Chinese or Western medication?
Although both the boys are exclusively on breastmilk, I still find that they get sick very easily as compare to my elder girl. Since they moved into their 3rd month, they have been getting sick, from one to another. The doctor said it could be due to different kind of virus, therefore when they are recovered from Virus A, they could be getting Virus B the next week. For instant, Kor-kor had just finished his antibiotic last week, and today he is starting with another course of antibiotic because he is sick again (according to doctor, probably another virus this round).
It is so difficult to feed the medicine, especially to di-di where he will spit out everything. Furthermore, they have been taking the medication for almost 2 month. I think their body also immune to the Western medication by now 
Older generation relatives suggest that I feed them Chinese medicine occasionally (in powder form such as Hao Zou San or Pou Ying Tan) but I find it does not really help much too, especially when they are already so sick. My aunt said the powder is good and she suggest me applying it to their gums each morning.
Anyone modern Mama out there still practice this? Can anyone share any advice of the application of Chinese medication today to the babies?
(Oh yes, I find that the babies (even QQ) prefer the horrid taste chinese powder to the sweet tasting Western syrup prescribed by doctor. Weird yeah….)
I don’t feed those Chinese med that you mentioned when my kids are babies, but when they are older, MIL gave them a few times. I think one of them make baby sleep better at night, but not sure about the ingredient la…My kids seldom fall sick though.
My SIL’s kids were on those meds since bb as MIL took care of them, but then hoh, they were always sick until a few years old. Maybe it depends on individual antibodies.
I am worried how come your paed always seem to prescribed antibiotics? Cos if it is illness caused by a virus, there is no use giving antibiotics cos the virus easily mutates. Antibiotics are usually only given for bacterial infection. Plus antibiotics are usually given for more serious illness such as ear infection. Sorry I so kay-por yah.
As for chinese meds, I personally don’t use them (even with Bryan) cos there is no study done on them. It may be good in the short-run but no one has tested on their side effects so I dare not use them lor. But seriously, this is only my very personal opinion. You should do what your maternal instincts tell you
Eli always fell sick too when he was still a baby although he had my BM. My paed never prescribed antibiotic to Eli and hardly prescribed other medicines too, he just advised me to feed more BM to him. But how come your paed is opposite? Actually i know most of the paeds not recommended antibiotics to little baby, so maybe you can think of changing to other paed.
As for the chinese medicine, my mother used to rub Eli’s gum and tongue with “jing feng shan” once a week, i don’t know how effective of rubbing it, but one thing for sure is Eli did sound more quiet after getting the “jing feng shan”.
oh ya, i dont think my girl ever taken antibiotics (even if she did, probably later stage and just once or twice). i agree with paik ling.
and i also didnt give what u mentioned above. but she takes chinese medication. compare to western medication, she is so much tougher, ie used to sweat a lot but now no more, n manage to heal her bad cough after taking singulair for 3 months and on puff for a while.
remember i mentioned to you on http://www.taipeitcm.com? there a 2nd branch in pandan
jaya.
and you are so right that, they dont resist on bitter herb powder, but will run away from sweet western meds.
just my 2 cents:)
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actually…the western doctors here NEVER prescribed ANY antibiotics to babies. Unless..it’s a serious infection and need hospitalisation. so..like paik ling..i am curious why your PD is always prescribing them.
To be honest, my No.3 has been getting colds after colds after colds (sometimes green phlegm, sometimes, yellow phelgm). but u know what? I just let him heal himself. No meds, no chinese meds. It takes longer…but I know he will survive. I blame my No.1’s school la… everytime will bring back some type of infection one…
haiz….
both my kids take the Eu Yan Seng Poh Yin Dan.. apply to their gum everyday after bath. we even spare it when we go to Japan.
I will give only the Eu Yan Sang Poh Yin Dan to my kids. Other than that I don’t give any other chinese medicine.
Agreed with other moms - how come your boys need to take the antibiotics? My gal Lynn only took her very first antibiotics when she was approaching 2 yrs old. Other illness like cough, cold or even fever, normally doc will not give antibiotics.
yes chin nee…how come ur paed give ur babies antibiotics…dr koe never give my boy antibiotics until now oso….and yes, i do give my bb the eu yan sang bo ying dan. as for my girl, we give her jun ging powder (oso from eu yan sang)…both oso love the bitter tastes…;)
I’m oso confused abt ur dr prescribing antibiotics for viral inf. If they don’t seem to get well, maybe u can consult a different paed?
actually this paed is very famous in our area and he hardly prescribe antibiotic unless really necessary. That shows that how bad the boys condition is, getting the virus almost all the time after recover from one virus each time. Probably it is from their sister who had brought back the virus from school. Maybe she is older, therefore her condition not as bad as the babies.
Is it the paed in SL new shop area? Yupe, a good paed coz I went there too.
My boy Xiang had such a bad cough & flu last few months that i finally give him the yu yan san ‘hou zhou san’. It works!!! (Extremely expensive to!). My bbsitter gave my little gal pou ying tan whenever there’s any sign of sickness. Touch wood to say, she’s 9 months now and she’s been sick for once only.
This is a controversial issue. But I myself have never been one for chinese medicine. What compound it is this herb that was once prescribed by a sinseh to my gran. I took it to a dr who has a ph.d in herbs in Klang and he said excessive consumption of that particular herb will lead to paralysis. However far the truth is, I will never know, cos I didn’t bother to take the scientific name of the plant to do some research on it, but I have always been wary of chinese medicine ever since.
Having said that, I suppose there is no harm trying out common chinese medications which are commonly known to have no side effects. Although I would not opt for them since I am not partial to chinese medicines.
To each her own, I guess. My boy has never liked western medicine and he also dislikes Chinese medicine, althought a lot of people say children will like Chinese medicine. There is also no indication of what the Chinese medicine contains and at this young age, we don’t want to expose kids to unwanted stuff.
my pead has recommended appeton infant drops for my twins, its essentially vitC plus other vits too. my babies are quite immune to the viruses that their brother brings home. so far(touch wood), they only fell sick once and only had to take to flu syrup for 2 days.
Yes, baby shouldn’t take antibiotics. You should change doctor…
Hi Chin Nee,
Share with you my experience to raise my 2 young kids, I only give chinese medication to them eventhough when they were down with HFM. very determined mum eh…
Usually, I will monitor what they ate, if they took fried stuff, I will give them appropriate chinese medicine before the sickness like heatiness, dry cough, mouth ulcer & etc. Sometimes, the weather do have impact towards their little body.
In your case, I think the jie-jie’s health that you need pay more attention as she may spread viruses from school to the twins. Chinese medication can be consumed as preventive measure even before the symptom occurs. I like chinese medicine because I thing good is that, slightly over dosage is no harm ^_^
To me, I still heavily prescribe chinese medication for my family.
i have nvr tried or thought of chinese med wen they fall sick. my children paed oso prescribed antibiotics if their infections r reli bad but i noticed jesse who is fully breastfed till mth 15 doesnt fall sick easily as compared to samuel (breastfeed till 5mths onli) n she usually recover faster than samuel… continue bf im sure it help in many ways
hmm..i always thought that babies who are bf have stronger immune system. antibiotics would weakened the body…the chinese said - very “san”. dunno if you have heard of the millenium juice by e-excel? my friend took it when she was pregnant and after her baby was born, she has been feeding her with it daily. good for building the immune system. i started ashley on this since she turned 1
poor babies & mummy! shan rae is still on bf and has fall sick a couple of times too. we have no idea how come he is so weak? luckily, taking medicine is not a problem for shan rae. hope your boys will get well really, really soon!!!
If it is a viral infection, the antibiotic is not going to help at all. It might increase the risk of resistance to the antibiotic down the road.
Anyways, I grow up taking chinese medicine and I am fine and healthy now. But, I will not give my child any chinese medicine.
Also, you twins are absolutely adorable!! I am sure your breast milk is helping them. Maybe because your older one goes to school and brings back some virus from other kids. Good luck with everything and I hope they will get well soon!
I really don’t think the Hou Zho San can help lor…as I did try it on both my boys….