Exactly a year ago today, I sat down to write my inaugural blog post on Holistic Mamas without really having a clear view of what I was hoping to accomplish. I think I just wanted to share the successes I’d had in using natural remedies to heal my 3-month old daughter’s reflux (in case there were other Moms also looking for a way out of using Zantac or Ranitidine on their precious babes).
Today, as I sit down to write the blog’s 200th post, I have a much clearer vision of what I want to do with Holistic Mamas. In addition to sharing information about natural, herbal, and holistic home remedies, reviewing products targeted towards holistically-minded Moms, running giveaways of said products, and asking holistic healers from the various disciplines to guest-blog on my site, I have decided to start a holistic remedies database – a “wisdom” base, if you will – to capture our collective knowledge and wisdom about common childhood ailments and the various remedies from the various holistic health disciplines to help heal them. My premise is this: like it or not, we women are the healthcare CEOs of our families. We are the ones our children and our spouses turn to for help when they are ill and in need of support. We are the ones up at 3am researching the Internet for what we can do to ease our little ones’ symptoms, and we are usually the ones on the phone at 4am with the pediatrician when we haven’t found what we need on the Internet (or when the remedies we’ve found haven’t started working yet). We are usually the ones who prepare the foods our family members eat (yeah, my feminist side is saying that we’ve come a long way, but not THAT far yet, baby!), and all holistic medical experts agree that nutrition is the first line of defense against disease. So if we want to foster healthy families, we need to start by educating the Mothers in these families about food, natural remedies, and arming them with the right support and resources for them to make the best decisions.
But in order to make it a robust wisdom base, I need help. I can’t do it by myself. So I am asking for the participation from my community of Holistic Mamas – for YOUR participation. The wisdom base has a TON of holes…it does have some entries on specific herbs and essential oils (see example pages Tea Tree, Thyme, and Yarrow), some entries on common childhood issues (see examples diaper rash, bladder infection, and asthma), and some entries that define common therapeutic actions (see examples alterative, diaphoretic, and vulnerary). But there are more pages that need to be created, more terms defined, more herbs and essential oils profiled, more remedies given for common childhood conditions. And I hope you will help me – for now, you can do so by submitting a remedy to my wisdom base, and in the future, you will be able to create your own account and make your own changes directly.
My goal and vision is to have an on-line resource that provides:
- Remedies from each of the different healing disciplines – Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine, Homeopathy, Naturopathy – for various common childhood complaints
- Safety information on the various ingredients found in products that we ingest as well as use externally
- Information about each of the healing tools that can be used (specific herbs, essential oils, flower essences, homeopathic remedies)
I have finally decided to just step up and own my role as the “Healthcare CEO” in my family. When my daughter is crying and sick and my husband looks at me with that deer-in-the-headlights, glazed look of, “What do we do?” I am no longer going to retort, “Why are you asking me like I know everything?” I DON’T know everything, but thankfully, I know where to look and I can help curate a wisdom base that compiles our collective healing knowledge as Moms and healers. It’s my hope that the next time you’re up at 3am with your child, you will have a trustworthy place to turn for information on what you can do to help provide relief. What do you think? Is this a good idea? Am I out of my mind? (Probably). I’d love to hear your feedback and ideas.
