Let there be no confusion: I’m not saying you should never go to a pediatrician. However, I am saying that you might be quite surprised at how much mothering is based more on common sense than what many people imagine.
There’s liberty, there’s freedom in knowing how to take care of your own children without outsourcing. Consequently, it’s useful for a mother to know when it’s important to get external help and when it is not.
Recently, I posted a Mighty Musing (a brief instructive video) for my Mighty Members discussing the opinion of noted pediatrician, Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn, regarding well-baby visits. Like Dr. Mendelsohn, I believe going to the pediatrician to determine how much your child weighs compared to other children is trivial and unnecessary.
Mom, get on the scale with the baby, then get on the scale without the baby and subtract. That's how you know how much your baby weighs. Does it matter what other babies weigh? I think not. Trying to find out whether or not your baby falls within a specific range sets you up to compare your child to others forevermore … on so many levels.
Every baby is unique, no matter how many charts the pediatrician uses to compare.
If your baby is grossly underweight, you will know. And trust me, if you don’t notice it, your mother will! Your sister-in-law will. Your aunts will.
Similarly, if your baby’s overweight, you will know.
Paying for someone else’s opinion of your baby’s weight puts you in a position of devaluing your own ability to properly mother. That’s number one.
Number two is that the doctor and his team generally feel they ought to be doing something when you come in for a well-baby check. It's so trivial to them that they feel like, “Well, let's take a look in the baby’s ears. Let's look at this. Let's check out that. If we keep poking around and looking, surely, there will be something to treat. Then we can insist on administering something.”
As Dr. Mendelsohn says, “The hazard of these examinations [well-baby visits] is the proclivity of doctors — a heritage of medical school — to discover illness where none exists.”
It's inevitable. If you look hard enough, something will be found that can be treated — in essence, something you wouldn’t have noticed otherwise, something you’re probably not supposed to notice. It might have just been a momentary little blip.
For example, if the baby has a little cradle cap, the doctor will most likely not be able to hold back from saying, “Oh, here. Let's use this steroid cream.”
Now, your baby’s pristine system has been placed aboard the never-ending medical conveyor belt. Drugs … side effects … more drugs … more side effects … lather, rinse, repeat.
Moms who avoid the pediatrician’s office — moms with health care autonomy — would see the cradle cap at home. Her mother might advise, “Oh, honey, just put some olive oil on that, wait and let it soften a little bit, and then you use this comb to clean it up.
Relinquishing health care power and autonomy strips the mother of her innate ability to handle her own child and to own motherhood fully.
“Mother Nature, mothers, grandmothers — yes, even fathers and grandfathers — are the best doctors around, because they do not share the typical doctor’s compulsion to interfere with the body’s efforts and ability to heal itself,” says Dr. Mendelsohn.
Most things should go untreated.
To my way of thinking, it behooves us to stay out of the hands of people who simply want to treat. We don’t want to treat. We just want to live our lives. Indeed, most things should go untreated. Often, childhood illnesses are just the way the cookie crumbles. They’re supposed to happen. That’s how children build immunity.
Look, you need to get to a doctor when your child has a laceration that is bigger than life or a broken bone. It’s generally injuries that are most dangerous for children, not common childhood illnesses. Childhood illnesses are just a natural part of life.
Don’t believe me? Our authoritative pediatrician, Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn, says, “At least 95 percent of the ailments that children are prey to will heal themselves and do not require medical attention.”
Indeed, unnecessary medical interventions can often lead to unnecessary iatrogenic illnesses that are decidedly not a natural part of life. I discuss my traumatizing yet transformative experience in a pediatrician’s office in Podcast 17 — Homeopathy Can Help Mothers Care for Their Children – New (and Not So New) to Homeopathy Part l.
Perhaps an attitude adjustment is more necessary than a pediatrician’s visit.
Coping with childhood illnesses is more about the mother’s attitude. Now, fretting over the first child is understandable. The mother’s a little more concerned because she hasn’t had experience … yet.
That’s why I say if you're going to have one baby, you might as well have six because by the time you have the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth and the sixth, it’s easier to develop that laissez-faire attitude.
It's like that old joke: When the firstborn child drops their pacifier on the ground, Mom takes it home and boils it. When the second child drops their pacifier, Mom rinses it off in the sink. By the third child, Mom just picks it up and sticks it back in the child’s mouth.
These days, I think they’re calling it “free-range parenting.” It’s not neglect; it’s fostering independence.
The takeaway in all this can be reduced to a single quote from Dr. Mendelsohn, “… my advice to parents, based on long observation of the behavior of other doctors, and my own experience in treating thousands of children, is ‘Avoid your doctor whenever you can.’ ”
Replace the routine pediatrician’s visit with Practical Homeopathy®.
Colds or Flu? Fever? Otitis media (swimmer's ear and ear infections)? Bumps and bruises? Minor sprains and pains?
Practical Homeopathy® has got you covered. All you have to do is learn which homeopathic medicine(s) to consider and understand case management.
My blogs and podcasts contain a wealth of information on simple childhood issues — for free. I give this information away because I want you and your child to thrive.
If your family’s issues are more complex, then it’s time to consider joining a Gateway to Homeopathy study group, taking a condition-specific protocol course, or enrolling in my in-depth Academy of Practical Homeopathy®.
So, instead of rushing to the pediatrician for every little blip, you can retain your health care autonomy with Practical Homeopathy®!
Warmly,
P.S. The quotes I’ve referred to from Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn are taken from his brilliant book, “How to Raise a Healthy Child … In Spite of Your Doctor.” I have given away more copies of this book than I can count. It’s a must for every new mother’s library.
Right now, I am reading sections of this book and discussing Dr. Mendelsohn’s philosophy with my Mighty Members. These Mighty Musings videos* are a rare opportunity to combine a renowned pediatrician’s insider knowledge with my experience as a practicing homeopath and, most importantly, as a mother of three.
Are you with us? If not, become a Mighty Member today and benefit from all my future educational videos and Memos (as well as everything from the past in the searchable archives). What better investment can one make for only a few dollars a month? The knowledge is invaluable and learning how to apply that knowledge is priceless.
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