Herbal tea suitable for babies?

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

My sister is here, and she was wondering if it would be alright to give Jack - 4 months old - some highly diluted herbal tea/infused tea? The ones she was thinking of were peppermint, lemon, ginger and chamomile. He's a bit schnuffly at the moment and she was hoping to make him feel better without always using panadol.

Just wondering if its safe for bubs, TIA for your help ladies

[[M]umma[M]ia]

personally i wouldnt. Milk or water is my understanding until 12 months. Baby vick will do the job.

[Pandora]

what you can do is to put it in bathwater, I used chammomile tea in DSs bath when he was little.

Also you can put the essentila oils in a burner and burn them in the house or his room (just dont leave it alone in there and on)

[1MOREPLZ]

Herbal tea is actually good for bub but not sure for the sniffles.
Rooibos tea is great for colic & cammomile tea is very calming for bubs

[[M]umma[M]ia]

i would be more worried if bub had a reaction to it. 4 months is very young to fight a reaction.

[mummy of many]

Cammamile tea is ok to give bubs,just don`t make it too strong,my girl friends use it all the time but my little one doesn`t like it,lol.

[1MOREPLZ]

Chamomile tea is also good for constipation in bubs.

[AnyDream]

Of course, if you're BFing, you could just drink plenty yourself and he would get the benefit! I like the bath suggestion. I'd probably be ok with giving my own bub the camomile, but peppermint, ginger and lemon all have very active compounds in them, so I'd err on the side of baths or like someone else suggested, using it in a vaporiser/essential oils in the room.

BTW - panadol will do nothing for snuffles - if you're using it to control pain or for a fever, then it will work for that. Other things to try are fess for little noses (saline drops that can 'unblock' them) or the Vicks baby balsalm - contains the safe aromatics - you could use a little on his feet. A vaporiser in the room over night will also help with snuffles and coughs.

Good luck!!

[Nelle]

I've heard that chamomile tea can be given to bubs too. It's mostly water really.

[Tinks]

Yep, Chamomile tea is fine. I used to give very weak Chamomile tea to my babies to settle them and for wind.

[KatieRabbit]

I have a packet of Weleda Baby Tea and it contains fennel (40%) aniseed (30%) caraway (20%) and chamomile (10%) and says that it is suitable for babies from 2 weeks. It is very mild and I give it to my DD and drink it myself as it is really yummy.

[paradise lost]

Weleda baby do a range of teas that are safe for babies from a few weeks old. DD enjoyed chamomile or fennel when she was fretful or bellyachey (i used to make a mug up and let her suck it off my dipped finger to avoid nipple confusion when she was teeny, gave it in a cup later on). Ultimately it's up to the parent whether they feel it's safe. To me giving babies chamomile tea is way safer than giving them paracetamol, and FAR gentler on the liver, which, if they are ill, will already be busy enough, but then i grew up in a family that didn't use "big guns" medicine except in a real need (i.e. true fever, not slightly raised temp or snuffles). Once in my first5 years did i get paracetamol! Got chamomile plenty though.

Bx