Chinese Medicine for Children
Photo credits: Katie Robertson
Childhood is a magical time, but it is also fraught with uncertainty and questions, especially for first-time parents. Growing up is hard. Parenting is even harder! The Elemental Family provides supportive holistic health and wellness strategies for both you and your children as you all navigate the complex, beautiful, messy, and bittersweet process of growing up.
Chinese Medicine for Children provides gentle, safe, and effective treatments from infancy through adolescence to support your child’s optimal growth and development into the unique, thriving person they are naturally becoming. The tools of Chinese medicine bolster and guide your child’s innate capacity for health and wellness by stimulating their body’s own natural ability to heal.
At Elemental Family, we see families seeking:
- Acute Illness Care
- Chronic Illness Care
- Preventive and Preparatory Care
From the Mouths of Babes...
"I’d take a treatment anytime!" – Sophie, age 4
"It just makes me feel calm." – Sam, age 9
"I love acupuncture. Can we do more taps?!" – Stella, age 5
Commonly treated conditions
Chinese medicine can be used to treat many common conditions of childhood:
- Colic
- Failure to thrive
- Torticollis
- Reflux
- Teething
- Sleep support
- Night Terrors
- Bedwetting
- Urinary tract infections
- Constipation
- Encopresis
- Diarrhea
- Food sensitivities
- Fever
- Low immunity
- Colds
- Coughs
- Croup
- Asthma
- Eczema
- Hives Rashes
- Psoriasis
- Allergies
- Chronic rhinitis
- Ear infections
- Headaches
- Stomachaches
- Stress
- Growing pains
- Sprains and strains
- Broken bones
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Emotional regulation
- Impulse control
- ADD/ADHD
- Precocious puberty
- Premenstrual syndrome
Modalities for Children
Non-Needle Techniques
The most frequently used method of treating babies and children, these techniques stimulate the child’s own healing capacity without the use of acupuncture needles:
Massage and Acupressure - parents are instructed in these simple, effective techniques in order to support their child at home in between sessions.
Shoni-shin - a gentle method that utilizes specialized tools to brush and tap along the skin to stimulate healing.
Tuning fork – this tool uses vibration to stimulate points on the body that calm and heal.
ACUPUNCTURE, AKA “TAPS” FOR KIDS
The insertion of hair-thin needles into predetermined locations on the body to stimulate circulation and healing; babies and children respond very quickly and effectively to the use of acupuncture (although it is not required in order to have a positive outcome from treatment).
Tuning Fork
Chinese Herbal Formulas
Tailored specifically for babies and children, we use safe, third-party tested and validated formulations to help kids feel better, faster.
Nutritional therapy
Food and diet are integral aspects of health and we use the foundations of Chinese medicine nutrition to guide your dietary recommendations; our overall philosophy is one of moderation, except those instances where an elimination diet might serve as an instructional and healing tool for a child.
Supplements
The use of supplements is targeted and conservative and includes probiotics, vitamins and herbs, and omegas.
What does treatment look like?
“I took my young daughter to see Brooke and she loved everything about the visit. She talked to her, and engaged her in the entire treatment. We had no intention of actually using needles, but she had my daughter asking to use them - and it was the highlight of the visit. Of course, she would not have used them if my daughter wasn’t fully in agreement - most of the work she did was acupressure and other non-needle techniques. Brooke is incredibly thorough. I highly recommend her for pediatric acupuncture!”
Chinese Medicine for Children is best used as both preventive and sick care. When a child joins our practice, here is what a general treatment protocol looks like:
Getting to Know You Visit - 75-90 minutes
Depending on the age of the child, this includes either a 30 minute phone intake session without the child to allow the parent(s) to speak freely about their concerns, followed by a 45-60 minute in-person consultation and treatment with the child and parent(s), OR a 1.5 hour in-person intake, consultation and treatment.
Follow Up Sessions - 30 minutes
The number of follow up treatments is variable and dependent on both the child and the nature of the issues we are working on. You can expect to commit to 4-6 weeks of consecutive sessions with consistent evaluation of progress and the long-term treatment strategy.
Monthly Wellness Visits
(Included in our Family Wellness Club Membership – read more here)
Monthly sessions allow for the cumulative effects of consistent treatment to sink in, and also allow us to support and stay ahead of your child’s rapidly changing and ever-evolving system from month to month.