All-Natural Relief From Reflux

Finding Out My Oldest Son Had Reflux

The day my oldest son was born was one of the best days of my life. After making it through 21 hours of labor, I finally got to meet the little man that I felt turning, kicking, and stretching in my belly for eight months.  Overall, the pregnancy was fairly easy for me -- I hardly experienced morning sickness and always had a huge appetite, but I was very surprised when I unexpectedly went into labor four weeks early. After I delivered, I found out my son was born with a serious heart valve defect and had to have surgery at seven weeks old. 

The Struggles of Having a Baby with Reflux

After my husband and I finally got past the nightmare those first few weeks and he got healthier, I believed things would be smooth sailing after that. Oh boy was I wrong!  No sooner did he start taking more bottles and gaining weight, he began throwing up half of what he took in.  I don’t mean he spit up a little either; I mean the ordeal looked like something from The Exorcist.  Feeding him required more than just a cute little burp cloth, it took an entire bath towel, and sometimes a change of clothes for both of us!

After being tested for pyloric stenosis (a disorder of the stomach valve and intestine thicken), it was confirmed that my baby had a severe case of acid reflux. His little tummy produced too much acid, and reacted negatively to food, causing him to throw up most of what he ate. My husband and I tried everything, from changing his formula, feeding him one ounce at a time, burping more frequently, keeping him propped up after eating, to giving him doses of Zantac.  Nothing helped.  The doctor told us our son would just have to grow out of it -- Easy for him to say!  After all, he wasn’t the one at home with a crying baby nor had to change sheets in the middle of the night!

 Hazelwood is a Natural Cure For Babies with Reflux 

How I wished then that there was something I could do for my little one. I know firsthand how painful it is to have heartburn, and I couldn’t imagine having to live with that acidic feeling day in and day out for over a year.  About a decade later, I have finally came across an old Canadian Aboriginal remedy for acidosis (when the pH of the body is too acidic)- a simple shrub called Hazelwood.

When the original inhabitants --who lived in the province we now know as the Quebec region of Canada -- had a baby that suffered from reflux and colic, they covered them in Hazelwood chips to make their bodies more alkaline and balance the pH.  The remedy was all but lost until it resurfaced in Canada during the 1980s.  Since then, mothers have turned to Hazelwood to relieve their babies from acidosis.

Hazelwood is a woody shrub native to Canada. Small twigs are harvested from the ends of the branches where they eventually grow back. They are made into cylindrical beads, then strung together to make a necklace. Science is still too young to understand how it works, but it is a widely believed that Hazelwood has the ability to draw excess acid out of the body and absorb it into the wood, resulting in relief from acid reflux symptoms. 

Baltic Essentials has Hazelwood Necklaces for babies and toddlers that are made from sustainably-sourced Hazelwood and are made with quick-release clasps so that little ones can’t get choked on them.  I wish now that I had known about this all-natural remedy for reflux from BalticEssentials.com when my son when he was a baby. I wonder how much better he would’ve felt and how much more sleep I would’ve gotten I discovered it sooner!