Chamomile Tea in a Feeding Tube?

Recently, I came across a lot of parents that loved using chamomile tea for common aches and pains for children.  I had never heard of this before, so I really deep dived into everything I could find.

In my research I could not find anything about giving Chamomile Tea to children with feeding tubes.  It is a very common home remedy that is used for oral fed children all the time.  I spoke with our pediatrician and nutritionist, and both agreed that chamomile tea in small amounts in a feeding tube, can help a child!

Chamomile Herb Benefits for Children

Chamomile has long been a staple in alternative medicine for ages.  More and more parents are willing to try less medicine and more home remedies for handling illness and discomfort in children.  This is especially true in medically complex children that may already be on a lot of medications.

Sometimes the side effects of medications can cause more trouble than the original symptoms and this makes parents weary of treating every symptom with a typical medication.

Chamomile has been known to have a calming effect on children that can help alleviate sleeplessness, teething pain, and stomach discomfort due to gas and constipation.

Chamomile tea has been a long-standing tradition in some families for a long time to help children with minor issues and illnesses. It is generally given during colds or stomach viruses, as there are not a lot of medications safe for these common illnesses in children under 6 years old.

Chamomile Common Side Effects

One of the main side effects of chamomile would be an allergic reaction.  For instance, if your child is allergic to ragweed, they will be much more likely to have a reaction to chamomile.  Chamomile and Ragweed are in the same plant family, so it is normal to be allergic to both of them.

The symptoms usually associated with an allergic reaction could be sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, swelling in the lips/tongue/face, and hives.  If you notice any of these symptoms, you will want to contact your physician as soon as possible.

Can you put chamomile tea in a feeding tube (G tube or GJ tube) for a child?

If your child is over the age of 1 years old, chamomile tea can be given by feeding tube.  I always recommend consulting your doctor or nutritionist before giving the tea, just to make sure there are no known interactions to current medications.

Chamomile can react with some sedatives, blood thinners, NSAID painkillers (like ibuprofen), and other supplements.  It is always safer and better to clear chamomile tea use with your medical team before giving it to your child.

In general, chamomile tea is made in a traditional way of boiling water and using either tea bags or loose tea.  The tea is then removed from heat and allowed to cool down.  You will want to make sure the tea is close to room temperature before giving it to a child by mouth or by feeding tube.

There is no need to add flavor enhancers like lemon or sugar to the tea to make it taste better.  Since the feeding tube will take the liquid directly to the stomach or intestines, there is no reason to add anything to the tea.  Sugar, lemon, and creamer/milk can actually upset your child’s stomach more if they are already having discomfort.

The amount of tea that you would give to a child would be relatively small, the normal does would only be about 1-2 oz a day.  Your nutritionist or dietician can help you calculate the dosage based on age and weight.

When giving tea through a feeding tube, you would give it at the same rate that you would give water or clear liquids.  This may be the same rate as formula, or it could be at a lesser rate.

Since tea is mostly water, and you will be skipping the sticky parts like sugar, honey, or cream/milk, you probably do not need to flush the feeding tube extension afterwards.  I tend to always flush after giving medicine and food by feeding tube, just so that nothing is left in the line, and that all is pushed into the stomach or intestines.

I don’t believe that chamomile tea would cause clogging in the extension, but it is super easy to just go ahead and do a 5-10 ml flush of water after giving the tea. 

If you do use loose leaf tea to make the Chamomile Tea, you will need to strain it, so no particles are left in the liquid.  Those leaf particles could cause a clog.

Tips for Buying Chamomile Tea for Kids

Tea is not highly regulated because it is treated more like a supplement rather than food.  When giving chamomile tea to a child you would want it to be as pure as possible, so you may want to skip any tea bags that have a mixture of multiple ingredients in addition to the chamomile.

There is a great debate on whether you should buy chamomile tea in tea bags or loose leaves, and whether it should be commercial or organic.  I will leave those up to you to decide, but I would recommend asking for suggestions from your medical team.

Chamomile Tea for Children

The calming effects of chamomile may help your child go to bed easier or to ease their mild anxiety.  The hydrating effect of chamomile has also been shown to help with constipation as well.

I am not against traditional medications for helping with mild discomfort, but I do think that at times alternative medicine can work just as well with less side effects.

I would much rather give my toddler small doses of chamomile tea multiple times to help with teething or growing pains, rather than to continually give pain medication like Tylenol or ibuprofen.  I feel like these over-the-counter medications are prescribed a lot for everything recently.  This is probably due to the fact that very little medication is available and safe to use for children.

Keep in mind, chamomile tea does not help every child, but in lots of kids it is very helpful.  As we go through this medical journey, I am much more willing to try out some these “out of the pharmacy box” remedies instead of more medications.

For instance, we tried every cream, ointment, and medication available for diaper rash for over a year, and it never really helped and some made it worse.  We desperately looked for other options, and came across baking soda baths.  This cheap home remedy made the biggest difference in clearing the diaper rash completely!  For more information, check out this article, “Quick Ways to get rid of Diaper Rash (for Children and Adults)”.