Homeopathic Care Of Infants And Children

Renowned pediatrician Dr. Lendon Smith is the guest on this exceptionally irresponsible guide to homeopathic care for children. After a brief opening skit in which the good doctor tells a mother that there are plus and minus sides to vaccinations and that the choice is up to the parent (and then idiotically doesn't say anything else--like maybe noting the difference between the measles and polio), the program shifts to a study group. Here cue card reader Gigi Buffington explains the various homeopathic medicines for ailments such as chickenpox, colds, colic, coughs, earaches, headaches, sore throats, etc.; occasionally deferring to an explanation from Dr. Smith. There are 19 different kinds of coughs, requiring 19 different kinds of medicine. For example, for the "dry, hacking cough, possibly with blood in it," parents should give three doses a day for a couple of days to see if the medicine takes. WRONG! If my child is coughing up blood, I'm out the door and headed for emergency--I, along with most parents, am not medically qualified to distinguish between what requires a doctor's immediate attention and what can be handled by a herbal pill. There are 21 different types of headaches with, of course, 21 different types of medicine (good luck getting your two-year-old to narrow his or her headache down to one of the awfully similar kinds). But what finally sent my blood pressure rocketing was the way the tape constantly referred to the problem by the medicine (i.e. "the pulsatilla headache," "the ipecac cough," "the chamomilla child," etc.). We don't say "the Tylenol child," or "the Sucrets child," when talking about headaches or sore throats. I'm not even going to get into talking about the homeopathic remedy for food poisoning, or I'll bust a blood vessel for sure. All in all, you need about 46 homeopathic medicines to care for infants and children, and guess what? You can buy the "kit" through the producer Video Remedies. I placed a call to find out the price of this "kit": it's a mere $99.95. Homeopathy is an age-old, respected, and increasingly important health care option--but this tape gives it a bad name. Absolutely not recommended. (Available from: Video Remedies, P.O. Box 290866, Davie, FL 33328; (800) 733-4874.)