Acupressure for Children

Acupressure can be a great way to help your child heal quickly from illness.  Choose a time of day when your child is most calm, be it after a bath or just before bedtime.  Kindly let them know that this will feel good and help them to get better. Gently put pressure on the acupuncture point/channel.  Use as much pressure as your child tolerates and watch for signs of discomfort.  Acupressure (as opposed to massage) can cause slight irritability when you hit the right point.  Don’t continue with that point once your child feels “the qi”.

As far as the acupressure point locations, please refer to www.acupuncture.com

There you can click on “Acupuncture point location”.  You choose which meridian (which is the organ name, for example Stomach).  Then click on the point number and you will be directed to a picture as well as a written location.

Constipation

Acupressure Treatment: Stomach 36, Spleen 6, Bladder 20

Other suggestions:

Regular feeding (avoid snacks & avoid overfeeding)

Easily digested foods (avoid bananas, cows milk, peanuts)

Increase fish oils

Increase water

Diarrhea

Acupressure Treatment:  Stomach 36, Large Intestine 11, Bladder 20/21/25, Stomach 44, Spleen 9, DU 10, Spleen 4

Other suggestions:  BRAT (green bananas are better than ripe) & Vitamin Water

Teething

Acupressure Treatment:  Large Intestine 4, Stomach 44

Other suggestions:  Homeopathic teething tablets

Fever

Acupressure Treatment:  DU 14, Large Intestine 4, Gallbladder 20, Lung 7, San Jiao 5, Stomach 36

Other suggestions:  Chinese Medicine recommends keeping a child warm and encouraging sweating.  A child can sustain a fever of 104 if it rises slowly (or only at night).  Febrile convulsions occur when the temp goes up rapidly.  Drink warm lemon and honey to stay hydrated.  Do not make children with fevers eat.  They are not hungry because their body is trying to heal.  Also, it is recommended to keep children home for as long as they had their fever.

Cough

Acupresure Treatment:  Ren 17, Ren 22 (note:  these can bring up a lot of phlegm so do these points AFTER they wake and see how much phlegm they encourage.)

Lung 5, Lung 7, Lung 10, Large Intestine 4, Bladder 12/13

Other suggestions:

Honey for DRY cough, not as much for a wet cough

Cough with phlegm: avoid cows mlik, cheese, peanuts, peanut butter, sugar, bitter oranges

Acupuncture successfully treats in children:

Digestive dysfunctions, Respiratory dysfunctions, Infectious diseases, Insomnia

Eczema, Failure to thrive, Learning difficulties, Enuresis, Urinary Tract Infection

Puberty/growth concerns, Mononucleosis, Anemia, Anxiety/depression