First Aid Kit

First Aid Kit includes: Christopher's Lobelia, GSE drops, Gal Pal Hot water bottle, Comfrey salve, Arnica gel, and Sting Recover

I was brainstorming baby gifts and thought a first aid kit would be a cute gift. It would have to come with plenty of suggestions, so I'm blogging the suggestions. If I were on a deserted island (which I kind of am, up here in branson), these are the essential ingredients I would put in the first aid kit.

The first item is Lobelia. Well, before I describe the items, let me say I have and enjoy other supplements, this is just the cheapest and most effective items in my arsenal.

LOBELIA is an herb. It's also known as puke weed since you can vomit if you overdose. You'll have to google and read about it for hours like I did, but the PRIMARY use of this herb is for a "wet cough". I have never had an infant get sick until Miley. Even with the others in the babies' face before, mine just are completely resistant to any kind of cold or flu symptoms even if the whole family has something, but THIS time, very very tiny Miley got some wheezy soundy chesty fluidy thing at just a couple of weeks old. I had everyone taking the Lobelia and gave it to her as well. The best way to administer yuukkyy drops to a baby is to do it while they are nursing. I gave her 2 drops per nursing session. I just got the dropper with 2 drops in it, and slid it into her mouth next to my breast as she was nursing. this was wonderful. She almost did not notice it when I did it like this. I guess it's like taking pills and swallowing water really fast afterward. For the other kids, they get 4 or 5 drops every 30 minutes or so. If they are getting too much, they will hurl. Just stick to the low dosage plan...I've had one child that gets a strange "bronchial" type "attack" when her immune system is low. We have a breathing machine or a "nebulizer" and she does that, but I have done that and I HATE how the medicine that you breathe is. It tastes like heavy metal. So for me, finding the Lobelia was huge. It dries her chest up in a matter of 24 hours or less and has no side effects. The reason I ran into this whole "wet chest" thing is because my kids were all coughing and so I gave them cough suppressant to sleep. One of them developed pneumonia because she wasn't coughing and fluid went into her chest. It was horrid. God protected her from death, I'm sure of it. Needless to say, I WILL NOT do cough suppressant ever again.

GSE or grapefruit seed extract is my next fabulous cheapy find. You can make eardrops out of it with some olive oil and do lots of other things with this. My favorite is to keep this and a small cup next to the sink. The kids make their own "gargle" by putting 10 drops of GSE and warm water in the cup. It kills all the bacteria in the back of the throat. If they start to cough or complain of a sore throat....time to gargle. I wish doctors would make their antibiotic fluid bags with this stuff instead of drugs. It kills all the bad bacteria but leaves the good. I like to make a huge drink of water and put 2 or 3 drops in there every day. It seems to keep overall health up-good for candida and other items. Thousands of uses, really and SUPER cheap option.

The Gal Pal is just a fun item to have on hand that I have used SO MUCH since I bought mine. It's a tiny hot water bottle/ ice bag. It's $15 and you can get it at www.gal-pal.com. I really really like these. I like the tiny size of them. Tonight I am battling an ear infection in one of the kids, so I'm putting olive oil/garlic drops in the ear and then she is holding the gal pal with hot water on the other ear and it seems to help. It's nice and tiny and useful in in travel. Makes a GREAT ice pack fast. Just fill with ice. It has a nice wide opening. These are GREAT gifts! They come in fifty different fabrics or so. Shipping can take forever, so order before you actually need this product.

Comfrey salve or any kind of olive oil based salve with echinacea, comfrey, calendula and a couple of other skin healing herbs is SO NICE to have on hand. Everything from diaper rash to cuts to rashy poo poo bottoms...this will help heal skin issues in double the time they would heal on their own. I grab this whenever I see it. Farmers markets, whole foods, little country nutrition shops...usually will have a pot of salve for $5.

Arnica gel is GREAT for bruises. I also like the arnica homeopathic tabs for bruises and trauma. Just rub the gel on and bruises disappear in half the time they take to heal. A side note on bruising. If your child likes to eat ice, or bruises pretty easily, they are low on iron. You can find a yummy supplement called tri-iron at www.trilightherbs.com. They have AWESOME herbs in glycerin bases with great descriptions on their site.

Last item in my first aid kit is Sting Recover. This is $13 per bottle and will last you the lifetime of your children. Have this on hand before you need it. I have used it for 50 fire ant bites on one child and for 2 wasp stings on another and it worked WONDERS. It is a dry clay/dirt, and you add water to make it into a clay. Rub clay on the skin and leave for 20 minutes. Wash off with hot water. What this does is it pulls the poison or toxin to the skin surface out of the bite. It is effective for scorpion stings, ant bites, wasp stings, bee stings, spider bites, any type of sting or bite, this works on. Get this miracle stuff at www.solarrecover.com. I like it because it has a long shelf life, travels nicely, just add water, is a nice amount, and it works VERY WELL. On the fifty fire ant bites with Michael...the normal pus at the surface of an ant bite the next day was NOT THERE. It literally pulled the poison out of the bite and there was just a scab on 90 percent of the bites and no itching on his part. Very nice! So, if you are one of my friends and get pregnant in the next few days, this will probably be my next gift to you, this little first aid kit. Oh, and check out the solar spray at that last website (www.solarrecover.com)...it is FABULOUS for sunburns, literally turns the burn into a dewy tan. Last summer, we went to the beach and I bought this solar recover at a little vitamin shop in destin florida. We used the whole bottle in a couple of weeks. Love this stuff!!