sure, for the stomach and gassiness, fennel is great...but since I'm in a rush and can't "intuit for you and the mama with the stomach flu issues and I want to address the woman who asked for book recommendations I'm going to just steal all of this info from the book Nature's Wealth Health and Healing Plants Based on the Teachings of the Rambam by Rabbi Moshe Cohen Shauli. This is an out of print book, but it can be found (in BEAUTIFULLY bounded hardback) by googling a bit. I highly recommend this to anyone with Jewish roots, as this is quite clearly a "kitchen witch" book ROOTED in Judaism.
Okay:
Diarrhea: almond, banann, carob, carrot, cinnamon, indian corn, lemon, lentils, oats, peach, pomegranate, prickly pear, radish (and others)
Digestive Difficulties and Illnesses: Apple, artichoke, cabbage (won't help with gas though!), cinnamon, cucumber, cumin, date, grape, horseradish, lettuce, papaya, peppermint (great for burping too! and as an EO it's excellent for headaches applied to the temples), sage, prickly pear, strawberry, walnut
to ease digestion: asparagus, bananna, carob, carrot, chamomile, cucumber, honey, lettuce, oats...a bunch more, but I think you should be noticing a theme now...
cleansing digestive tract: cloves, fennel, noney MUSTARD (also just read that the seeds will help with nausea, you can swollow them like a pill, I would start with just a few but you could take up to 10 seeds a day..in an adult, I have no idea about dosage for a kid, but it's safe to say half that OR LESS!), onion, rue, strawberry, wormwood (think "bitters", which you can by premade, usually imported from other countries, at many a local health food stores...great for all digestive/stomach things, I'm thinking of making my own IF ANYONE HAS ANY RECIPES TO SHARE...PLEASE POST!!!!)
THis shoudl cover vomiting and all those issues. And I do want to mention (about the earlier post, sorry I forgot who said it and I don't have time to check) that the fennel/fenugreek and all that connection between gut and lactation is because those are the same herbs you take to INCREASE milk supply (they REALLY work! For me, just a strong fennel tea throughout the day is enough to get engorged!) Also interesting to note that things like peppermint and any of the mints, which are also used in DECREASING things like gas ALSO DECREASE milk supply. So STAY AWAY if you are nursing, unless you are trying to treat a very specific problem.
I had a plugged duct and tried nursing and nursing and hot showers and warm compresses and espressing milk and it was just getting worse and painful and headed towards a not good place.
A couple cups of moderately STRONG hot peppermint tea before bed (with honey, to keep it nourishing, I didn't want to loose ALL my milk! G-d Forbid!) CURED it by morning. THis was after 3 days of problems.
Okay, off line for Shabbat but will be back. ANd firefairy (who tried to start a thread a while back) that is funny how that works, it's happened to me too, but I think it's just a matter of getting all the right people online at the same time. And you DID succeed in having takers...we are all here now just waiting for your wisdom and to share our own!
Be Well everyone!
oh and a quick ps for those of us who want to take our kitchen witchery/healing from a Jewish place (this is my position, so I can speak on this...though I totally respect and encourage everyone else to share SPIRITUALLY where they are coming from and how they get there, as I think a lot of people can benefit from a lot of possibilities), when people talk about saying a prayer and lighting a candle (which also has a basis in Judaism) and uttering "magical words" or using runes, I would just like to offer the possibility that the words be in Hebrew and the runes be Hebrew letters that speak to you, until you start to get comfy with them. I'm happy to answer questions if anyone is interested. But I will give you a phrase in Hebrew that can be quite powerful. It's used as a blessing here in Israel.
"Refuah Shlaima" (ree-foo-ah sh-lay-mah) and it means "a complete healing", meaning of mind/body/spirit. Circles are also used as a protection symbol in Judaism along with the star of david/sheild of david. I will sometimes draw a circle on the children's foreheads when they are sick and then kiss it as a way of actualizing protection.
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