Note from Heather: Respected pediatricians agree that fevers are usually beneficial, but do you have a plan for if /when a fever goes beyond what you’re comfortable with?
The book featured in today’s post – Treating Fevers Naturally – was written by Meagan Visser, a registered nurse and herbalist whose insights have helped many mamas stay calm while discussing care with their pediatrician. Thanks for sharing with us, Meagan!
Priority #1: Keep Your Child Hydrated During A Fever
How would you like to learn a fun, easy way to keep your child hydrated and happier when they have a fever?
As mom, you know what it’s like when your child is hot with a fever. They don’t feel good, and they definitely don’t want anything to eat or drink. Sometimes their body hurts, and sometimes they just want to lay around and sleep.
Thankfully fevers don’t have to be a scary ordeal. You just have to keep an eye on your child and remember to keep them from getting dehydrated.
Now, keeping an eye on your child can be the easy part. When they’re sick, it’s the keeping them from getting dehydrated part that can be tough.
Today I’m going to show you an easy way you can not only keep your child hydrated when they have a fever, but how it can boost their spirit and support their immune system at the same time.
How To Make Herbal Smoothie Freezer Pops For Fevers
These herbal freezer pops are made using a combination of an herbal infusion and smoothie mix, and they’re perfect for that second stage of fevers when your kid is feeling really hot, they’re perspiring and losing fluids, and you want to help them be as comfortable as possible.
Now although all of the above sounds like great benefits, the best thing about them is that they taste really good and your kids won’t be likely to turn them down. So now, let’s walk through the steps of making them together, shall we?
Step 1: Make an Herbal Infusion
There are a lot of different herbs and herb combinations that you can use in this recipe, but today I’m gonna give you a combination of herbs that is great for viruses and children love it because it tastes good.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 1/3 oz dried elder flowers – anti-viral, click here to learn how elder flowers help fever (where to buy elder flowers)
- 1/3 oz dried rosehips – high in vitamin c (where to buy rosehips)
- 1/3 oz dried peppermint – for taste (where to buy dried peppermint)
- 1 TBSP of sweetener – see below
To make an herbal infusion, combine equal amounts of dried herbs in a quart jar. You can weigh your herbs using a kitchen scale to get the exact amount you need or you can eyeball it if you don’t care to be exact. Just remember… the rosehips are going to weigh more than the elder flower or the peppermint because they’re hard. All that matters is that you have around 1 ounce of dried herbs by weight in the end. Your jar should look like it’s about 1/3 to 1/2 full of your herbs.
Put your herbs in a glass quart jar and pour boiled water over them, filling it to the bottom ring of the jar.
Cover, and let your herbs sit for as little as 30 minutes or as long as four hours. This makes a very strong tea and really gets the properties out of the herb and into your water. The longer you can let it sit, the better.
Time Saving Tip – Four hours is the standard time for making an herbal infusion, but when your little one is sick and they need something to keep them hydrated and cool, 30 minutes will definitely do. Just look at the above photo. It’s only been sitting for 5 minutes and you can already see the water darkening as it penetrates the herbs and pulls the properties out of them!
Strain the herbs from the water using a cheesecloth, old t-shirt, or fine stainless steel mesh sieve. Squeeze all the liquid from your herbs to get all the good juices out, and then you can compost your herbs as they can’t be reused.
Your infusion should smell strongly of peppermint! Now you’re ready to sweeten it.
To sweeten your herbal infusion, use a small amount of natural sweetener such as honey or maple syrup. I’m talking about 1 TBSP of one of these to your whole infusion. Another option you have is to add a touch of whole leaf stevia to your herb mix during the infusion process. Only a small amount though… stevia leaf is very strong.
Choose whatever sweetener you feel is best and give it a taste to see if you think it tastes right. At this point it should taste like sweet peppermint tea… only really strong peppermint tea! Don’t worry if it’s not perfect… the best part is below!
Step 2: Make Your Smoothie Mix
The next step is to take your herbal infusion and combine it with a smoothie mix to make it taste great so your kids will eat them.
Below you’ll find two different smoothie mix recipes that your kids are sure to love! If I’m making a small amount of smoothie, I’ll use a Magic Bullet to blend mine up, but if I wanna make a large batch, I’ll use my Vita-Mix.
Blueberry Smoothie: (pictured at top of post)
- 1/2 cup of homemade yogurt (preferably from a raw milk source)
- 1/4 cup of herbal fever infusion
- organic almond butter to taste (this almond butter is made from soaked almonds for increased nutrient absorption)
- organic blueberries to taste
Strawberry Banana Smoothie:
- 1/2 cup of homemade yogurt (preferably from a raw milk source)
- 1/4 cup of herbal fever infusion
- 2 bananas to taste
- 3-4 large organic strawberries to taste
Once your smoothie mixes are made up and your herbal fever infusion has been added, give them a quick sip to make sure they taste like something you kid can’t turn down. Remember the main goal is to make this taste good so they’ll eat it and get the benefit of the herbs at the same time!
Step 3: Pour Into Popsicle Molds & Freeze
Once your mix tastes great, you’re ready to make your freezer pops! Pour your mix into your choice of popsicle molds and freeze them. I’m using these BPA-free silicone molds and love them!
Store your extra mix in a glass jar in the refrigerator so you can make more freezer pops later.
Time Saver Tip – If you’re strapped for time and you don’t feel like waiting several hours for your pops to freeze, you can let your kiddo drink it like a smoothie now and freeze some for later… either way is fine.
Step 4: Keep ‘Em Comin’!
Once your fever pops are frozen, you can let your child eat as many as they want. All of the herbs used are safe and non-toxic even in large doses.
So there you have it. Herbal Smoothie Freezer Pops that will not only help to keep your kids hydrated and slowly lower their fever, but they will keep them happy at the same time!
So what do you think? If you found this post helpful, be sure to share it on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter!
Want to to learn more about helping your child naturally during a fever?
Check out my new digital guide – Treating Fevers Naturally: A Parent’s Guide To Keeping Their Cool While Managing Fevers In Children.
In this 76 page guide you learn exactly what a fever is and how it works to help your child’s body, what the different “degrees” of fever are and what they mean for your child, what the scary and not-so-scary symptoms of fevers are as well as how to avoid them, when you should be concerned by your child’s fever and seek help, as well as how to help them safely through a fever using natural methods, and much more!
CLICK HERE to learn more about the guide and to preview the first chapter!
About Meagan
Meagan Visser is a Registered Nurse turned home-schooling, SAHM to 3 small boys. She’s currently a family herbalist that is passionate about using herbs for health and healing. She teaches parents how to take charge of their children’s health naturally on her blog GrowingUpHerbal.com and in her Letters To Natural Mamas emails.
Want more research-backed natural remedies?
No problem, I’ve created a free ebook for you – Kitchen Apothecary: 25+ Natural Remedies Using Ingredients From Your Pantry – as a gift for signing up for my newsletter. You’ll also get updates when I post about safe essential oils for pregnant/breastfeeding mamas, exclusive gifts and coupons (I was able to give away a jar of free coconut oil to anyone who wanted it recently!), plus other goodies.
Sign up using the form below.