Top 8 Reasons Chinese Medicine is the Right Medicine for your Kids

Got Kids? 

Every week, we hear from parents seeking solutions to their children’s health concerns. Here’s what we hear from them: 

• They want to solve their kids’ problems without drugs: They’re tired of seeing the doctor and leaving with prescriptions that don’t address the root cause of the problem.
• They feel frustrated with their options with Western Medicine and want a more holistic approach. 
• They want treatment for their kids that understands how their minds and body are connected. 

See yourself in this picture? At Six Fishes, we love treating kids of all ages. We have so much to offer, including no-needle treatments! 

In our practice, we treat every stage of development: babies – including newborns all the way through teens. And since Chinese Herbs are our superpower, we have herb formulas specially formulated for children. After all, they’re not mini-adults. 

East Asian Pediatric medicine is a specialty with its own rules that honor the stages of a child’s development – helping them be their best selves. Kids are snottier, more prone to fevers, belly aches, and are more emotional than adults. But, we have time-tested, safe methods to navigate the health of young ones.

First things first: we build rapport and trust. As soon as they are old enough to engage with us, our conversation is with them. 

For little ones, their energy is easily accessible; we get amazing results using only massage and even tickling the skin with a fork (we have special tools, but we’ll teach you what to do at home to follow up). We can rely on so many other tools too such as; herbs, cupping, gua sha, and magnets.

If we need to use needles, it’s literally as thin as hair, and it’s in and out before they even know what happened. If they’re scared, we can treat their teddy bear first. Then, when their teddy feels better, they’re usually ready. But guess what? By the time kids are 6 or 7 years old, they LOVE acupuncture! 

When they’re old enough we put them in charge of taking their herbs and reminding their parents to give them to them. We also use cupping and gua sha. Finally, we’ll put magnets on them to give them a “treatment to go” to help solidify the effects.

For older kids, we ask their consent first. We do ask them to try one single hair-thin needle. They realize it’s no biggie, and then we continue the treatment. And if they aren’t ready for acupuncture, we don’t push it. We’re laying a foundation for a lifetime. So we take it step-by-step. 

We’ve made a list of the top 10 reasons we treat kids at Six Fishes

1. Upper Respiratory Problems: Asthma, allergies, congestion, coughs, and ear infections. Parents are tired of loading their kids up with antibiotics and steroids. Most of the time, we can help them avoid those treatments, and when we can’t, acupuncture and herbs help to bring their bodies back into balance. 
2. Boosting Immunity: Never before have we been more concerned about keeping kids as robust as possible. School- always a source of germs, is now a minefield with the Delta variant. Of course, our top concern is prevention, but we’ve seen numerous children who have contracted COVID, and we work hard to help shorten its course. We’ve created a FREE guidebook with our favorite supplements to help your kids stay robust this winter.
3. Soothes Belly Aches: Digestive problems impact children of all ages: newborns through teens. We treat a wide range of disorders: stomach cramps, nausea, loose stool, constipation, even reflux. Acupuncture, acupressure, and herbs are powerful medicine. But even better: so often, kids express their feelings in their bodies. Maybe they can’t find the words to explain that they are angry, anxious, depressed. So instead- they get a belly ache. Chinese medicine is a holistic system, and when we treat the body, we’re treating the emotions. All in one! 
4. Stops pain. Kids, like adults, can suffer from pain. Ranging from headaches and migraines to sports injuries. Some kids have fibromyalgia or autoimmune diseases that cause pain. Kids and parents want safe, drug-free solutions to manage pain. 
5. Reduces Stress and Anxiety. While we’ve always treated kids and grown-ups for anxiety, never have we encountered more suffering than during this pandemic. In the past, where kids were overwhelmed from being overcommitted, the social isolation of last year made life really tough on families. Kids are anxious, depressed, oppositional. But, even simply having difficulty focusing can be helped. Acupuncture is powerful medicine for calming the spirit. 
6. Nurtures heart-connectedness in children. Kids, like adults, have lives structured on external performance during school and sports. There’s lots of good here; teamwork, self-discipline, hard work, and goal-setting. But rather than being goal-oriented, Chinese medicine helps children positively connect with their bodies. This helps set the stage later to find healthy responses to stressful situations. All of us, kids included, need slower, unstructured time. When we forget how acupuncture is a gentle prompt to make space. 
7. Smoothes out periods: Not every teen can fall into a smooth rhythm with their period. Lots of them get cramps too. Many are put on the pill to regulate menses. And given NSAIDs for cramps. We feel the pill is frequently misguided. Gentle treatment over a few months is enough to regulate cycles, naturally. Herbs, acupuncture, and acupressure are effective for most cramps. 
8. Clears skin: all those changing hormones can cause terrible outbreaks. Using herbs and diet modifications, we can help clear skin without medication. So many children of all ages get eczema. We often see this paired with asthma, and we treat both together. Even the painful cystic acne that transgender kids using testosterone can develop can be helped! 

Little Fishes Formulas

We use a suite of really effective formulas at our practice called “Little Fishes Formulas,” created by Six Fishes founder Cara Frank. 

• Ear Clear
• Nose Clear
• Fever Clear
• Cough Cooler
• Wheeze Ease
• Easy Exhale
• Pulmasooth

We’d love to work with your family. Even on telehealth! If you’re curious to learn how we can help, call and set up a free 15-minute consultation to make sure we’re a good fit.