Increasingly, nutritional products companies are producing supplements formulated for children. Look for liquids, chewables, powders and syrups, or adapt adult products by cutting tablets or opening capsules.

Proper children's doses are based on body weight. One good method is Young’s Formula:

Age in years / Age + 12 = Portion of adult dose

Example: 4 year old child

4/ (4 + 12) = 4/16 = 1/4 of adult dose

The special needs of children require special herb preparations. A special consideration is taste. Use any tasty herb the child likes to add to tea. Tasty herbs include anise, lemon balm, mint, stevia, and fennel.

Tea

For mild, good tasting herbs, brew one ounce by weight of the herb in 1 pint hot water. Squeeze out and serve hot or cold. Adult dose is one to two cups per day. Calculate child’s dose.

Tincture

These have the advantage of being liquid, so being able to be blended into drinks. They contain alcohol, so use sparingly. Adult dose is 1 tablespoon per day. Calculate child’s dose.

Chewable

Some preparations are available as sweetened chewable tablets.

Popsicle

A fun way to use herbs! Make a tea as usual, then freeze into a sweetened popsicle.

Liquids (syrups, glycerites)

Sweet liquid forms of herbs often work the best of all. Syrups are prepared with honey or raw sugar. Onion syrup is a classic for occasional use in cough and respiratory infection.

Glycerites are tinctures which are prepared with glycerin instead of alcohol. They are an excellent choice for children. Glycerin is a clear, sweet, sticky liquid which will extract the active components of herbs. Children like the sweet taste, and do well with the liquid form. Glycerites keep indefinitely at room temperature, so you can have them available for use as needed.

Parents have been very creative in getting herbal medicines into children. Until we have a pharmacy as well stocked with glycerites, syrups, and chewables for children as adults now have, we will sometimes have to improvise.

Some tips from real parents:

* Mix herb powder with honey, maple syrup, molasses, or glycerin. Stir into paste. Down the hatch!

* Blend herbs with mushy food like peanut butter, tahini, or applesauce.

* Stir into strong juice (papaya, pineapple, tomato)

* Herb colors sometimes bother children (“Mommy, why is my orange juice green?”). Hide the herbs in dark colored food.

* “If they don’t see it, they won’t taste it!” Mix herb liquids with juice in an opaque cup with tight cover.

* Mix herb tea half and half with juice.

* Brew the tea with juice or soymilk instead of water.

* One mother even hollowed out individual green grapes and filled them with herb powder.