Can I give my 8.5 month old echinacea? - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

Brooke85 · 11-25-2008, 09:31 PM

I just got word my MIL has THE FLU! She will be coming over Thanksgiving morning and we are going to be cooking dinner together. I already give my 2 1/2 yr. old DD echinacea plus a multi-vitamin, but I was wondering if it is safe to slip some liquid echinacea into my DS's bottle to boost his immune system a little. He is just now getting over a cold DH brought home last week and when he gets sick he usually gets it the worst because he's asthmatic

I'm just being a paranoid mama and I hate when my babies are exposed (even though we love grandma DEARLY

)...this is kind of one of those unavoidable things being that it's Thanksgiving.

I read the back of the bottle and the youngest it said is age 1-2...up to 24 lbs. My DS is 8 1/2 months old and is 21 lbs. Should I hold off? Thanks

Accutane2X · 11-26-2008, 11:26 AM

Would love to hear the replies. My DD is 8 months and 21 lbs. She has been sick ever since beginning a new daycare. It seems as soon as she gets better she catches the next thing. I'm exhausted. I'd love to give her something to boost her immune system. I only breastfed for 6 weeks. I should have done it a bit longer.

janewhite1 · 11-30-2008, 07:15 PM

The impression I get is that no one has any idea whether it's safe for babies. They're not even sure if it's safe for nursing mothers, so if I were you I wouldn't try it.

Accutane2X, I wouldn't feel too guilty over halting nursing after 6 weeks. Breast milk has a lot of antibodies for the first few weeks, but not so many once they're old enough that their own immune systems start to work. And, of course, your antibodies can't help your baby against bugs you haven't had.

AlexaIn2006 · 11-30-2008, 08:28 PM

I would give it to me child at that age. Most people vaccinate their children thereby injecting animals DNA, mercury, formaldehyde, aluminum, etc. and don't think much about it. We eat chemically laden and genetically modifed foods and most don't think much about the effects of that either. I could go on and on, but my point is that this is a natural product. My 2.5 year takes this along with other flu prevention things and has yet to get sick in her life. The echinacea will build up the immune system. The babies are only a couple of pounds off from starting, so I would give them a smaller dose for a few days or so and see how it goes.

Brooke85 · 12-03-2008, 11:09 AM

Alexain2006, just curious...what other flu prevention methods do you use for your DD?