Dosages

by The ABC Herbal

March 2007

There are two major reasons why people fail to get good results with herbs. The first is selecting the wrong type of herb and the second is failing to give a large enough dose to get the job done. Picking the wrong type of herb simply means that you picked an herb which contracts, when the problem is that the tissue is already too contracted. It is like giving soda crackers to a man dying of thirst. The crackers are not poisonous, but they don't address the problem. Learning to choose the right type of remedy merely requires some basic knowledge and experience. Fortunately, many remedies are general enough that they work for almost everything. With these general remedies, even the beginner can get good results.

The second part, giving enough dosage, is easy. Once you know the right remedy and what it is supposed to accomplish, give that remedy in small, frequently repeated doses until it works. We often give our children a dose of herbs and some water every hour until they get well. We've even given them a dose of herbs every fifteen minutes. If you don't notice any improvements after a reasonable amount of time, simply switch to another type of herb and try again.

We have a very simple method for judging how much of an herbal remedy our children need. We judge the amount to give them the same way we judge the amount of carrots, potatoes or apples they need. We give them some and then ask if they want "seconds." If they do, we give them more. If they say they've had enough, we stop. We believe in letting their bodies decide how much they require to do the job of self-healing and repair.

As mentioned earlier, we do not believe that our remedies are toxic or potentially harmful when used with any degree of prudence or common sense. When our youngest daughter was two, she climbed into the cupboard and drank half a bottle (one ounce) of one of our glycerin formulas. Did we panic and call poison control? No, we were amused. That's because we sincerely believe that these herbs are wholesome foods which the body will crave when it needs them, just like any other wholesome food. So, we give the child whatever amount it takes to help him get well - it's as simple as that.

by Herbal Antibiotics

Determining Proper Dosage for Children

Children are much smaller than adults and are generally more sensitive to herbs. Dosages should be adjusted when making herbal medicines for children by using one of these three common approaches:

Clark’s Rule: Divide the weight in pounds by 150 to give an approximate fraction of an adult’s dose. For a 75-pound (34 kg) child the dose would be 75 divided by 150, or 1/2 the adult dose.

Cowling’s Rule: The child’s age at his or her next birthday divided by 24. For a child approaching 8 years, the dose would be 8 divided by 24, or 1/3 the adult dose.

Young’s Rule: The child’s age divided by (12 + age of child). For a 3-year-old, it would be 3 divided by (12+3), or 15, for a dose of 1/5 the adult dose.

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