Complementary medical care has gained increasing popularity in recent years with more and more people seeking natural alternatives to healing. It’s no surprise, then, that families are also looking more often for natural therapies in areas such as skincare and digestive problems for their newborn.

Naturopathic medicine is one approach to holistic healthcare. Naturopathy focuses on helping people achieve optimum health through natural processes, patient education, prevention strategies, and noninvasive therapies. Naturopathic doctors attend several years of specialized medical training at accredited naturopathic medical colleges. The profession, however, is regulated in just twelve states --Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. In those states, NDs must also pass medical board exams to become licensed.

Naturopathic practitioners provide complementary care for their patients. They take a comprehensive approach to health and spend a lot of time listening to their patients and helping them to become active participants in their healthcare. When you visit naturopathic doctors, you’ll find they emphasize nutrition, dietary changes, and lifestyle modification in their treatment plans. Naturopathic doctors do not abandon or replace conventional medicine, though. Instead, they work cooperatively with other healthcare providers to provide a balanced approach to wellbeing.

Naturopathic treatment of babies can include homeopathy, herbal and physical medicine, and nutrition supplements. Practitioners seek the root cause of health problems and suggest natural, noninvasive therapies to promote healing. For newborns suffering from colic or irritability, they may introduce baby massage. Gentle herbal remedies may be used to heal conditions that affect baby’s delicate skin or digestive disorders. And osteopathic manipulation may be offered to correct musculoskeletal imbalances.

Whatever the technique, the naturopathic practitioner ultimately seeks to improve and enhance baby’s health naturally.

When looking for a naturopathic doctor, it’s important to ensure he or she is properly trained. Your ND should have graduated from an accredited naturopathic college; and if you live in a state that regulates the profession, make sure he or she is properly licensed. A brief consultation with any prospective healthcare provider is advisable, as well, to ensure you feel comfortable with his or her approach to your health.

If you’d like to find out more on what naturopathy can do for your newborn, the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians will help you locate a naturopathic doctor in your area through the organization’s website www.naturopathic.org.

Teething - it's never fun for the parent and it's obviously no fun for baby. For new parents, you may be wondering when baby will get its first tooth. For some parents - about 1 in 2000 - your baby may be born with its first tooth. For others, you may still be waiting at 12 months.

The process of teething actually starts in the womb and carries on through to their second year. What we call 'teething' is actually one of the final stages of the process.

Teeth form as tiny buds and steadily build. The process of erupting from the gums is what we call teething and it generally starts two months before the first tooth breaks through. On average, you can expect 'teething' to start at five-six months and that first tooth to arrive around the seven month mark.

There is one thing you can almost guarantee with children, they will catch a cold. If you have school age children you will know what I mean. Having a new born in the home can be an anxious time for parents when there are coughs, colds and flu's in the home. At some stage your new born is going to catch that virus. It is not necessarily a bad thing - babies do need to develop their own immune systems and it often starts with the common cold. The tricky part is knowing how to treat colds in a new born.

Newborns and cough mixtures are deadly

Treating a cold in a new born is different to treating a cold in an older child. There is very little in the way of medicine that can be administered. However, just remember, when you are taking a cough medicine yourself, or administering it to a child, you are really only treating the symptoms - you are not treating the cold itself. For newborn babies it is no different - you are treating the symptoms and trying to make things as comfortable as possible. Cough mixtures wont work and could prove to be deadly.

Temperature Control

The first and most important step in treating a newborn babies cold is to keep a constant eye on their temperature. If the temperature raises above 100.4 then call your doctor or take the baby to hospital. An accurate thermometer is required for this and a rectal temperature is the most accurate.

Most babies suffer some form of colic during their first six months. Often it can go unnoticed and not cause to much stress. At other times, it can lead to a baby that screams for hours on end leaving the parent tired, frustrated and even a little (or a lot) grumpy.

What Is Colic In Babies?

As a parent there is one guarantee in life. Your child is going to catch a cold at some stage in their life. For new parents, a babies first cough, cold or runny nose can be a worrying experience. It needn't be. Follow these simple tips and life for you and baby will so much easier.

Most children, particularly when they hit school age, suffer around 10 coughs or colds each year. The effects remain for two to fourteen days depending on what type of cold they have.

Coughs, colds and some runny noses are generally result of a common cold virus. These viruses cannot be treated by anti biotics, in fact there is little that medicine can do to 'cure' a cough, cold or runny nose in a baby.

Classic signs of the common cold in babies

There are several signs that your baby may be coming down with a cough, cold or runny nose. The first is frequent sneezing although this may also be due to allergens. So to the watery red eyes. However, if the nasal congestion thickens then you know it's a cold.

As September rushes upon us I realized today that this site, Just4Families is about to have its first birthday. The year has certainly flown by.

Over the last 12 months I have published a lot of posts that have proved to be popular so I am going to review them by category for those who may have missed them. I am going to start with the articles related to babies, for obvious reasons, our is about to turn three weeks old. With a total of five girl five years and under, I am surprised I can five minutes to even write a post these days. Here are my best baby articles from the last 12 months.

One of my favourite articles when it comes to research was the Cord Blood Banking article. Why more hospitals don't utilize this service I don't know. It can help to save so many young lives.

Have you wondered about the The First Moments Of Your Baby's Life? I did so I did a little research. Read the outcome of that research.

Of course, the time comes to take baby home from hospital. An exciting time for many, for others it can be hard to handle. Learn how to deal with Baby's First Days At Home.

The latest version of this post - Coughs Colds And A Newborn's Runny Nose - is now available

Coughs and Colds In Babies

One of the most worrying times for new parents is when their newborn gets their first cough or cold. Some parents are lucky. Perhaps it is the time of year when they are born, perhaps it is because they have strong immune systems, but some babies seem to miss the coughs and colds until two or three.

The arrival of a new born baby will always cause a certain amount of turmoil within a household. When there are older siblings the turmoil can be interesting to say the least. One problem can often be jealousy.

Babies will often develop their own methods to calm and sooth themselves to sleep. Babies will often suck a thumb and/or cuddle a teddy. Somehow babies link those actions with getting security and going to sleep. Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to teach your child to do this.