Basil Toes?!

           As a child, I always thought my parents were a little nutty when it came to medical issues. They always preferred natural cures over seeking a doctor's advice. Time and perspective can change a lot. Now, I'm a parent with five kids to make medical decisions for; and I've repented over and over for the labels I put on my parents. Turns out I'm a little nutty just like them. I wouldn't say I never seek medical advice. I do, but sometimes doctors don't have the answers I need.
          Half-pint was my first child to be diagnosed with "colic" at 12 weeks of age after being treated for an ear infection and acid reflux.  Her ears cleared up over night; and after several weeks, the reflux medication still did nothing to help the agony she was in. She screamed on into the wee hours of the morning.  Nothing seemed to help. She slept during the day...a LOT. I already had Mary who went to bed every night at 7pm and woke up at 7:03am on the dot. I was exhausted from staying up late with Half-pint and getting up with a fully-charged Mary. I did research, and read books on getting your baby to sleep better. I started eliminating milk from my evening meals, and it helped a little. I read that Iron in multivitamins can make some babies cranky, so I took that out. Half-pint started going to bed at 9 or 10pm, but she was still up every two hours after that. After five months of this, I didn't feel like a human being anymore...much less a good mama. Then, a friend made a suggestion that saved my sanity.  She asked, "Would you consider a chiropractor?" I had seen a chiropractor as a child but taking an infant seemed extreme. However,  I was desperate.  Long story short, a week later Half-pint was sleeping 8 hour stretches at night. A month later, she was going as long as 12 hours without waking me up. We did make the decision to take her to a chiropractor trained specifically for adjusting children, after having some reservations about our initial chiropractor. We have been very happy with the results. When child #3, 4, and 5 were born, they were also adjusted a few months after birth...as soon as they started showing signs of distress (and keeping me up at night for more than a week).
        A little nutty? Maybe, but it works. I still take my kids for well child visits to our pediatrician; and if I suspect strep throat, they still get swabbed. This past December,  we saw our pediatrician a lot. Mr. Blue Eyes, our 11 month old had his first ear infection and ended up with pneumonia after that. I learned several nurse's names at the practice by heart. Two weeks ago, Mr. Blue Eyes started showing signs of something bothering him. Maybe his ears were bothering him, maybe it was a headache from a tumble,  maybe it was more teeth coming in. I really dreaded it being his ears because I knew they'd put him on more antibiotics. After his second round of antibiotics in December (the first for an ear infection and the second for pneumonia), he had horrible diarrhea.  It was so bad that during the middle of the night he went through seven diapers in two hours. His skin was so raw that he screamed when I changed him. It was AWFUL! I'm not a fan of Desitin (the first non-active ingredient is BHA--a preservative and known carcinogen), but I was desperate for him to have some relief. Even that seemed to be no match for this evil skin-destroying condition.  My "nutty" mom was visiting and suggested using Sovereign Silver on a cotton ball as the final pat on his tushie before the diaper ointment. Crazy as it sounds silver has natural healing properties; and after the second application, he stopped screaming. I ditched the Desitin and slathered on my usual favorite ointment after the colloidal silver: Rosebud (or "Rosebutt" as Gracie calls it). Two days later he was no longer raw, despite having four days left on antibiotics.
           Needless to say, I really, really did not want to go on another round of antibiotics. (We do probiotics in between rounds of antibiotics to help replenish the good bacteria.) After a few days, I really suspected his ears more. I took him to our chiropractor for an adjustment, and she casually asked if we had any basil oil. Ok. This next part is going to seem strange, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  I ended up buying some essential basil oil. My chiropractor assured me that she'd used it before both on herself and her kids for ear problems with great success. She said within a couple of hours she felt much better...and even a full blown infection would disappear after two days of using the oil. Here's what I was to do: put three drops of oil on cotton balls, stick it in his ear, and leave it there for 15 min. She recommended doing this three or four times a day. How do you keep something in an 11 month old's ears for 15 minutes? Well, you put on your baby proof winter hat over the cotton balls to hold them in place and create "the hat 'o basil". The smell is really strong-- obnoxious even! Everyone complained about it. Oddly enough, that night (a few hours later) he was jabbering away...normal baby stuff...
except that he hadn't jabbered like that in at least a week. That night he finally slept too. By the next morning,  Half-pint had seen enough to volunteer to try it too. Her ears had been popping a lot and she was having a hard time hearing because of extra fluid.   She felt a lot better. Her ears popped a lot, and then stopped. She said she could hear better as well. At this point, I wasn't feeling so "nutty" anymore. After a couple days, I stopped using it for him. No signs of infection. Interesting. My chiropractor said the basil essential oil was also good for any infection.  If her family felt sick, she said she'd just rub a couple drops on the feet at night; and in the morning, they'd be right as rain. A couple days later, Carrie said she didn't feel good. We put drops in Shea butter to dilute it a little (it's really concentrated and can cause skin irritation,  although the chiropractor said the feet usually aren't too sensitive) and smeared it all over her feet. We joked that the baby had "basil ears" for two days, so now we joked that Carrie had "basil toes". She felt better too. This past weekend,  when the baby started getting a warm forehead and cold hands and feet (nooo!!), we gave him basil toes as well. One nap and a  few hours later, he seemed back to normal.
           I wouldn't tell you all this, if it didn't work so well. I know it sounds crazy. One vial of oil costs less than one co-pay for a doctor's visit. So far we've only used maybe a tenth of a bottle. I might be a little "nutty", but this just makes scents.

What have you found that helps you and your family to stay healthy?