Dosing Blue Poppy Herbs' Pediatric Formulas
Standard dosages on "dietary and nutritional supplements" are a legally mandated FDA convention. Accordingly, manufacturers are not supposed to print dosage ranges on their labels. However, when it comes to children, greater flexibility is required. This is part of the reason why Blue Poppy Herbs' formulas for children comes as glycerin-based liquids as opposed to pills or capsules. This allows easy adjustment of dosages depending on 1) the child's condition (whether acute, subacute, chronic, or remission), 2) the child's age, and 3) their weight. In general, acute conditions require higher doses, while chronic conditions or those in remission need lower doses. In addition, older children should usually receive higher doses than younger children, but even heavier children of the same age should receive larger doses than their lighter peers. Thus dosage is very much a judgement call which must ultimately be made by the prescribing licensed practitioner.
However, that being said, it is still true that infants and young children react much quicker to smaller doses than do adults. This is based on the Chinese medical statement, "Children's visceral qi is clear and effective; therefore they easily and quickly return to health." As a corollary of this, it is usually more important to administer numerous small doses of medicinals to children and infants than fewer, larger doses.
In general, the dosage recommendations on Blue Poppy Herbs' formulas for infants and children suggest two droppers every two hours per day for up to six doses. However, depending on the child's age, weight, and condition, they may get a good therapeutic result with only a few drops, while, in other cases, the child may require 3-4 droppers per dose. The correct dose should be determined by the practitioners previous clinical experience plus each child's reaction to his or her first couple of doses. In other words, if the child does not respond to the first couple of doses in an acute condition, we would recommend judiciously upping the dose. Similarly, in the treatment of a chronic condition, if positive results are not forthcoming in a week, we would recommend upping the dose as long as there were no unwanted side effects. If there are side effects, either the formula is not the correct one for the patient's personally presenting pattern(s) or the dosage is too high.
Below are some general dosing guidelines for our CQ Jr. pediatric formula. Nevertheless, these are only general suggestions which must be modified depending upon the clinical exigencies of each case.
Little Dragon
Little Dragon is for the treatment of overweight children 4-12 years of age when combined with proper physical exercise and dietary modifications. In particular, the child should eat less refined carbohydrates, sugars and sweets, including fruit juices, junk food, oily, greasy foods, and colas and sodas. They should eat more vegetables, lean protein, and whole fruits. One to two droppers may be sufficient for younger children and 3-4 droppers may be necessary per dose for older children 3-4 times per day. The child's reaction to initial doses should be the practitioner's main guide to further dosing.
NOTE: 2 droppers full = 2 grams of Chinese herbs in decoction
