Being self-reliant for health means you don’t have to rush your family off to the doctor at the first sign of illness because you are capable of handling most things at home.

It seems that more and more mothers are becoming aware of earthly remedies as a way to comfort their children and improve personal health. The media likes to put a negative spin on the practice of mothers opting for ancient healing methods that are not “backed by science.”

As a mother myself AND a healthcare professional, I want the best for my family’s health. I have the benefit of seeing both routes of healing in action very closely and 90% of the time, I chose home remedies over anything conventional. I will explain why later in this post.

My aim in writing about the benefits of using natural remedies is not to deter you from using a conventional doctor. But merely to show that both ways of healing can be used in symphony with one another to get the best outcome for our families.

I hope reading this will inspire you if you have not yet stepped into the world of natural healing. Mother Nature has powerful tools available for everyone to use and you can start benefiting from remedies even if you are a complete beginner.

We earn commissions through our links. Please read the full disclosure for more info. Please keep in mind that this post consists of my opinion and personal story. The contents of this post should in no way be taken as medical advice. The intention is to give perspective. Please consult a trusted physician for any personal or family health concerns.

My Story: from critical care nurse to natural health advocate

As a child, I was raised on natural remedies. I remember my mother put garlic drops in our ears when we had infections. Ear infections were painful to me and I remember crying to her for the “bubble-gum” medicine because it seemed to work faster than the garlic drops.

It must have taken so much grit on her part to stand strong and protect my microbiome. Sometimes I would get the bubble-gum medicine, amoxicillin, but most of the time, she handled things using natural remedies.

It took about 3 days for an ear infection to clear up using garlic drops. It took 24 hours to start “feeling better” with bubble gum medicine.

This knowledge of ancient healing methods was passed down to my mother from my grandmother. It is rooted in my family history.

I became a nurse for two reasons: because I like science and I like people. The 18 year-old version of myself tried to choose a “career” that incorporated these two interests into my professional life. Nursing fit the bill.

After 10 years in all sorts of clinical areas, I clearly see how conventional medicine, in all its peer-reviewed double-blind glory, is still failing to educate the people on what it takes to restore health.

Your health is Your problem

Personal responsibility is needed to have optimal health. I see this time and time again when people go to the doctor and find out their blood pressure is high. They are prescribed a pill and go on to eat sodium-packed fast food after their appointment.

We have plenty of pills that solve many singular problems but cause gobs of other ones. There is not a magic pill a doctor can prescribe that will restore health once it is lost. It takes calculated and intentional maintenance to stay healthy throughout the years.

Let me use an example:

When you go buy a new car, it’s shiny. It runs perfectly. It feels great to be inside.

But after a few hundred miles, the outside has some remnants of dead bugs, there is dust on the console, and you know it’s time to get a detail.

The same goes for a new baby. We are all born into this world with cells that turnover faster than they ever will. Given we aren’t born with any genetic predispositions, we are usually without joint pain, excess fat cells, or blemishes on our skin.

The miles we put on our body can and will turn into chronic, life-changing problems if we don’t keep up with our own maintenance.

If anyone thinks for one second, that a vaccine, manufactured by a long list of imperfect humans, can truly protect against world disease the way our God-breathed immune system does all the time but goes unnoticed, we are fooling ourselves. We don’t even realize we have a viral infection when our immune system is fighting it properly.

The debate on vaccines is exactly what the devil wants, to distract us from the solution to a problem.

What if instead of a longer list of more required vaccines, doctors told you that supplementing your body with vitamin A is imperative during an acute illness such as the measles?

What if they gave you the exact instructions on how to provide a superior nutrition load that boosts the immune system so your own body can defeat a viral infection swiftly? You can go on to have lifelong immunity and never need a booster shot.

What if they explained the importance of getting outside in the sunshine, growing your own garden, and avoiding processed food/sugar like the plague and offered practical tips to make this more possible?

The reason some foods are labeled as empty calories is because they do not provide the vital nutrients that fuel proper cell function, yet you feel full and stop eating.

One of the reasons we aren’t getting this information at our well baby checkups is because there is no money in it. There are no kickbacks, not even a pat-on-the-back.

Every mother should clearly understand that the medical industry is indeed a business and spinach doesn’t pay for medical school loans.

This is just the world we live in and it is up to us to find the resources to supplement our knowledge when your well baby visit is less than helpful.

In my 10 years as a registered nurse I have witnessed side effects that are much worse than the problem the patient originally started with.

We need medicine, but we also need to learn how to keep ourselves healthy in the first place so we can avoid the crisis all together.

What modern medicine does well

Now that we have that rant out of the way, I recognize that there are health-related situations that will arise and be completely outside of our control. No natural remedy will be powerful enough to restore health.

If my car got hit by a drunk driver you can be sure I won’t be rubbing my wounds with essential oils.

We are very lucky to be living in a day and age where the diagnostic technologies are so advanced. We can scan for cancers, draw blood for inflammation, and even test stool to evaluate if the microbiome is pathologic in nature.

We can literally restart a heart with the help of intelligent doctors, hard-working nurses, and powerful medicines.

Practically speaking, if I am ever unsure of the root cause of a symptom, I immediately see a doctor and go through the process of trying to get the right diagnosis.

There has only been one instance in my mothering journey thus far where I need a diagnosis and let me tell you, it was scary.

The story where medicine failed me and thus began my questioning of the “best practices” in our medical system

One afternoon my son woke up from a nap and his arms and legs were mottled. His lips and nose were blue. His hands were twitching and he had a blank stare in his eyes.

I knew immediately that he was having another seizure. This would be the 4th time this happened in the past 5 months and it was by far the worst.

I took him to the ER but by the time we got there, he was his normal sweet pink self. I had given him an orange slice to suck on as soon as I recognized the symptoms to supplement his brain with extra sugar.

My son started have seizures after he received the flu vaccine at 7 months old.

I am boldly saying that on the internet for the world to read.

MY SON HAD A VACCINE REACTION.

I am a nurse who has been giving people medicine for the past 10 years yet in this case, medicine made my son unwell.

After seeing the ER physician, my pediatrician, and a cardiologist to ensure there wasn’t something structural causing a blood shunt, I left without any official answers.

I came to the conclusion on my own that my son was having a vaccine reaction and I started the process of helping his body gently remove the heavy metals that were injected into his bloodstream. There is already a high dose of adjuvents in vaccines and the recommended childhood schedule gets increasingly aggressive.

Until the first seizure, we followed the schedule as recommended by our pediatrician.

If you are wondering if my vaccine detox worked, I am happy to report that I haven’t seen a seizure in my son since he was 13 months old.

If you are a reporter reading this post looking for a source for a story, no scientific evidence or subject matter expert will undermine my personal experience. I clearly saw my son begin to seize after he received the flu vaccine.

He stopped only after I started aggressively supporting his body with nutrition and using a homeopathic detox protocol.

Maybe my story won’t resonate with everyone, especially since we have been programed to fear viral infections and believe that vaccines are the only way to protect ourselves.

Personally, I have seen the powerful healing potential of natural remedies.

Any and all medications made by man, in a lab, should be evaluated for risk, individually. We, mothers and fathers, are tasked with this decision on what is medically right for our child and no governing body should ever be allowed to take that from us.

And yes, our children are currently at more risk to develop an autoimmune disease later in life or devastating neurologic disorder from a vaccine, than long-lasting morbidity or death from world disease thanks to innovation in sewage removal. (source)

Perhaps a solution to the vaccine reaction problem is that each child  receive genetic screening to rule out if they are more susceptible to reactions.

Perhaps more families look at the ingredients inside a vaccine package insert, research them fully, and choose to only receive a vaccine against a disease they are sure to come into contact with that their body cannot defeat on its own with the proper support.

For example, in many countries, it is common to vaccinate a 12-hour-old baby for hepatitis B, a disease that is only possible to contract if the baby’s mucus membranes have direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected individual. If mom and dad are tested and don’t have hep B, is it really necessary that a 12-hour-old infant, one who has plenty of access to health care be vaccinated right away?

This is something for parents to consider since the hep B vaccine contains 500 mcg of amorphous aluminum hydroxyphosphate sulfate and the daily recommended dose is no more than 4-5 mcg/kg/day. (1,2)

Infants weight about 8 pounds when they are born. Divided that by 2.2 for kg and multiplied by 5 mcg for the daily dose. Infants should be exposed to no more than 18 mcg of aluminum daily according to the CDC. That is a far cry from the dose in one vaccine and most of our kids get 4 shots and one oral dose per “well-baby” visit.

If you are a person of lower income who does not have the means to properly support the body nutritionally, then a vaccine for a disease you are seriously concerned of contracting is the safer choice because it is within your scope of reach.

Does this story I have shared with you mean that I will only use home remedies for every problem I encounter as a mom? Of course not. Does it mean I will avoid vaccines forever? That is too be determined as I continuously assess our personal risk.

I am not so arrogant to think I know how to handle everything on my own, nor do I want to. But I know it is important for me to make well informed choices on behalf of my son who cannot make them for himself.

I will consider all risks when it comes to any medication I put in his body including Tylenol.

I have personally chose to raise my family as holistically as possible and to protect their health by using medicine intelligently, minimally, and not as a quick fix.

The Benefits of using Home Remedies

Now we finally get to the purpose of this article. What are the benefits of becoming knowledgeable about home remedies and where do you start?

You do not need to be a forager to enjoy the power of herbs. You don’t need to be a homeopath or aromatherapists to enjoy the healing potential of homeopathy and essential oils.

You just have to want other options and have a few good books handy.

I like using homeopathy above other forms of alternative medicine because I have seen it work quickly for a variety of problems I have encountered as a mom.

Here are some of the books I reference all the time.

1. Less down time

One of the major benefits of living a natural lifestyle is less sick days. People who are more likely to lean toward natural remedies are also more likely to be intentional in other areas of their life as well.

Caring about things such as proper diet, sleep, and keeping stress low are habits that result in a body more equipped to deal with infections.

Our family doesn’t get sick very often and when we do, it passes quickly thanks to an already strong body, bone broth, homeopathy, and proper rest.

2. No waiting around miserable at a doctor’s office

Because you can manage symptoms and support the immune system at home, there is less need to waste time at a doctor’s office that would be better spent in bed sleeping and hydrating.

3. No fear of public places

Not only do I not fear public places, I welcome them. The more diverse a microscopic ecosystem a child gets exposed to, the stronger his body will be long-term. When we do have to fly on a plane or be in close quarters with a lot of people, we simply increase our superfood intake, like cod liver oil.

4. No side effects

It is very rare that a natural remedy will cause unpleasant side effects because they work with the body instead of suppressing it.

Tylenol does indeed reduce a fever and makes you feel better, but it also depletes glutathione, one of the most important antioxidants in your body. (source) You don’t want to be low on glutathione when you have massive inflammation occurring in your body as you do when infection is present.

If you ever wonder why it seems like some families are always sick it could be because with every illness and bottle of pink goop, the body is getting weaker and can’t withstand the next encounter with a virus.

5. Provides a solution instead of a bandaide

If you take stool softeners when you are constipated, you may poop but then become constipated again when you stop taking them. Your body can become reliant on stool softeners you see, it happens all the time in the elderly.

Instead if you take a closer look at your diet, water intake, or even go as far as to see if you have overgrowth of the wrong bacteria or yeast in your intestines through sophisticated lab tests, you may very well poop 3 times a day going forward.

How to get started with home remedies

The first place I started when I began my journey of healing with remedies was to throw away all my over-the-counter meds. I was committed from day one to not rely on them anymore.

It is important to have reference books handy so you can refer to them when you or your child are sick.

You aren’t going to be an expert as soon as you make this choice. It will take years of practice before you won’t need to refere to them!

I chose to start with homeopathy because it is the least expensive and easiest to come by. You can literally go to Whole foods and buy many of the most-used remedies or order a family remedy kit on Amazon.

This blog contains posts on how to use home remedies for fevers, yeast infections, cold symptoms, and tips to stay healthy during flu season.

With so much information at our fingertips, the biggest challenge when it comes to understanding natural remedies is lack of time or practice. I say practice because going forward in this lifestyle often means you rarely get sick!

For every family illness you do encounter, your knowledge and experience will become sharper.

Final thoughts

It has very much occured to me that some of the content on this blog could offend some people or be used by the media against me.

I am sharing my message with one intention…to give one mother the courage to get started and inspired to become the family healer.

If you go to the main page of my blog you will read my mission statement and because of that, I felt this post needed to be shared.

I am a nurse yes, but I am also a mom. I am on this journey right there with you, battling exhaustion, fevers, runny noses, teething pain, the chance of measles, and all kinds of other scary risks that come with wearing your heart on your sleeve and loving a child.

Sometimes I question myself too.

I just know that for every year that goes by that my son doesn’t receive a vaccine, antibiotic, or dose of Tylenol, I am doing his body a service. When he becomes old enough to make his own medical decisions, he can make them. There is nothing wrong with the wait-and-see method when it comes to our children’s health as long as we are supporting their bodies with proper nutrition and sleep.

I hope this post finds you well and helped in some small way because I am really putting myself out there with this one!