I love working with children in clinic, it can be so satisfying to see improvements in their health. Kids often have such a robust vital force that they respond quickly to natural remedies, and these improvements can leave a lasting impression. It’s not uncommon for adult patients to tell me they had positive experiences treating issues like skin or gut health as children when their parents brought them to a naturopath. Those early experiences often bring them back as adults, and in some cases, even inspire them to learn more about natural medicine themselves. Believe it or not, I’ve been practicing long enough now that I’m treating adults I first saw when they were kids!

When working with children there are several considerations that need to be made, which I will share with you below.

Common Childhood Health Concerns We Support

Carissa and I both enjoy working with all things children’s health, strongly fuelled by our own experiences as parents ourselves.

Some of the most common issues we help with include:

• Mood & Behavioural Support – Anxiety, ADHD, sleep difficulties, aggression, and emotional regulation.
• Digestive Health – Constipation, stomach pain, reflux, worms, diarrhoea, mesenteric adenitis, and food sensitivities.
• Immunity & Respiratory Health – Frequent infections, low immunity, recurrent ear infections, nasal congestion, asthma, and urinary tract infections.
• Fussy Eating Support – Identifying underlying causes and addressing potential nutrient deficiencies.
• Skin Conditions – Eczema, psoriasis, acne, and molluscum contagiosum.

Prescribing Considerations for Children’s remedies

1. Making Remedies Kid-Friendly (Because Taste Matters!)

Let’s be honest—if it tastes bad, most kids won’t take it, no matter how healthy it is. While some adults might power through bitter herbs, kids are a different story. That’s why we only choose remedies that are naturally palatable or easy to disguise in foods or drinks. Powders or chewable tablets have to taste decent, and liquid herbs that I commonly prescribe to kids I stock in a glycetract form – this means that there is less alcohol content in the herbal formula, and it improves the taste of the formula.

If needed, there are a few tricks to getting the remedies in, such as hiding powdered supplements into gummies or iceblocks.

2. Gentle, Yet Powerful – The power of small doses

Children have strong, vibrant systems that often respond beautifully to gentle treatments. This means we can achieve wonderful results with small doses of herbal drops, flower essences, or homeopathics – all of which impact the healing process on an energetic level. These remedies work in harmony with your child’s natural healing abilities, often leading to surprisingly quick improvements without overwhelming their system.

3. Tailored Dosages for Growing Bodies

Your child’s body processes things differently than an adult’s. Their detoxification systems are still developing, which means we need to be mindful of the types of remedies we use and the dosages we recommend. We take great care in prescribing the right amount—just enough to support healing without overloading their system.

4. No More Tablet Battles

If your child struggles to swallow tablets (let’s face it, some adults do too!), don’t worry. We offer alternatives like liquids, powders, chewable tablets, and even topical creams. Yes, you read that right—sometimes we can use creams that absorb through the skin to deliver nutrients. No more mealtime meltdowns over medicine!

5. Simple Solutions That Fit Your Family’s Routine

We get it—juggling school, daycare, activities, and family life can be hectic. That’s why we design treatment plans that are practical and easy to follow. We’ll work with you to create a routine that fits seamlessly into your day, with dosing schedules that won’t add extra stress.

6. The Power of Food and Lifestyle Changes

Sometimes, the most powerful medicine comes from simple changes in diet and lifestyle. We love helping families discover how small tweaks—like adjusting food choices, improving sleep routines, or adding gentle movement—can make a big difference in your child’s health. This often reduces the need for lots of supplements, keeping things simple and natural.

7. Support for Parents, Too

We know that navigating your child’s health can feel overwhelming. And it’s very hard to implement changes for your child if you’re feeling burnt out yourself. That’s why we’re here to support you as well. It’s not uncommon for a parent to leave their child’s appointment with some nervous system support for themselves.

Ready to Support Your Child’s Health Naturally?

Carissa and I love working with families to create gentle, effective, and personalized health plans for kids of all ages. Whether you’re looking for help with immunity, digestion, sleep, skin issues, or general wellbeing, we would love to help you.

If you’re ready to explore natural health options for your child, book an appointment with us today. We’d love to meet you and your little one and help you feel confident in their care.

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I am thrilled to welcome Carissa back from maternity leave! After spending precious time with her beautiful baby girl, Poppy, Carissa is returning to practice and will be available for online consultations on Thursdays. In addition, she will be the primary practitioner handling email consults, making it easier than ever to get expert naturopathic support from the comfort of your home.

Get to Know Carissa

What’s your favourite thing about being a naturopath?

My favourite thing about being a naturopath is based on one of the naturopathic principles “the healing power of nature.” It truly amazes me just how interconnected we are with the planet; how herbs and nutrients can support the body in restoring balance. It’s really rewarding working with nature to guide my clients toward better health with the tools we can find in our backyard!

What’s your latest obsession?

Right now, my latest obsession is kids’ nutrition, especially since my little girl has just started solids. I couldn’t resist diving deep into it! I’m loving the book Boob to Food—it’s been a great resource for creating healthy, nutritious meals for my bub (and hub). I find myself reading it weekly and picking up new tips every time.

Current herb obsession and why?

If I had to choose a favorite herb, it would definitely be the beautiful dandelion! It’s such a versatile plant—supporting everything from digestion to detoxification. Plus, it makes such a delicious tea. It’s hands down one of the herbs I use most in my formulas, and I’m always amazed by its benefits.

Favourite meal?

My favourite meal would be grilled salmon with sautéed greens (especially broccolini, kale and Brussels sprouts) with roasted pumpkin or sweet potato—yum! I could eat this every day.

Favourite conditions to work with?

Some of my favourite conditions to work with are skin issues like eczema, psoriasis, and dermatitis. I can really relate to these conditions, as I was that typical eczema kid growing up—constantly battling flare-ups due to a poor diet. It wasn’t until I discovered naturopathy that I started to find real relief, and now I’m passionate about helping others do the same.

What is something that you’ve learnt about pregnancy and motherhood since becoming a Mum?

Wow, where do I start? Since becoming a mum, what I’ve learned more than anything is just how incredibly adaptable the female body is, especially during pregnancy and motherhood. Our hormonal system is so complex, and it’s fascinating how it shifts and changes to support us through every stage—from conception to birth and beyond! What strikes me the most is the way our bodies respond to the demands of motherhood, from breastfeeding to the emotional rollercoaster we experience, and how everything is interconnected. As a naturopath, I’m in awe of how our bodies are designed to nurture and care for our little ones while keeping us balanced, even through all the changes we go through.

Carissa has a special interest in working with children’s health, pregnancy, and all aspects of skin health. Whether you’re looking for support with your little one’s health, navigating pregnancy and postpartum wellness, or addressing skin concerns naturally, Carissa brings her expertise and compassionate approach to every consult. Of course, as a fully trained naturopath, she is well-equipped to work with a wide range of health conditions, offering tailored, holistic solutions to support your well-being.

One unique aspect of working with Carissa is the incorporation of iridology into her consultations. Iridology is the study of the iris (the colored part of the eye) as a reflection of overall health and genetic predispositions. By analyzing patterns, colors, and markings in the iris, Carissa can gain valuable insights into your constitution, organ function, and potential areas of imbalance. For online consults, we make this process simple: before your appointment, we will send you instructions on how to take a clear photo of your iris and email it to Carissa. This allows her to integrate this valuable tool into your consultation, providing a deeper level of understanding and personalized recommendations.

Carissa also utilizes drop dose herbal prescribing, a method that involves using highly concentrated herbal extracts in small doses to create profound therapeutic effects. This gentle yet powerful approach allows for precise, individualized treatment, making it particularly effective for sensitive individuals, children, and those with complex health conditions.

Carissa is excited to reconnect with both new and existing clients and support you on your health journey. Whether through a video consult or an email consultation, she is here to help you feel your best with evidence-based naturopathic care.

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Guts and Girl Bits Episode 52 with The Alternative Mumma

In this podcast I’ve asked a clinical aromatherapist to join me to chat about essential oils. But it might not be the sort of discussion you’d expect – we’re not talking about different remedies for conditions or anything like that, but rather, I’ve asked her onto the show to chat about essential oil safety and sustainability.

Do you use essential oils? I would expect the majority of those listening to this show do use them to some extent, given how popular they are becoming amongst those people who are interested in natural medicines. There’s a lot of awesomeness about essential oils, but there is a lot of people using them that haven’t been given the full story about their potential side effects, and how to use them safely.
Given that the amount of essential oil poisonings has been increasing each year, and the majority of cases of harm are in those under 15 years of age, I really feel it’s important to share the importance of knowing how to use essential oils safely to keep yourself and your children safe.

In this episode, I am joined with The Alternative Mumma aka Raine. She is a clinical aromatherapist and student naturopath with a bachelor of environmental science. Raine is passionate about sharing essential oil safety information and is a wealth of knowledge about this. Her Instagram is full of great information about this, so head over to her page after this and check it out.

Have a listen here or on the embedded player below.

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Get in touch with Raine

https://thealternativemumma.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thealternativemumma/

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Worm your kids. You’re welcome.

You’d be surprised at not only how common worm infestations are in kids, but also how much something like worms can do to your kids. It can affect their behaviour, sleep, energy levels and more.

And by the way, you don’t have to have an itchy bum to have worms. If you suspect that your kid (or yourself) might have worms, then you need to have a look. I’ll talk more about what the symptoms of worms can be, and what symptoms it can cause below.

I find gastro-intestinal infections to be a key driver for many symptoms in children, but especially so in mental and behavioural health. Taking herbs and nutrients for brain health to improve behavioural problems is all well and good, but if you’re not treating the cause you will be pursuing and endless journey.

Signs and Symptoms of Worms

Symptoms of a worm infection can include, but does not have to be all of these:

• Mood swings, anger and violence
• Digestive pain
• Diarrhoea
• Disturbed sleep
• Nightmares
• Teeth grinding
• Nose picking
• Weight loss
• Poor appetite and/or fussy eating
• Fatigue
• Iron deficiency
• Vulval irritation and pain, itching or discharge
• Food cravings and a relentless appetite
• Urinary incontinence (more common in girls)

The key age group for worms is 7-11 years of age, but any person regardless of age can get worms. If worm infestations become chronic or recurring, that can be a sign of deeper digestive and immune imbalance.

The mature female worm travels through the digestive system (6 cm every 30 minutes) and will typically leave the anus to lay eggs along the perineum. The larvae will cause itching and irritation, and kids will often scratch down there during their sleep, potentially re-consuming the eggs or larvae (continuing the cycle) by putting their fingers in their mouth or nose.

How do you know if your kid has worms?

A skilled practitioner can find clues to a gut infection through standard blood tests – one of the reasons I ask all my patients to bring recent copies of blood tests along to blood tests. Other more complicated stool analysis tests can give you information about the state of the digestive system, but when it comes to looking for confirmation of worms, the best thing is to have a look yourself. I warn you, none of these methods is going to be delightful.

Method 1: Use some sticky tape on the skin around anus first thing in the morning. Do this for three days in a row. If you can see little white balls, this is likely worm eggs, and confirmation of an infestation. You can then take this tape to your doctor to look at under the microscope for confirmation but often you will be able to tell yourself.

Method 2: In the middle of the night when the female worm is out laying her eggs it’s possible to see her in the midst of her adventure. Use a torch, sneak in and try not to wake your kid, and have a look at the bottom. It looks like a small white thread.

Method 3: Look in the toilet bowl. Sometimes you can see evidence of worms that have been pooped out. But this technique is only going to show up in more severe cases.

How to get rid of worms.

Let’s face it. Kid’s are gross. It can be disturbing to think of but kids will often have some trace of faecal matter on their fingers which they transfer to their mouths at some point. Various studies have found that worm eggs are found under finger nails of kids and can contamination is also often found in their bed sheet, toys and pyjamas.

There are lots of things you need to do to reduce re-contamination. Keep nails short, and nag try to encourage them not to put their fingers in their mouth.

If your kid does have worms: wash pjs and sheets in hot water, and wear a mask and gloves when doing so because when you change the sheets you’ve got a good chance of breathing in the eggs. Eww. Underwear may need to be ironed to kill any eggs if cases are more persistent.

I don’t object to the common worming treatment available in chemists on a semi-regular basis (don’t forget to repeat the course), but there are herbal options available if you need or prefer them. It is however possible for the worms to become resistant to conventional options which can make things very tricky as the common chemist option isn’t going to work.

If you think about how far these worms can travel when they exit the anus at night, you can understand why there can be issues with the urinary tract related to this. It’s an important thing to consider with young girls with frequent issues in this area, but also worth considering for older women with unexplained urinary and menstrual concerns.

If the case becomes persistent or chronic, more needs to be done to support digestive health – chat with your practitioner about this.

And here’s another consideration, many supplements such as probiotics that are common for gut health can actually perpetuate chronic worm infestations because it dampens the immune response – an action that is fantastic in any other instance, but not appropriate right now.

Listen to the podcast here:

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Recommended Products

The post You’ll be surprised (and a little grossed out) at this cause of kid’s behavioural problems. appeared first on Alison Mitchell Naturopath.

When I was a kid I gave my mother grief in the mornings: I never got out of bed on time and was a fussy breakfast eater.  Remembering those mornings I understand the stress that parents go through, trying to give their children a nutritious breakfast and healthy packed lunch to send them off to school with.  Hectic lifestyles will usually result in parents reaching for the quickest food options available, and this usually comes from a packet.  Which food is picked is usually the product that appears to be the healthiest option, makes the best health claims and which one tastes the best.  Unless you’ve studied nutrition it can be very difficult (and time consuming) to stand in the aisles analysing each product, and then you’ve got to make the final decision – will my child eat this?  So we place our trust in the companies.  Surely they know what they’re doing, right?  Surely they just want to do what’s right?

Food companies know that parents want to do the best for their child, and will market their products based around a ‘health perk’, often hoping that this will distract the consumers from the other nasties in the food, or the lack of other important nutrients such as fibre, vitamins and minerals.  Some of the foods most susceptible to this are breakfast cereals, formulas, and snack foods.  Products that are “rich in calcium/iron/protein for healthy bones/energy/muscles” can sometimes be rich in sugar, low in fibre and/or high in preservatives.  This does not balance out, creating a health food.

Artificial colours and preservatives

Over the last 50 years we developed the ability to travel further and faster. Our diets have changed dramatically, incorporating a bigger variety of foods which are now usually available year round.  More recently, over the last 15 years foods have changed even further with the use of additives to make our foods more colourful, tasty and less perishable.  Some of these additives have been well tested and shown to be safe, while others have been linked to many health problems such as hyperactivity, asthma and skin problems.  The most common problematic ones are artificial colours, such as Brilliant Blue 133, Tartrazine 102, Sunset Yellow 110, Amaranth 123 or Fast Green 143.  Additives like these are derived from petroleum and are not considered safe in other countries such as USA, UK and Norway.

One of the reasons additives are still used in Australia is because it cuts down the costs of making food: for example to reduce the cocoa in chocolate milk while keeping the brown colour they add a little bit of cocoa plus Brilliant Blue 133 and Brown HT 155; to give the appearance of fruit in some yoghurts they add a variety of red, yellow and blue colours.

In many cases the colour is added to make food look more real as manufacturers skimp on quality raw ingredients to save a few dollars, or the colour is added specifically to increase the products’ marketing appeal to young children in particular.

In other countries they use different, safer colouring options based on real foods, and while these are available in Australia they are rarely used because it is the more expensive option.

Added Sugar

When you look at the labels of some foods (not just children’s foods) you may be surprised to see that there is a lot of sugar added into savoury as well as sweet foods.  Some common savoury foods containing added sugar include sauces, salad dressings and muesli bars.

So if 1 tsp of sugar = 4g, you can determine how many teaspoons of sugar are in a meal by dividing the amount of sugar in 100g or a serving by 4.  There can be up to 4 teaspoons of sugar in some yoghurts, 2½ in a tin of baked beans and up to 6½ in a small bar of milk chocolate.

Look at the labels on foods, and check for added sugars.  Sugar comes under the guise of many names: fructose, sucrose, dextrose, maltose, glucose syrup, lactose, corn syrup, hydrolysed starch, inverted sugar, or concentrated fruit juice.  The nutrition panel details how much total sugar is contained in a food, but this can include added and natural sugars.

When children consume sugar-rich foods they get an artificial high, rapidly raising the levels of sugar and adrenaline in their bloodstream. This can contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, and difficulties concentrating.

This rapid rise in blood sugar levels stimulates the release of too much insulin, which causes children’s blood sugar levels to plummet, resulting in irritable and cranky kids.  Regular consumption of these foods can lead to children becoming overweight or obese, which is a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes.  It also increases their risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life.

Large amounts of sugar in the diet can also interfere with the absorption of calcium and zinc, important minerals for children’s health and development.

6 teaspoons of sugar a day can suppress the effectiveness of your immune system by up to 25%.  Sugar competes with vitamin C uptake into immune cells.  I often recommend to parents whose children have a cold or ‘flu to cut out sugar while they are ill so as to allow the immune system to reach its full potential.  If your child constantly has an infection, perhaps you should consider reducing or eliminating sugar from the diet.

Frequent consumption of sugary foods and beverages is one of the leading causes of tooth decay in children.

But they’re fun!

Many parents fondly look at lollies and junk food with nostalgia and think that if they don’t give their children these foods they are missing out on a vital experience of childhood.

Now that you know the facts about some of these additives, you may look at your child’s lunchbox or the next birthday party spread through new eyes. Ask yourself if you really want your family to be eating these chemicals in our foods which are not even allowed in foods in other countries. Think about the long term health effects of these chemicals and added sugar and whether or not you want your family to eat real foods or so called “fun” foods filled with additives.

Helpful ways to reduce your child’s additive and sugar intake

• Get creative and make healthy versions of your kid’s favourite sweet foods. Fruits such as berries and bananas are an ideal way to sweeten cakes, muffins, sauces and smoothies.
• Many yoghurts aimed at children contain too much sugar, additives and preservatives.  Make your own by getting a natural full-fat yoghurt and add your own fruits, such as a dollop of fruit puree, or from 9 months on chopped dried fruit (choose unsulphured).
• Instead of giving your child sweet snacks that are high in added sugar and low in nutrients, offer them healthier naturally sweet foods, such as fruit, small amounts of sun-dried fruit and fruit yoghurts.
• Choose whole oats, natural mueslis, puffed cereals (rice, millet, buckwheat) and other wholegrains for breakfast instead of sugary breakfast cereals.
• Watch out for so called health bars and breakfast bars in your supermarket — often marketed as healthy snacks or ‘breakfast on the run’.  You are best-off making your own muesli bars and biscuits for your kids to take to school and for after-school snacks.
• Avoid giving soft drinks to your kids.  Instead mix a little 100% fruit juice with some natural mineral water.
• Avoid using cordials as they are a concentrated form of sugar. Use 100% fruit juice as cordial, diluted with water.
• Keep lollies and chocolates for special occasions such as birthday parties, and try to go for those free from additives and synthetic colours.
• Make it extra special by getting the kids involved in making the sweets at home – they’ll have fun making them with you, and will appreciate the treats all the more because they’ve helped make them.

Resources:

Additive Alert

Chemical Maze

Lunch Matters

Laptop Lunches

Lucy Burney Children’s Diets

Mindd Foundation – Practitioner database of those specialising in paediatric disorders such as ADHD, Asthma, allergies, autism, chronic illness, depression, learning and language delay, and digestive and behavioural disorders.

Children’s Cookbooks:

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