Pediatric Cough Formula

Would you be surprised if you saw a Caucasian doctor practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)? Well, don’t be, because there are more and more doctors like this in Beijing. Joanne Sharkey is one of them.

She hails from Australia, treats children in Beijing with TCM and runs a blog, www.needlesandherbs.com. On it, she keeps us updated on various TCM methods to stay healthy. Read her entry on pediatric cough formula below and be sure to visit her site for more tidbits on TCM:

Pediatric cough is without a doubt one of the top three reasons children are brought to the hospital, these coughs will without a doubt include phlegm.

According to Chinese medicine theory children produce a lot of phlegm because they have a weak spleen 消脾不足 . Their digestive function is not as well established as that of an adult. Until a child is around six years old the spleen and its digestive function is still under development. On top of this children also enjoy overeating which only damages the spleen. Poor digestion quickly results in an accumulation of phlegm. Phelgm has an infinity for the lung and can easily move from the spleen up to the lung. This is precisely why Doctor Zhu is adimate about the child cough always being accompanied by phlegm.

A very simple commonly used in the hospital formulation addresses the cough and the phlegm at the same time, and as a bonus is relatively palatable. Usually 5 bags for 5 days is enough.
chen pi 陈皮 3克
fu ling 茯苓 6克
dan dou chi 淡豆豉 3克
bai lou bo 白罗卜fresh white radish 1 piece”