Phytotherapy Essentials: Healthy Children: Optimising Children's Health with Herbs

As the father of four children who at the time of writing are now 25, 22, 18 and 8 years of age, I have seen and treated all of their childhood illnesses. These first-hand experiences represented a steep learning curve. My undergraduate studies did not include herbal pediatrics and at the time there were no specialized texts on the subject. Those books that did mention the herbal treatment of children seemed to me to be terribly cautious, recommending only the gentlest of herbs. This contrasted starkly with the approach taken by the medical profession. There were no apparent reservations with prescribing newborn babies and children the harshest of drugs. In my early years of practice the majority of my patients were children, built mainly through referrals from my wife who was and still is a preschool teacher. Over the years I have seen many chronic health problems completely resolved with the appropriate use of herbal medicines. So when Kerry Bone proposed the idea of coauthoring a book on herbs for children, I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to share these clinical experiences in print as a contribution to the further development of herbal pediatrics. This book represents our endeavours to not only produce an evidence-based practical guide for the herbal clinician, but also a work based on many years of clinical experience.