Over the years, I’ve become much more conscious of the damage lab-made items can do to your body’s natural ability to heal itself.
I’m sharing what I keep in my medicine cabinet that holds anything but medicine today.
Arnica Montana
I had never heard of Arnica Montana until my first pregnancy. My midwife encouraged me to dissolve a few of these tiny pellets under my tongue to help with post-birth soreness.
Think of Arnica Montana as your natural replacement for ibuprofen. It can be used for a wide range of injuries, including joint + muscle soreness, bruising and swelling, stiffness, back ache, fatigue and inflammation — either for everyday pain or an injury.
Arnica Montana helped our dog, Penny, be able to hold her body weight after she sprained her front ankle. She weighs the same as me, so I gave her the lowest dose I would usually take, and she was comfortable enough to limp herself outside. Before, I had to have my husband carry her for every potty break.
I purchase mine from In His Hands Birth Supply, but you can get the same kind from Amazon (if you buy in bulk).
Travel Humidifier
This is one of my favorite purchases ever because I feel like it’s a genius simple parenting hack.
How many times do you actually use a humidifier over the course of a year?
If it’s more than a handful, there’s a larger issue at play. But if you’re capping out at about 5x max per year, there’s no justification for having a big clunky, hard-to-clean item taking up storage space.
I bought a travel humidifier (on clearance from Target for $12 actually!) that uses a standard disposable water bottle as the “water tank”.
I keep a few electrolyte waters in my hall closet next to this travel humidifier, so that I have to hydrate to empty the bottle + then refill with tap water to use the humidifier. It’s an added accountability hack, too.
Witch Hazel
You can use witch hazel as a base in many natural home remedies, like hemorrhoid treatment, outdoor tick spray, poison ivy treatment, postpartum “padsicles” and more.
When you distill the witch hazel plant’s leaves + branches, you get the clear colored liquid that’s bottled in stores.
Witch hazel has a high level of tannins, which helps reduce swelling + inflammation, fight bacteria + repair broken skin. Always buy alcohol-free witch hazel so that you can apply it to your skin without damage.
Quinn’s Unscented Alcohol-Free Witch Hazel
Hangover Helpers
I haven’t actually tried these yet, but I saw them at Whole Foods and they intrigued me.
PartySmart speeds up the elimination of acetaldehyde from your liver, which builds up when you consume alcohol.
They’re on-deck for my husband’s 10-year National Championship Hockey reunion this summer!
