Infants are being given potentially harmful herbal supplements

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Infants are being given potentially harmful herbal supplements

About one in ten infants are given unregulated and potentially unsafe herbal products or teas by their moms.
The research revealing came from a study by Food and Drug Administration researchers and was released in the journal Pediatrics and is billed as the first to examine broad use of such products in American infants.
Bloomberg News reports that the researchers found that “one in 10 infants are given herbal teas and supplements to ease digestion or fussiness.”
The investigators found that “gripe water, a formula containing ginger and fennel used for colic and gas, chamomile, an herb used in tea, and teething tablets, which may also contain botanical ingredients, were the most commonly used supplements.”
WebMD reports that “the more weeks a mom breastfed her infant, the more likely she was to give the infant an herbal supplement or tea, the study found.”
You can read my seven-part blog on “Children and Alternative Medicine” starting here.
Here are some of my other blogs about colic:

Learn about other ways to cope with a fussy, colicky baby from the Nemours Foundation KidsHealth website, here.

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