without any of the original substance; however, the physics of water are well understood, and no known mechanism permits such a memory.

[...]

Claims of homeopathy’s efficacy (beyond the placebo effect) are unsupported by the collective weight of scientific and clinical evidence.[9][10][11][12] Specific pharmacological effect with no active molecules violates fundamental principles of science,[13][14] and the claimed memory effect of very high homeopathic dilutions lacks a substantial basis.[14][15]

[...]

n producing treatments for diseases, homeopaths use a process called “dynamisation” or “potentisation” whereby the remedy is diluted with alcohol or distilled water and then vigorously shaken by ten hard strikes against an elastic body in a process called “succussion”. While Hahnemann advocated remedies which present symptoms similar to those of the disease he believed concentrated doses would only intensify the symptoms and exacerbate the condition, hence the dilution of the remedies. During the process of potentisation, homeopaths believe that the vital energy of the diluted substance is activated and its energy released by vigorous shaking of the substance. For this purpose, Hahnemann had a saddle maker construct a special wooden striking board covered in leather on one side and stuffed with horsehair.[33][34] Insoluble solids, such as quartz and oyster shell, are diluted by grinding them with lactose (trituration).

Three potency scales are in regular use in homeopathy. Hahnemann created the centesimal or “C scale”, diluting a substance by a factor of 100 at each stage. The centesimal scale was favored by Hahnemann for most of his life. A 2C dilution requires a substance to be diluted to one part in one hundred, and then some of that diluted solution diluted by a further factor of one hundred. This works out to one part of the original solution mixed into 9,999 parts (100 × 100 −1) of the diluent.[35] A 6C dilution repeats this process six times, ending up with the original material diluted by a factor of 100-6=10-12. Higher dilutions follow the same pattern. In homeopathy, a solution that is more dilute is described as having a higher potency, and more dilute substances are considered by homeopaths to be stronger and deeper-acting remedies.[36] The end product is often so diluted that it is indistinguishable from the dilutant (pure water, sugar or alcohol).[1][37][38]
X Scale C Scale Ratio Note
1X — 1:10 described as low potency
2X 1C 1:100 called higher potency than 1X by homeopaths
6X 3C 10-6
8X 4C 10-8 allowable concentration of arsenic in U.S. drinking water[39]
12X 6C 10-12
24X 12C 10-24 Has a 60% probability of containing one molecule of original material if one mole of the original substance was used.
60X 30C 10-60 Dilution advocated by Hahnemann for most purposes: on average, this would require giving two billion doses per second to six billion people for 4 billion years to deliver a single molecule of the original material to any patient.
400X 200C 10-400 Dilution of popular homeopathic flu remedy Oscillococcinum
Note: the “X scale” is also called “D scale”. 1X = 1D, 2X = 2D, etc.
Kolleen's Mommy:

November 25, 2010 at 8:59 am

homeopathic Remedies are completely safe. I worked in a health food store for 5 years, and I have also used them on my daughter. It is a natural alternative to medications. The only thing that you have to keep in mind is that you do now what to substitute medication for serious situations with homeopathic. I’m sure you already no that, but I just wanted to mention it. But colic tabs, teething gel, and those sorts of things work absolute wonders. A great brand, and one that I swear by, is Hylands. Their colic tabs saved my husband and I from a lot of difficult nights.

Give them a try. They wont hurt your baby, and you will be surprised and just how great they work.
RickK:

November 25, 2010 at 9:40 am

Homeopathy has become a marketing term, and the companies that use it make millions of dollars selling mostly placebos and fakery to people who really want to believe. Companies WANT you to think “oh, I’ve heard about homeopathy for years, so it must work.”

What is homeopathy?
————-
Classical homeopathy originated in the 19th century with Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) as an alternative to the standard medical practices of the day, such as phlebotomy or bloodletting. Hahnemann’s theories were based on metaphysical energies rather than on biology, anatomy, chemistry, etc.

Classical homeopathy is generally defined as a system of medical treatment based on the use of infinitesimal amounts of substances that in larger doses produce effects similar to those of the disease being treated. For example, the homeopathic remedy for sleeplessness is a highly diluted dose of caffeine. Hahnemann believed that very small doses of a substance could have very powerful reverse healing effects because their potency could be affected by vigorous and methodical shaking (succussion).

So in other words, if you put a tiny amount of some ingredient in water, then shake it, then dilute it, then shake it more, then dilute it more, eventually you’ll have an effective medicine.

Homeopathic dilutions
————
Homeopathic dilutions are indicated by letters like X or C. “X” means dilute 10 to 1. So a dilution of 6X means do a 1 in 10 dilution six times. Or, in other words, 1 part ingredient, 1,000,000 parts water (six zeros). “C” means dilute 100 times. So a 6C dilution means 1 part ingredient, 1,000,000,000,000 parts water. You can find many homeopathic remedies available with 30C dilutions – you do the math. And the totally ridiculous bit of advertising – the bigger the dilution, the “stronger” the medication.

Here is a useful table of homeopathic “potentencies” and their dilution rates (0.1ml of original ingredient):
6C = 4 Olympic class swimming-pools.
13C = 3/4 of all Earth’s oceans.
16C = Sphere of water the size of Earth.
19C= 10 Spheres with same diameter as our Solar System
22C = 1 cubic light-year
26C = 1 Sphere with same diameter as the Milky Way

Another example, the very popular homeopathic remedy Oscillococcinum 200C is made with a 1 in 100 dilution performed 200 times. That’s 1 part ingredient in 1 followed by 400 zeros parts water, then sprinkled on a sugar pill. Now, physics will tell you that there is not a single molecule of duck liver on your sugar pill.

In summary, the homeopaths are scamming you. They’re selling you WATER. Or, they’re selling you a sugar pill on which water has been sprinkled!!!

Hahnemann came up with his ideas before we knew what molecules were. So when molecular theory came along and proved that many homeopathic remedies didn’t have even a single molecule of the original substance, homeopathy proponents like Jacques Benveniste tried to prove that water “remembered” the original ingredient. (1) They never explained how the water “remembered” the homeopathic ingredient but didn’t “remember” the copper pipes, glass jars, or fish poop from the lake it came from. (2) Benveniste was completely discredited when it turned out his lab technicians were altering data so that their boss would have positive results.
http://br.geocities.com/criticandokardec/benveniste02.pdf

Do Homeopathic Remedies work?
————–
Because it has marketing appeal, “Homeopathic” is used as a label on many things, including soothing creams and herbal remedies that are NOT classic homeopathic dilutions. An herbal remedy may work just fine, but it is just like any drug, and should come with all the same testing and warnings as any drug. However, the classic homeopathic dilution liquids and pills do NOT work better than water or sugar pills.

1) Large scale, well-designed studies of homeopathic dilutions find they work no better than placebo. (But don’t underestimate the power of a well-delivered placebo to cure somebody’s complaint. Just don’t use it for cancer or malaria or AIDS, etc.)

2) Many of the people who point to studies and say “See! This study says it works” are pointing to the same set of studies by Reilly published in Lancet in the early 90s. Nobody has been able to independently repeat Dr. Reilly’s results.

3) There is a million dollar prize available from JREF for anyone who can show, under reasonable scientific controls, that homeopathic dilutions work better than placebo. The prize has been available for over a decade, and nobody has claimed it. Here is an example of a failed attempt: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s827502.htm

4) No homeopathic practitioner (or anyone else) can tell the difference between a vial of homeopathic dilution and plain water.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/homeopathy.shtml

5) James Randi regularly demonstrates homeopathic remedies do nothing by taking an entire bottle of Calms Forte – a homeopathic sleep aid. Even though the box says “warning, don’t exceed recommended dosage”, the entire bottle of pills has no effect on Randi or on anyone else.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2785985155605802136

In short, homeopathic pills/dilutions don’t work any better than sugar pills.

Why does the FDA allow ineffective “medicines” to be sold?
—————
Because of their long use in the United States, the U.S. Congress passed a law in 1938 declaring that homeopathic remedies are to be regulated by the FDA in the same manner as nonprescription, over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, which means that they can be purchased without a physician’s prescription. Today, although conventional prescription drugs and new OTC drugs must undergo thorough testing and review by the FDA for safety and effectiveness before they can be sold, this requirement does not apply to homeopathic remedies. In other words, the FDA gave anything with the words “homeopathic” an exemption from the requirement to demonstrate that they’re effective.

Most people know that the herbal remedy St. Johns Wort can reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills. However, unlike herbal remedies, there are no “drug interaction” warnings for homeopathic remedies. Why? Because they don’t do anything.

Conclusion:
——–
If you can be cured by placebo, then by all means, continue supporting the imaginative people who dream up all the different homeopathic remedies. But you should look at the price on the box and ask yourself: Is this a lot to pay for sugar pills and water?