Natalie Gross 0:07
Your baby is sick and you don't know how to help her. After all, most medications you can buy at the drugstore aren't made for infants, especially the littlest ones. So what are some natural or homeopathic remedies that can help your baby start feeling better? And how do you know what's safe to give your baby and what's not? On today's show, you'll hear from mamas who have been there before you, as well as a pediatrician and homeopath who will be offering her expert tips. This is Newbies.

Natalie Gross 0:39
Welcome to Newbies! Newbies is your online on the go support group guiding new mothers through their baby's first year. I'm Natalie Gross, mom to a three-year-old boy and a girl on the way. We've got a great show today talking about natural healing and homeopathy. Now if you haven't already, be sure to visit our website at https://new mommymedia.com nad subscribe to our weekly newsletter, which keeps you updated on all the episodes we release each week. Another great way to stay updated is to hit that subscribe button in your podcast app. And if you're looking for a way to get even more involved with our show, then check out our membership club. It's called Mighty Moms. That's where we chat more about the topics discussed here on our show. And it's also an easy way to learn about our recordings so you can join us live. Now let's meet the parents joining our conversation today. Ladies, tell us your name, location and a little bit about your family to start with.

Paola Brown 1:54
Sure! My name is Paola Brown. I've got three kids. We live just north of Houston in Texas, and we love homeopathy.

Rebekah Landowski 2:03
Hi, I'm Rebekah Landowski, mom to five in Watertown, Wisconsin. I've got three boys, ages seven, five and five months, and two girls that are four and two. And we are just learning about homeopathy and excited to learn more today.

Octavia Cross 2:20
And hi, I'm Octavia Cross. We're a military family that recently relocated to sunny Florida. And I have two littles a five and a half year old son and a two-year-old daughter.

Natalie Gross 2:33
Well, thank you all so much for being here today. And kind of as you mentioned, I know you're all in various stages of your journeys to learn more about natural healing. And we'll kind of get into more of that later on the show. But before we take a quick break, I would love to know how you decided that pursuing natural remedies was right for your kids and your family? Paola, do you want to start?

Paola Brown 2:55
Yeah, so for me, I kind of learned the hard way I developed some pretty bad chronic problems, interstitial cystitis for one of my bladder thermograph via which is an itching all over my body, celiac disease, just a whole smorgasbord of autoimmune diseases, and it was all triggered from antibiotic use. For infections, I did have UTIs leading up to it to these diagnoses. And so I began to realize that the options, you know, conventional medicine was offering me weren't going to work. And so my husband and I spent, you know, good $60,000 And, you know, going on almost 10 years, trying to cure me. Once I found homeopathy, I began to learn about the principles behind this medicine. And it went beyond just learning about natural remedies and why you know why we want to just avoid them. You know, it's not just taking Arnica instead of Advil. There was some real principles that led me to that point of being severely chronically ill. And I wanted to avoid those pitfalls for my children and my family. So, you know, that's really my chronic illness is what drove me to that today. I consider myself fully cured from the most debilitating of them. I don't eat gluten and some of those things but homeopathy working with a professional homeopath really uprooted those chronic things. And thankfully, my family, my kids, and I and my husband, I think we're going on 10 years now that we've never taken a single over the counter or prescription medication, because homeopathy has been able to help us through all of those things. And we've been plenty said we've had all kinds of infections and illnesses, you know, normal family stuff, we live on a homestead. So we have a lot of opportunity to get scrapes and, you know, cuts and, you know, the flu, all kinds of things, and we've been really grateful for homeopathy.

Natalie Gross 4:45
That's so interesting. Thank you for sharing. Rebekah?

Rebekah Landowski 4:49
I am actually really lucky my parents were into homeopathy a lot when I was growing up. So I have a little bit of background with that. But now that I'm my own mom, just Being able to look at the holistic approach. I feel like a lot of pediatricians and doctors in general miss just the care of the whole body. So you do end up with a lot more issues with that because you treat one part and not the rest of it. You end up medicating for the symptoms and side effects, and we just really don't like hospitals in general. So it was easy to get my husband on board with that.

Natalie Gross 5:24
Octavia?

Octavia Cross 5:26
Yes. And I feel like my story is fairly similar. I've never really been drawn to medicines if I could avoid them. But when I was pregnant with my first son, I knew I wanted to have a natural birth. So I started looking up methods and we ended up going with the Bradley method that really helped educate me on my body and the birthing process. And that was really the start of my natural journey.

Natalie Gross 5:59
Today on Newbies, we're talking about natural and homeopathic remedies that are safe to use with your babies. Our expert today is Dr. Ioana Razi. She is an MD and homeopath based in Washington, DC. Dr. Razi, thanks so much for joining us. Welcome to Newbies!

Ioana Razi 6:14
Thank you for having me. Thank you for asking.

Natalie Gross 6:16
Well, I think we should start by kind of defining what homeopathy is for listeners out there who may not be familiar with it. So would you mind giving us a brief overview?

Ioana Razi 6:27
Yes. And thank you for asking that question. Because many, many people do not know what it is. The founder of homeopathy, as we know it today is a man called Samuel Hahnemann, who lived turn of the ninth of the 18th century into the 19th. And he was very disappointed with the state of medicine at the time, as probably many physicians were. And he was really looking to see if God had not given some law whereby the disease of mankind would be cured. You know, he wasn't finding it. And then he read a text by a well known British physician by the name of William Cullen. And there was this phrase about cinchona bark, quinine. That cured malaria because it was bitter, and astringent. And at that time, quinine bark was really a great cure for malaria and malaria was rampant. And it was one of these things that actually worked so hard, I was just thinking, it's not because it's bitter and astringent, I wonder why it is. And he literally decided to chew the bark. And lo and behold, he developed a kind of the kind of achiness that people have, when they have malaria, the kind of headaches, and he was astonished. It was like he was producing malaria in himself. And he was an educated man. And he remembered that from the old Hindu tradition, from Hippocrates, and also from Paracelsus, who was a physician, in the 16th century, they all talked about that something that could cause an illness could cure it. So this idea of a sub minimum, something similar. So he was intrigued. He thought, Okay, I'm gonna give this bark to people in my family, and to friends. And he was very much of a scientist. So he asked them to choose some until they develop symptoms. And as soon as they develop symptoms, they had to write down what their symptoms were. And they all had similar symptoms, some had to eat a little bit, and some had to eat quite a bit more. And interestingly, those who only needed a little bit tended to have more symptoms. So there was a sensitivity. So he wrote this up as if you want to like Human Toxicology, what did what does this substance cause in Healthy People, and over the course of his lifetime, and he died when he was 88. He proved 99 substances and they were substances that were commonly used in medicine at the time. And only with quinine, with this bark did was the medicine the proving was what the medicine was actually being used for. None of the other proved things had anything to do with how those medicines were used. So he went back into practice, and said, if people come in, acting as if they are intoxicated by substance that I know, I'm going to treat them with that substance. And he did. And it worked, except that there was a period of severe aggravation. Like, after they took this similar substance, they got much, much worse. And then they got much better, his overall success was excellent. So he thought maybe they don't need as much. And so he diluted one to 100 to one, one hundreds, the amount that he used, and he shook it up 100 times, this was a typical way that medicines were were diluted the time that you would dilute and shake, we call this potent tising. And what he found was that with each subsequent dilution, people continued to get better, but their aggravation was less. And so that's this law of potent possession. He always used one remedy, the symbolism, the patient's symptoms that were the closest to approving. And so we've got these three things, the law of similars, the law of polarization, and the single remedy. And that is the fundamental basis for homeopathy. There have now been proving sub several 1000 substances, most of them are plants, some are minerals, and some are poisons, like, for example, the venom of B. So I think that's the definition.

Natalie Gross 11:43
Thank you so much. Well, you're a medical doctor, a pediatrician and a homeopath. And I think, you know, many people think of traditional medicine and homeopathy as an either or but how can the two work together? How do you use the two in your practice, and what's the right balance?

Ioana Razi 11:59
You know, I have a mandate to be safe, and to do no harm. And I really have not found it so difficult to do both things. And I have a, I have a primary care practice. Most of my patients have a knowledge and an interest in homeopathy. But some don't. And some have been very clear, they don't want any homeopathy, but they see me because I speak French, or Greek. So they, I really have a very broad base of patients. And as I take patients and families into my practice, I tell them, you know, I'm a traditionally trained board certified pediatrician, and I have a strong knowledge and interest in homeopathy. And I will always have that going on in my mind. But I hope you have that interest and are open to it. And then I also tell them that I have a strong interest in nutrition and other forms of natural medicine, and that I will always try to do what is safe, and best in the immediate end in the long run.

Natalie Gross 13:10
What are some of the most common natural or homeopathic remedies that are safe to use with infants, say for the common cold, for example,

Ioana Razi 13:20
so all of them are safe. All of the homeopathic remedies are safe because their their level of dilution is extremely high. And so they're never toxic. I just want to be very clear about that. People who are not familiar with homeopathy may see the name of the medicine like Bella Donna. And fear that it is toxic, but it would not be on the shelf. If it was in a dosage that was toxic. But most physicians don't know that. So when parents talk to their doctors, or to their to an emergency room, they they look up things on poison control. And there's there's no reason to. So it's a little tricky. It's not commonplace that the medical profession knows what I've just told you. Okay, now, you asked me the question like, what are the common ones?

Natalie Gross 14:17
Okay, yeah, we'll definitely get into more of the controversy later in the show. But....

Ioana Razi 14:20
It is important though, because parents listening to this. Anyway, they, they they'll encounter that right away. So there's a remedy that's called Aconitum. And it is often the first remedy that is thought of because it's for things that come on pretty quickly. Usually after exposure to cold wind. And all of a sudden, it's like, oh, you can tell your child's changing. Oftentimes, they get a quick fever and oftentimes they have a quick Cough that sounds roughly croup. So that's one of the very common remedies that we use the very onset of colds. The other one is called ferrum phosphoricum. So it's made from an iron salt, that is a kind of slower onset cold, where the children begin to be a little flush, and a little bit runny nose, and a little bit like sensitive to touch to being moved quickly to noise. And there is a typical thing where you think maybe they're getting sick when they go to bed, but that they wake up at four in the morning, and they have an earache. And it's a remedy that can be very, very helpful in that setting. Another kind of slow onset cold is a plant remedy that's called gelsemium. And it's a bit of a cold flu remedy, because person feels chilly, quiet, tired, weak, and kind of droopy lid, you know, like heavy lids, a drop in thirst, and a very low grade fever. But it's almost like it's like the beginning of a more of a flu than of a cold, even though there can be a little bit of cold symptoms. So those are three common cold remedies. And a last very common cold memory that we use in children. Again, a plant is called Pulsatilla or Pulsatilla Migra. And it's the nose is running, there's kind of thick, white or yellow stuff coming out. That is bland, the skin under the nose is not getting all chafed. And the child is changeable, sometimes in a good mood sometimes off, they love to be held. They like to be stroked, and they especially like to be taken outside. They're just they feel better, and they're consistently better outdoors. So that's a little intro to the colds, the common remedies for colds.

Natalie Gross 17:23
Yeah, thank you. And your experience. Is there anything that parents have confused? Maybe for a natural or homeopathic remedy that is actually not safe for babies anything parents need to kind of be wary of.

Ioana Razi 17:35
So one title you know, you know, Tylenol is called Little remedies. Infant Tylenol is called Little remedies in the store. And so people think they're giving something homeopathic when they're giving Tylenol. I'm not saying that Tylenol is dangerous, but I'm just saying the word remedy is being used a lot. Actually. I don't Yeah, I don't have a better answer then that.

Natalie Gross 18:01
That's okay. I mean, just something for parents to be aware of. Now, lastly, Dr. Razi is homeopathy for every child or just babies who are typically healthy. What about babies with like a chronic illness or something like that, can they use this as well?

Ioana Razi 18:17
Absolutely, it can be used by anybody at any age. And it can be used acutely, it can be used chronically and it can also be used in palliation. Like, you know, a child undergoing very severe treatment like chemotherapy with side effects. There are certain remedies that can be that can be very, very helpful to prevent side effects or Yeah, you know, like nausea, extreme weakness and fatigue.

Natalie Gross 18:47
Well, thank you so much, Dr. Razi. We are going to take a quick break and when we come back, we're going to keep hearing from Dr. Razi and our parents Paola, Rebekah, and Octavia.

Natalie Gross 19:01
We are continuing our discussion with Dr. Razi and our panel of moms today. Moms before we get into some more questions. Do you have any thoughts on what we've just heard from our expert?

Paola Brown 19:11
Yeah, I'd like to jump in and share a few of my thoughts. I would add and say that homeopathy is probably even more appropriate for some of our sickest patients, our sickest people like vulnerable populations, grandparents, elderly babies, because it is so incredibly safe. It's the safest group of drugs that the FDA regulates, and incredibly safe system of medicine because because of what she said, It's so dilute. And so I gravitate to it almost as a first option above above anything else because, um, because it is so safe and it has, you know, it's been used for 200 years and never has a homeopathic remedy been pulled off the market because of any risks or concerns, you know, and that's a pretty impeccable track record for something that's been out for so long. Whereas, you know, in in pharmaceutical medicine, you know, things get pulled off The market every year, you know, many things do. And then for me, you know, to kind of get my head wrapped around homeopathy as a mom, it really became an exercise of observing. So um, Dr. Rossi was talking about different remedies and the symptoms that are associated to it. And so you basically what I did as a mom is I began to kind of memorize the keynote symptoms to some of the top most common remedies. So one of the first remedies I learned about was a remedy called Bella Donna. And I learned that the keynotes are red hot, throbbing, and a high fever, you know, 103 or above. And, and then one day, my son came down with the symptoms, his face was bright red. He's he talked about, he could hear his heartbeat in his head, he was little, he didn't know the word throbbing, could hear his heartbeat, I took his temperature, and it was pretty dang high. And I remember thinking, oh my gosh, these remind me of the keynote symptoms to Bella Donna. And so then I gave him the homeopathic remedy Bella Donna, you know, and if you've ever seen him at Whole Foods, that they have those little blue tubes, and if you shake him, you can hear the little pellets or little round pellets. So you put it under their tongue, like you twist the lid so that the pellet falls into the lid. And you pour the pellet from the lid under the tongue. And so I gave it to my son. And what's interesting is like, when you give something like acetaminophen, you're expecting the fever to go down right away, because it's supposed to reduce it. And homeopathy is working with your body. So I didn't expect my son's fever to go away right away. I wish it would I wanted it to because I was worried about him or whatever you know. But really, what I saw happen is he fell into a really deep restful sleep. And what the homeopathic remedy did is it helped his body fight off the illness and work smarter and better. And so I had that patience, I kept him hydrated. You know, you have to do all those good practices when you have a high fever, hydration. You don't want them listless and especially like very small babies, you have to be very concerned if it's a high fever. But this was a toddler he was a big kid, and he had lots of water in them. And so I just watched him for a day, a day and a half. Honestly, I was super stressed because this is my first time trying something like a high fever without using something like acetaminophen. But he did great. And he got on the other side of it better, strong and you know, developed kind of everything his body needed to do to overcome that illness. And that's really what homeopathy is, for my family's it. It's like an educator teaches our body how to respond appropriately to illness without needing all those chemical interventions. So I'm not sure if that helps. But as a mom, that's kind of how I translated what she was talking about.

Natalie Gross 22:37
Yeah, absolutely. That's so helpful. And that kind of gets into my very next question. I was going to ask you moms, what are some of your favorite natural healing or homeopathic remedies that you've used? And any success stories that you want to share? So Paula, that's great. Octavia or Rebekah, do you want to share?

Octavia Cross 22:53
I'll go ahead and go I mean, I've been learning a lot as I've been listening. But one of my go twos is definitely essential oils, I was able to learn about them from a few moms. You know, being a first time mom at the time, I was really leaning on my community on my support networks on how they were dealing with certain sicknesses and illnesses because I knew I didn't want to give my son traditional medicine so when I came across essential oils, it sounded like something that was worth a try. When diluted, it's very safe depending on you know, the oil you do have to do your research on each each oil and where it's safe to apply and and how much but once I learned about that, I started using them on myself first and then on my son to cure different things like when he would get common colds or just other discomforts, and we've never had a problem with it.

Paola Brown 23:56
So I want to jump in and just do a clarification. And I think this is something that's really common with parents and moms. Homeopathy is often thought of as being like synonymous with all natural medicines. Like Octavia was talking about essential oils. I love essential oils. I have a whole stash of them. I don't know how many of you have Octavia I have like, I don't know, like 100 of a lot of them. Well, maybe not that much. But, um, and they're awesome. And they're so wonderful, but they're not actually homeopathic medicines. So that's definitely something that I want to clarify, um, homeopathy is kind of like saying, you know, we would never say acupuncture is essential oils, and we would never say, you know, acupuncture is herbalism um, they're all kind of their own thing under the big umbrella of natural medicine. Homeopathy is its own distinctive thing that stands alone. And you know, like, I think that's why it has such an amazing safety profile, is because it's so unique and dire and it's incredibly dilute like I've seen people use natural medicines, not enough To say the essential oils, but different natural medicines, and they've taken too much of it or, and they've caused problems. But um, because homeopathy is so incredibly dilute, and it's manufacturing processes overseen by the FDA, it's very, very safe, you can't like overdose on it or anything like that, because of that manufacturing process, they put the medicine on these little white pellets that are about the size of like BB guns, maybe, maybe gun pellets, or, you know, um, they have different sizes. But that's, that is what homeopathy is. And you can find that at like a natural health store, like Whole Foods. And they'll have a case of them where they sell the individual remedies. Or sometimes they'll sell you like a, like a bottle that's like cold calm, where they've put a few homeopathic remedies onto the tablets in there, so....

Ioana Razi 25:45
I want to add one more thing, if you get the, if you choose the right remedy, there's so minimal, the sub minimum for the symptoms of the patient, it will work. If you don't, it simply doesn't work. Also, it just doesn't work it so they but it doesn't do anything wrong, it just doesn't work. And the other thing is, is that kids get into stuff. And kids can swallow take the entire tube of something. And I mean, if it if they're sick, and it's their correct remedy, it will work. But if it doesn't work, it's not going to hurt them in any form. There's not any way you can poison yourself with the contents of these tubes and the pellets tastes really good. And so it's a good idea to not keep them in children's reach, not because it's going to harm them. But because you won't have them when you need them.

Natalie Gross 26:42
Okay, let me I just want to jump in and say, yeah, thank you so much for the clarification about essential oils. But I do think that you know, that's essential oils is definitely something a lot of people have heard of and can relate to. So thank you, Octavia, for for mentioning that as well. Because that, you know, it's one of the more like natural leaning or natural healing remedies. Definitely something that I think is important to bring up in this discussion. Rebekah, did you have anything to add?

Rebekah Landowski 27:06
Yeah, I was just as I hopped back on with my baby, that the tablets that Paola was talking about, that's what I took as a kid. And it's so encouraging, and non worrying to know as a mom of five like, I don't have to worry about my kids getting into those if they take too many. Whereas like with Tylenol or ibuprofen, all of those things, you really have to be careful of what they're taking. And make sure to keep them out of their way to be able to have those and not have to worry about them. Taking too many is great.

Natalie Gross 27:37
Well, we kind of already started talking about this with Dr. Razi. But I know homeopathy homeopathy can be a bit controversial, especially in the US though I know it's more commonly used and very popular in other countries. So how do you as a pediatrician, Dr. Razi, how do you address parents? Or even medical colleagues, you know, questions along these lines?

Ioana Razi 27:55
So I try to I mean, I educate my parents. And I want them to read there's a book that everybody has their favorite book. My favorite book is a book by Dr. Maesimund Panos. P-A-N-O-S, called "Homeopathic Medicine at Home" that she wrote in conjunction with Jane Heimlich, who actually is the person who figured out the Heimlich maneuver. And it's just a it's a little, it's a handbook. But it has the history of homeopathy. And then it has the 50 top homeopathic remedies and how to use them in in the home setting, injuries, accidents, colds, flus, earaches, you know, gi problems, menstrual problems. And so I try to have my families have this book or similar one, so that they themselves are educated with my colleagues, I have to say, with my medical colleagues, I have to say I'm amazed at how uninterested they are, even when they're very happy to cross cover by patients because they are tend to be very healthy and do well and have a good common sense approach to when when there's illness. But they never really are interested in knowing why I'm using the word never. Maybe it's not never never but very rare interest. I think it's like so different conceptually. That it's hard to believe that it could be anything but placebo. And then they don't want to go there. I'm respected as a physician in my community. And I do try to educate my colleagues about homeopathy. But there really is very little interest at a at a at a professional level.

Natalie Gross 29:53
Well, you know, moms have you run into any pushback from family or friends with using some of these like natural healing or homeopathic remedies and how did you handle that?

Paola Brown 30:03
I find that there is a mentality today in the term, you know, trust the science and kind of these big these big ideas out there about what is and what isn't. Ultimately, for me what I tell people, when they have their doubts about homeopathy, you know, if they're really resistant, like don't use it, you can just keep taking your, your antibiotics, your, you know, your antipyretics all of you can take all those chemicals, it's totally up to you, and I support you do what you think is right for you. But, you know, for me, I'm a busy busy mom, I run a small business, I run a nonprofit, I run another small business, I volunteer at my church, I homeschool, I have a homestead, we milk a cow, I do not have time, for something that doesn't work. And something that doesn't work quickly and effectively. I don't have time for it. And, and it's incredibly safe. You know, I just have so many stories of a family members. I mean, once I was outside working on some farm equipment, I cut my hand on some metal. And in very short order, I had a little bit of blood poisoning a red line going up my hand, I'm very intolerant to antibiotics, my doctors have said I need to avoid at all costs. And so I worked with my homeopath. And by the next morning, that red line was completely gone. You know, homeopathy is very powerful medicine. And so that's kind of what I tell people when when they have their doubts or their controversy, I'm like, Look, if you're really interested, just know that when the correct remedy is selected, it will act and it will work. I guess I reached the point of just not being willing to take the antibiotics anymore, and to kind of march to the beat of the conventional drum, you know, because I saw the damage that it did to my life and my family's life. And so I just tell people, you know, give it a chance, give it the same amount of opportunities you would give your doctor if I went to my doctor, and he gave me like an antibiotic and it didn't work, I go back for another one. And then if that didn't work, I'd probably go back a few more times, you know, give homeopathy the same chance that you give conventional medicine and work with someone if it's totally new, you know, find a homeopath like Dr. Ioana Razi, and give it a chance. But for me, ultimately, I don't have time to waste on something that does not work or something that's dangerous, quite honestly. Because if when you're using something that's killing off your gut bacteria, giving you more, you know, over over time, more problems that that takes time away from you. And I'm just I'm just so thankful for homeopathy. And you know, the many, many times it's helped me and my family, like I said, avoid conventional medicine, you know, for 10 years. Now, of course, there's a time and a place for conventional medicine. I'm very willing to go and get an antibiotic or whatever we need to do, if that day comes, but I just haven't needed to. And that's wonderful. That's very empowering and great for health. So yeah, that that that means a lot to me, as a mom.

Ioana Razi 32:52
I love your voice, Paola, it's so strong. And I'm so glad that you're not a physician. Because you can have, you know, you're doing what you're free to do within your home, and you're doing it well, and you're also helping the world to know, you know, your your, your, your immediate world, and a larger world just to know what it's like what's like within your family. And of course, it's like that within my practice. I couldn't agree with you more.

Natalie Gross 33:25
Rebekah and Octavia, anything to add there. I mean, Octavia. If we go back to essential oils, I know I've even heard controversy among them or you know, people just kind of discarding them because they think they don't work. So have you kind of run into any of that pushback.

Octavia Cross 33:38
I've been I've run across people, when they come visit us, they're a little shocked that our medicine cabinet doesn't have any medicine. So I get you know, secondhand pushback, especially my husband's side of the family, they are a little curious as to what I'm doing, since we're not treating his ailments in traditional ways, but it's worked for us. So that's the most important thing, but I will say it is important, especially with dealing with essential oils, because they can be dangerous if, if you don't know like how to dilute it and which ones are hot oils and things of that nature. And I did have you know a slight issue where I took a certain oil and I didn't realize that where it was in my pregnancy that wasn't the right type of oil for me, but I quickly saw my essential oil references and other people that kind of helped me with essential oils to kind of correct the issue. So it is important that you stay educated and that you do your research before using any essential oils because they they can be dangerous if not used properly.

Rebekah Landowski 34:50
I actually haven't had much pushback from immediate family and friends because a lot of them are also on this adventure into homeopathy and In the natural care, so it's kind of nice to actually have a support system instead of the opposite way that a lot do. But it is difficult to find, like a doctor or care provider if we need something a little bit more than what we have at home. Because that is something lacking here in Wisconsin, at least in my area of Wisconsin. So I don't know if Dr. Razi can maybe answer like, what what do we look for? If we go if we have to find a care provider.

Ioana Razi 35:28
I think you look for somebody with a good reputation. And maybe there will be an openness to something alternative, and maybe not, and if there isn't, you can continue to do what you're doing. And use use that your your doctor for the things that he or she knows, and not try to convince them of something that they have no interest for. But you know, use them for the fact that there is there are things that they can provide for you, that you may not be able to do yourself.

Natalie Gross 35:58
Is there a website or something where I don't know a registry for lack of a better word, or a list of homeopaths, where, you know, moms like Rebekah might be able to go look for, you know, resources.

Ioana Razi 36:10
There are too, that I know of, and Paola may know more. There's a website that's called that's for the American Institute of Homeopathy. It's the oldest doctor organization in the states more older than the American Medical Association, and there is a listing of homeopathic physicians there. And there's something called the National Center for Homeopathy, which is, it is not a physician-based organization, but it's a homeopathic organization, with homeopaths that aren't all MDs, but they're all very well trained. And there's a good list of homeopaths that they have. I don't know people that are there other lists that I don't know about.

Paola Brown 36:55
I have a website, https://paolabrown.com/homeo. I've actually collected all of the databases and put them together on that URL so that people can look because different databases will have like she was just saying the ah, the American history of homeopathy, the lists, specifically doctors and nurse practitioners. But um, there are professional homeopaths just like there's, you know, different kinds of therapists out there, acupuncturist or whatever, for example, so, if you go to that website, paler, brown.com, forward slash homey, you can select different directories. What's so great about homeopathy is a lot of homeopaths do actually work remote. So Rebecca, you know, if you aren't, if you can't find a physician who's local to you, that's kind of like Dr. Ioana Razi is kind of a unicorn, in that sense that she's a pediatrician. And, you know, it would be amazing to be able to just drive over there and have her help you. But especially, you know, in this modern times, a lot of the homeopaths, especially the ones that are therapists, you know, like, you know, exceptionally trained, um, they will meet with you over Skype or Zoom. And so what we do is we have a local doctor, he's awesome, He's amazing. He's not very natural. But I think we have a very clear understanding that I'm the mother, He is the doctor, we work together, I do what I think is best. He's, you know, and he gives me his honest recommendations. And then we sorted out but there's no pressuring, there's no bullying on both sides. Because I know people that will pressure their doctors, I want an antibiotic, or whatever it is, and their doctor doesn't honestly think that's what they need, you know. So we have a really good working relationship. And so I'm very thankful for that. Sometimes I need to go to, you know, take my kids to the doctor to get more information from my doctor. And then I'll bring that information to my homeopath as we're trying to deal with something, you know, that I haven't been able to sort out at home. On my own with my knowledge of homeopathy, I like to joke that I'm a mommy Oh, path, a mom that your mom, you'll pass. I know a lot, and I can do a lot. But I do have my limitations. And that's when I will go to my homeopath. My son, like recently got this really weird rash after swimming in our creek outback. And, like, spread like crazy all over his legs. And then he's this big, you know, six, two kid, he's 14 now. So we were working with my homeopathic, this rash was getting ugly. And so I did, I took them to my doctor, because I was worried as a serious, you know, what do we have? And my doctor was basically like, yeah, it's ugly as sin, but it is not serious. You know, and that's what I needed to know. And then I was able to go back to my homeopath. And then within a couple of days, we finally nailed on the right remedy. And then it just cleared up beautifully. And we didn't have to do steroids. We didn't have to do antibiotics. And so, you know, I've been able to kind of work a balance between a local doctor who's very respectful of me as a mother and my intuition and vice versa. Right. And I have a homeopath that I work with, over the internet.

Natalie Gross 39:51
Yeah, that's really great. And that kind of goes to our earlier question about how, you know, traditional medicine or medical doctors can work, you know, kind of in concert with homeopathy. Any last comments from anyone before we wrap up?

Ioana Razi 40:03
I think that for Octavia, I'd love her to go to a natural food store and look for those blue tubes. And just choose one or two. Maybe one, there's one that's called Arnica Montana that we use a lot for injury and bruising. And to use it just to see what it is that it's very just to actually touch. What these remedies are. Because I have a feeling she hasn't touched that yet.

Octavia Cross 40:33
Yes, yes. You're so right. And as I've been listening, I mean, I'm appreciative for this podcast episode, because I've already been taking so many notes. I've already been googling. I've already been seeing the blue tubes. I'm already ready. Like, you know, as soon as I get off here to start and see and because I love having more options, because I definitely am a firm believer of seeking natural remedies, whether it be food or oils. And now I have another tool in my toolbox.

Paola Brown 41:06
That's right. I would love to close with just one quick story and I know Rebekah, you you know Arnica. Arnica is like the first like, it's like the gateway into homeopathy. It's the first remedy and it's primarily for bruising, you know, bumps, bruises, bumps to the head, you know, and so parents, you know, get a lot of exposure that but I have this awesome story where, you know, I live in Texas and a lot of my friends I'm not one of them. But a lot of my friends love doing the mommy makeover surgery, you know, and, and it's, it's a Texas thing, ladies, it's I'm not into it, but it's a totally a Texas thing. And I'm also from Brazil, the Brazilian thing too, so I just I kind of laugh, but my friend came to me, she's like, look, I'm gonna have this surgery. Do you have something that I can take? And I was like, Yeah, you should take Arnica after the surgery because it's great for bruising. And there's other remedies, too. But that one was the main one that I told her to take. And so she after the surgery, she took it and the doctor was like, Look, you're going to have to have an in home care for a week, you won't be able to drive your car, you're going to be an eggplant from you know, like your shoulders down to your knees. And it's going to be very painful. So my friend took this Arnica remedy. I mean, just to show you how powerful it is. She took the simple little remedy that you can get at Whole Foods. And she took it and she only had to take like extra strength Tylenol for two days. And then in her two week follow up, that's when they they unwrap her for the first time and like reveal the new mommy makeover. And, and so they're unwrapping her, and she's like Paola, there wasn't even a dime size bruise on my body. The doctors job fell to the floor. He brought in two other doctors and three nurse practitioners because everybody wanted to see like this woman had no bruising. And they're like, What have you done. And what's interesting is Arnica is actually very popular among plastic surgeons because it helps people recover so well. Now you know, plastic surgery isn't something that all of us are necessarily going to do especially in the natural health world, you know, but think about the implications this can have for actual injuries or situations that you can um, you you hit your head bump, bruise, you know, hurt yourself, and so that's just a great remedy. Octavia, you go forth girl, get your Arnica. Have it ready because the day will come where you're gonna need it for that bruising, so.....

Natalie Gross 43:23
Awesome. Well, thanks, Paola. Thank you, Rebekah, and Octavia, our moms and of course, our expert, Dr. Razi, who joined us for this episode today. So everyone, be sure to check out https://newmommymedia.com where we have all of our podcast episodes, plus videos and more.

Natalie Gross 43:50
That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to Newbies. Don't forget to check out our sister shows Preggie Pals for expecting parents, Parent Savers for moms and dads with toddlers. The Boob Group for moms who get breast milk to their babies, and Twin Talks are parents of multiples. Thanks for listening to Newbies- your go-to source for new moms and new babies.

Disclaimer 44:14
This has been a New Mommy Media production. The information and material contained in this episode I presented for educational purposes early statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of new mommy media, and should not be considered facts. While such information and materials are believed to be accurate. It is not intended to replace or substitute for professional medical advice or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating healthcare problem or disease or prescribing any medication. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health, or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.