The children's blend
Children are usually easier to choose for than adults, because they show you the feeling instead of explaining it. Watch for a week and the remedy is generally obvious: the fear at bedtime, the clinging at the school gate, the meltdown that arrives out of nowhere.
The six inside, and why each is there
The profiles are written for adults, but these are the same states in a smaller person and parents tend to recognize their child within a line or two. Read any of them in full to see which of the six fit, and buy singly if you would rather mix your own.
MimulusFor fears they can name. The dark, dogs, the dentist, the first morning at a new school.Check price on Amazon(opens on Amazon in a new tab)
Rock RoseFor nightmares and the panic afterwards, when comfort takes a long time to land.Check price on Amazon(opens on Amazon in a new tab)
WalnutFor change. A new school, a new baby in the house, a move, a term that starts differently.Check price on Amazon(opens on Amazon in a new tab)
ChicoryFor the clinging. Needing you in the room, in sight, and taking it hard when you are not.Check price on Amazon(opens on Amazon in a new tab)
Cherry PlumFor the meltdown they cannot stop once it has started, and are not enjoying either.Check price on Amazon(opens on Amazon in a new tab)
LarchFor I cannot do it, said before trying, about something you have watched them do.Check price on Amazon(opens on Amazon in a new tab)
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When people reach for it
- Bedtime has become the hardest hour of the day
- They wake in the night and take a long time to come back
- Something is changing at home or at school and it is showing
- They will not let you out of the room
- The tantrum reaches a point where it stops being about the thing
- They have decided in advance that they cannot do it
How to take it
Two drops of each of the six into a 30ml bottle of spring water, then four drops four times a day. That is the blend as it stands, and dosing does not change with size: the same four drops for a toddler and a teenager alike. There is no dose to get right and no known way to take too much.
If the brandy in the stock bottle is a concern, the usual answers are to add the drops to a drink rather than giving them neat, to stir them into something warm for a moment, or to buy one of the alcohol free preparations. Once diluted into a mixing bottle the amount involved is very small. Some parents put the drops on the wrists or behind the ears of a child too young to drink from a glass.
Two or three of the six is plenty for most children, so it is worth reading the list above and keeping the ones you recognize. Children move through these states quickly as well, so read it again every few weeks rather than keeping the same bottle going all term.
The mixing guide walks through the whole method, bottle sizes and all.
Common questions
Are Bach flower remedies safe for children?
Parents have given them to children for as long as the remedies have existed, and they are gentle by design: heavily diluted, with no active plant material left and nothing to take too much of. The only thing worth handling is the brandy the stock bottle is preserved in, and diluting the drops into water or a drink deals with that.
What age can you start?
There is no lower limit in the tradition. Babies are usually given the drops in water or on the skin rather than by spoon, and plenty of parents put them on the wrists or behind the ears. From the point a child can drink from a cup, the ordinary four drops four times a day is the method.
Which remedy for a child starting school?
Walnut is the one that describes the transition itself, and it is the usual anchor for a new school, a new class or a new house. Add Mimulus if there is a specific thing they are afraid of, Larch if they have decided in advance they will not manage it, and Chicory if the difficulty is really about leaving you at the gate.
Which remedy for tantrums?
Cherry Plum for the full meltdown, the kind that gets past the point where the child can stop it. Impatiens if the trigger is nearly always having to wait. Vervain if they wind themselves up and cannot come back down, particularly in the evening, and Holly if a new sibling has arrived and the anger has a target.
What about a child who will not settle at night?
Work out which part of the night is the problem. Rock Rose is for nightmares, Aspen for waking uneasy with nothing to point at, White Chestnut for a head still busy at lights out, and Vervain for the child who is simply too wound up to stop. The sleep blend covers the same ground in more detail.
Can I give a child the crisis formula?
Yes, and it is the common choice for a single hard moment rather than a pattern: the dentist, an injection, the first morning of a new term. Four drops in water, as often as the moment asks. If you are also mixing a personal bottle, a ready made crisis formula counts as one remedy in it.
A blend is one answer for everyone
If what you are carrying is a pattern rather than a situation, a remedy chosen for how you actually feel will fit better. The quiz narrows the 38 in about a minute.