VIBRANTLY HEALTHY KIDS

Little ones make our world go round! At Two Rivers Health, we believe every child is a Future World-Changer who’s here with special gifts, talents, sensitivities and needs. We’re dedicated to helping kids grow up their healthiest and happiest selves so they can shine their special gifts into this world.

As Naturopathic Doctors, we recognize your child’s individuality and his or her innate capacity for health and healing. We respect your and your child’s unique preferences, personality, goals and needs when creating a customized treatment plan based on restoring the foundations of good health into your child’s diet and lifestyle, and removing obstacles to healing including various types of stress. Kids tend to respond well to safe and gentle Naturopathic Care, and we’ve been humbled and thrilled to see hundreds of children’s lives transform virtually before our eyes.

As primary care doctors, we work alongside your child’s family doctor, midwife or pediatrician to provide safe and effective, evidence-based children’s health care that our patient families tell us is extraordinary in its level of compassion, gentleness and comprehensiveness and unparalleled in its recognition of your child’s natural ability to heal. We’ll take the time to get to know your child as a unique individual, use the safest tools possible to address the underlying causes of their symptoms, and support them in taking an active role in their own health as an invaluable, lifelong skill.

As naturopathic doctors with additional training in paediatrics, we understand that your kids’ health means everything to you. We’re happy to serve as first lines of contact for concerns related to your child’s immune system, digestion, feeding and nutrition, behaviour, energy, sleep, learning, fears, anxiety or stress.
We will help you talk through decisions based on physical assessment, such as whether your child has an ear infection and what his or her treatment options may be. We want to make each and every visit a comfortable, positive and respectful experience so that your child looks forward to his or her health care experiences and learns how to advocate for his or her own wellbeing. Your child will be given every opportunity to participate in the discussion, ask questions, and of course choose a sticker at the end of every visit 🙂


BABY’S FIRST NATUROPATHIC VISIT

At Two Rivers Health, we love to meet with you and your baby as soon as you feel up to it following the birth. Usually this is anytime from Day 8 of baby’s life.

Baby’s First Naturopathic Visit includes a chat about your pregnancy and and birth experience and any concerns that may have arisen for you. We care for both of you as a “mother-infant dyad” and we want to make sure you’re receiving what you need. We’ll complete Baby’s first WellChild Checkup including weight and measurements, listen to her heart and lungs, and get a growth chart started. We’ll support you with any breastfeeding concerns, help you identify whether baby blues or postpartum depression are at play, and provide safe and natural strategies if you need treatment options. We’ll discuss special maternal and infant nutrition, sleep, and immune support. We’ll make sure you’re receiving the TLC you need as a new mom and help you align with resources in the community who are also here to help make this year as healthy, joyful and supported for both of you as possible.



 

The FOUNDATION of Health

Ever wondered if it’s normal for your baby to have crazy stinky stools, colic, gas, spinach-green poops or even no poops at all? Considerable research points to a healthy infant digestive tract playing a critical role in her immune system’s development.

We want your child to THRIVE. Just as with yourself, symptoms don’t come from nothing; they’re signals from the body that something is our of balance. We listen closely to these signals so that we can provide the resources the child needs, or remove the obstacles in the way of, healing and thriving.

Along with the food your baby eats, the bacterial flora in her digestive system is incredibly influential in shaping her overall health. The gut is the interface between the external world and what gets into the body. There are more neurotransmitter receptors in the gut than in the brain, and 75% of the immune system resides in the gut.

Signs of imbalanced gut health are often dismissed by conventional health care providers. Unfortunately, many parents are told that symptoms like colic, rashes, gas, constipation or mucusy stools are “normal” and that they should just wait them out.

As Naturopathic Doctors, our years of clinical experience and hundreds of published studies disagree: symptoms such as these are not only uncomfortable for babies and parents, they’re signs from the body of imbalances that need to be reversed. Left to progress, babies (and the entire family) are not only suffering unnecessarily, but could become predisposed to more severe, chronic conditions like allergies and asthma.

GETTING A GOOD GUT FEELING

Baby’s digestive system develops through her first year of life. This is why we wait to introduce meats, for example – babies don’t have enough stomach acid to break down meats until they’re about 10 months old. The types of bacteria that colonize the baby’s gut in the first few days of life will also influence her ability to digest food including breastmilk or formula and will have a tremendous influence on her immune development. For example, babies born by Cesarean section aren’t exposed to the beneficial bacteria in the birth canal. Their first bacteria is hospital bacteria, so they need plenty of skin-to-skin contact right away to pick up good bacteria from their mother. C-section delivery increases the risk that a child will develop allergies and asthma.

Since bacterial life is so important to your baby’s future health, we suggest the use of infant-specific probiotic supplements to support the types of bacteria that truly belong in their gut. Probiotics are good bacteria that are proven to benefit the infant’s digestive tract – also signal the immune system to develop “tolerance” to the outside world thereby decreasing the risk of allergies. Probiotic bacteria also aid in digestion and breakdown of breastmilk or formula, thereby reducing gas, bloating, abnormal stools, and even reflux.

What is The ALLERGIC TRIAD?

What do allergies, eczema and asthma have in common? They’re known as the “Allergic Triad” and they’re all atopic illnesses, meaning they come from an imbalanced immune system. Probiotics from day one of Baby’s life have been shown to decrease children’s risk of developing eczema and wheezing later in childhood.

We can guide you in the steps needed to train your baby’s immune system to be tolerant of the outside world with no need to “over-respond”, and you can decrease your child’s risk of developing these more serious conditions.

Naturopathic Care in Baby’s First Year

As your child’s Naturopathic Doctors, we can help you:

  • Promote breastfeeding in cases of poor latch, low milk supply, failure to thrive, etc.
  • Optimize your baby’s nutrition levels
  • Relieve colic, reflux or constipation
  • Understand which supplements your baby needs and why
  • Understand how and when to modify diet to promote healthy digestion
  • Recover your mood and energy in the postpartum year
  • Prevent colds and viral infections and learn how to manage common illnesses safely at home
  • Treat symptoms that seem “off” to you, such as a change in energy, sleep, or digestion (even if your doctor suggests these signs are “normal”)


 

NATUROPATHIC CARE FOR KIDS


Naturopathic Medicine is the safest system of health care and offers extraordinary tools to help kids grow up strong and healthy.
We recognize the many influences on your child’s health, and can help your child take personal age-appropriate steps to care for his or her own well-being. We’ll help piece together what’s really going on below the surface that’s creating your child’s stomach aches, constipation, headaches, insomnia, difficult behaviour or even depression or anxiety. We’ll help you understand the various medical and naturopathic treatment choices available to you and make sure you and your child are comfortable with your plan. And we’ll have some fun as we go!
We encourage you and your child to book a Free, 15-minute Meet-and-Greet appointment with your Naturopathic Doctor so they can get a sense for the clinic before getting started. We find this helps alleviate apprehensiveness or worries that children have about “going to see the doctor”, especially if they’ve been through some difficult experiences at other places.

CONDITIONS WE HELP WITH

As primary care doctors, we are able to help with many common concerns of childhood & adolescence:

  • Allergies
  • Eczema and Skin Rashes
  • Food Intolerances and Sensitivities
  • Failure to Thrive in Babies or Growth Issues in Children
  • Introducing Solids to Infants
  • Infant & Child Nutrition
  • Fevers
  • Digestive Problems
  • Headaches
  • Stress, Anxiety & Fears
  • Depression
  • Sleep Problems
  • ADD/ADHD
  • PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders After Strep)

If your child isn’t feeling his or her best, we would love to help him or her feel better. Contact us with any questions or to book a Free meet-and-greet appointment over the phone or in person.


 

Natural Medicine For Kids & Teens


Natural Medicine For Kids & Teens


Tools we can use to help your child feel his or her best include:

  • Clinical Nutrition
  • Food Intolerance Testing
  • Nutritional supplementation
  • Counselling, Lifestyle Recommendations & Self-Care
  • Botanical Medicines
  • Homeopathic Remedies
  • Traditional Chinese Medicine
  • Acupuncture
  • Mind-Body Medicine & Meditation
  • Stress Reduction Techniques

Recognizing each young person as a unique individual, we strive to respond to the many influences on your child’s health by providing resources the body is “asking for” when it produces symptoms, or removing obstacles to the body’s innate ability to heal and be well.
We’ve helped hundreds of Guelph families experience the freedom and joy of optimal health. We’ve found that improving the health of a child improves the wellbeing of the entire family, and is one of the most rewarding aspects of our work as Naturopathic Doctors in our community. We thank you for the opportunity to help you and your family live your best lives, and we can’t wait to meet with you and your Little Ones!


GIVE THEM THEIR BEST START IN LIFE



One of our passions as Naturopathic Doctors is to teach you and your family how to be well.

At Two Rivers Health, we’re always busy preparing our next guidebook, presentation or notes package for you to refer to between visits. We like knowing we’re giving you healthcare value that extends far beyond our clinic room walls.

Is there a children’s or family health topic you’d like us to share more about, write about or teach at your workplace or organization?

We’re happy to respond to whatever you’re needing. Contact us with requests as we’re keeping an active list of future projects!

Ready to try an integrative approach to your child’s health care? We can help you optimize your child’s health and life direction in the future through a few simple and supportive interventions today.

We’re happy to set up a complimentary 15-minute introductory consultation with you and/or your child so you can ask any questions you may have. If you’re ready to get started, book an Initial Consultation here.

We’re looking forward to meeting with you and your child in the near future!