Grow and Thrive

Underlying most of the challenges facing infants and young children is the immaturity of their digestive functions. After breathing, the second act that a newborn baby engages in is to suckle the mother’s breast. The sucking response activates the entire digestive tube from the lips to the anus, 

There are two fundamental insufficiencies that underlie the evolution of all disharmonies of Yin and Yang, Qi and Blood, Shen and Jing, and they are deficits of prenatal and postnatal Qi. Our endowment of Original Qi (prenatal) is one over which there is little, if any, control. But the capacity to generate sufficient or even a surplus of Acquired Qi (postnatal) is a consequence of the child’s constitutional endowment combined with parental behavior and the environment that one enters from the moment of birth. This is why it is so important to preserve and protect the fragile integrity of a child’s stomach and intestines during the first year of life and until age seven or eight, at which time the permanent teeth appear, marking, according to the Nei Jing, the completion of the first stage of the life cycle.

In Chinese Herbology, the early life of the child is dominated by the activity of the Middle Burner: the Qi of the Spleen and Stomach. Until a child is about one year of age, he or she is mostly Stomach – a small, jolly, energetic eating machine. As this Middle Burner-dominated being grows beyond the first year, Upper and Lower Burner functions awaken, such as manipulating, exploring walking and talking. But all these behaviors develop from the center: the Spleen-Stomach and Middle Burner. Grow and Thrive supports the vigor and capacity of the Lung, Heart, Kidney and Liver Networks, which depend upon the postnatal Qi generated by the Spleen and Stomach.

Since the Nutritive Qi (Ying) generated by the Spleen Network is the basis of the Defensive Qi (Wei), disruption of Stomach Qi will lead to weakened resistance to external influences such as Heat, Cold and Wind (Wai Yin or Wai Xie). Thus, it is reasonable to suppose that occasional disturbances of digestion and elimination may often precede the appearance of distress due to External Invasion.

RATIONALE

The nutritive herbs Chinese yam rhizome, Hyacinth bean, dry fried Kudzu root, Poria, Job’s tears seed, Euryale seed, Lotus seed and Lycium fruit support the Spleen-Stomach and tonify Qi and Blood. Within this group, Chinese yam rhizome, Hyacinth bean, Euryale seed, Lotus seed, Poria and Job’s tears seed also regulate fluids and support normal bowel movements, counterbalancing the Dampness that may be generated by the effects of Lycium fruit. Also, Chinese yam rhizome, Hyacinth bean, dry fried Kudzu root, Phragmites rhizome and Job’s tears seed protect against the external invasions of Wind, Damp and Summer Heat to which children are prone.

Fennel fruit, charred Chinese hawthorn fruit, Tangerine dried rind of mature fruit, Radish seed, Magnolia bark and Platycodon root support digestion, support a healthy peristalsis, dissipate Dampness and stagnant Qi (air).

Although this is not a formula that will over-stimulate the gut, the combination of the Qi dispersing herbs with the moistening herb Lycium fruit will support healthy bowel function when it is occasionally inhibited by food stagnation or dryness of the colon. Furthermore, the mildly sweet and pungent taste of the ingredients will support a healthy appetite and augment the ability of the Stomach to receive food.