Is Your Child Having a Detox Reaction?

By Stephanie Ray, ND, BCN, Naturopath, Herbal Formulator, and Mom

A detox reaction in kids can look confusing and even a little scary. There is a perception that a detox reaction is an “adverse reaction” to a dietary or herbal supplement. At BIORAY®, from our clinical experience, this is most often a sign that it is “too much, too soon” for your child’s body to comfortably remove toxins. Technically, it means more toxins are being stirred up than the organs of elimination can handle, and the colon, liver, and GI tract are not able to filter and move them out as well as they need to.

Signs of a Detox Reaction in Kids

White bumps on the skin
Red bumps on the skin
Cranky temperament
“Nopey” attitude
Stomach aggravations
Sluggish bowels

How to Address These Symptoms

First, an acknowledgment: you are a great parent and you know your child best. You interact with them and observe them as one of the top 3–4 people in their universe. The information you have gathered is gold because it can tell you where to start with your child and avoid uncomfortable body sensations and personality discord in everyone’s life.

The first place to begin with anyone, and especially your child, is from the bottom up! As a clinician, we look at:

Bowel function
Liver symptoms
Gastrointestinal function and symptoms

We cannot begin to remove heavy metals, chemicals, or unwanted organisms until these systems are all functioning well and moving things in the right direction: down.

Getting the bowels moving 1–3 times per day, looking like the shape of a banana and soft as one too, is optimal — this is a #4 on the Bristol Stool Chart.

Liver Support for Kids

Liver congestion is common for kids living in cities, playing in parks, or being around air pollution. Supporting the liver means that the liver is able to take a toxic substance in your child's body, make it less toxic (Phase I & II detox pathways), and gently move it out through the urinary or fecal route.

Here’s where the bowels come in:
If the bowels are sluggish or not moving enough, toxins back up into the body and get recirculated again!

GI Tract Support

The GI (gastrointestinal) tract is your child’s first line of defense against unwanted invaders because it houses the majority of their immune responders. This is what helps keep your child safe from the “uglies” in the world.

Your child’s GI may be aggravated or have small holes (leaky gut) in the membrane — a common condition in today’s world, I am sorry to say. What does not get digested and assimilated by the GI will:

go through those holes (if leaky gut is present) into the bloodstream and down to the liver to be filtered out, or
with the GI tract in a state of irritation, block communication to the brain.

The body tries many ways to maintain homeostasis, or balance, and this is one of them.

How to Stop a Detox Reaction

If your child is having any of the common detox reaction irritations or aggravations, here is what you do:

Cut the intake of their remedies/dietary supplements in half.
Give water with lemon; add a teaspoon of maple syrup if they are not complying.
Make sure bowels are moving. If not sufficiently, try one of the following: George’s Aloe Juice (tasteless), Carlson’s castor oil, or NDF Pooper.
Wait 30 minutes to 2 hours. If this does not stop the irritations, give activated charcoal, more water with lemon and maple syrup, and stop the supplements or food. Increase bowel movements.

This drainage technique has been used for decades by Chinese herbalists and Naturopaths as it is gentle and effective.

Evaluate the “Bottom Up” Issues

If your child needs support in any of these areas, here are the remedies I recommend:

NDF Pooper® moistens and lubricates the intestines, helping ease bowel movements without force or urgency.
NDF Calm® is gentle and effective, helping restore emotional balance by supporting the liver to filter toxins.
NDF Tummy® is an 11-strain probiotic lysate blend of beneficial microbes that help crowd out the bad ones.

The Good News

The thing to know is that we can manage this for our kids. This is not too difficult of a “fix.” It takes some time — taking in the right supplements, eating the right foods, drinking the right amount of water (½ your child’s weight in ounces of water each day is a good rule of thumb), and playing. Play releases happy hormones and helps the brain grow its capacity for social interaction and create new neural pathways.

What we’re doing is giving a child what they need to allow their inner healer to stay awake. Over time, with exposure and not enough organ support, we can see symptoms appear and the inner healer go to sleep.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine we say, “awaken the inner healer,” and this is exactly what you are doing as active and caring parents when you listen to your child and have good herbs, water, and foods available to them.