Importance Of Mother’s History During Pregnancy While Treating Children

A 2-month-old child was brought to me with skin complaints from her parents. I observed the child and asked various observations of parents about the child. Parents answered all the questions and then, I asked the mother about her history during pregnancy. They both were puzzled. I could see that but they answered all my questions. I treated the child based on the history given and she was completely better in a week. On a follow-up visit, the mother asked me, “Doctor, I have a query and if you don’t mind, can I ask you why you took my history during pregnancy while treating my daughter? Is it that important?” 

We all know the story of Abhimanyu from Mahabharata. For people who don’t know –

Abhimanyu was the courageous son of the great Arjuna. Arjuna was married to Krishna’s sister, Subhadra, and this story begins just before Abhimanyu was born. When Abhimanyu was in his mother’s womb, Sri Krishna used to take Subhadra on excursions. To humour her, Krishna used to relate many of his adventures to the pregnant Subhadra. On one such excursion, Krishna was narrating his experience with the technique of Chakra-vyuha and how step-by-step the various circles could be penetrated. Chakra-vyuha was a military formation that was an effective form of defence. The army would be arranged in the form of a circular grid and would then challenge the enemy to break that grid. Nonetheless, it seems that Subhadra did not find this topic interesting and she soon fell asleep. However, someone else was interested in Sri Krishna’s narration – the yet to be born Abhimanyu.

While Subhadra dozed off, Abhimanyu continued to carefully follow Sri Krishna’s narrative of the Chakra-vyuha. But, after talking for some time and not receiving any response from Subhadra, Sri Krishna realised that she was savouring a sweet nap. Sri Krishna, who had at that time come up to the seventh step of the Chakra-vyuha, gave up his narration and returned with Subhadra to the palace. The unfortunate Abhimanyu could never obtain the technique of breaking all the circles in the chakra-vyuha, but whatever he had heard Sri Krishna say, he carefully preserved in his memory. He grew up to be a brave, handsome young man. Many years later, during the Mahabharata war at Kurukshetra, the Kauravas set up a Chakra-vyuha and challenged the Pandavas to come forward and break it. However, only Arjuna (who was fighting elsewhere) knew the technique of doing so. At that stage, to save the honour of the Pandavas, Abhimanyu came forward and offered his services for the task of breaking the chakra-vyuha. Despite his incomplete knowledge of the technique he entered the grid and overcame one circle after another until he comes to the seventh one, the breaking of which he did not know. Brave and ambitious as he was, he fought valiantly in the unequal struggle but in vain. His strength and bravery proved no match against the skillfully laid out maze of warriors, upon fighting whom, he met his end.

This story highlights the importance of how the healthy mental growth of a child begins even before it is born, while still in its mother’s womb. Recent scientific findings support the same too.

In Homoeopathy, we believe the same; the mother’s state during pregnancy affects the child to be born. If a mother has gone through traumatic experiences during pregnancy, it manifests in the child. Whatever the mother has gone through during pregnancy reflects in the child’s personality.  That is why all mothers need to take care of themselves during pregnancy holistically.

Also, some changes observed during pregnancy in the mother’s psychology, cravings, aversions, dreams and physical symptoms help in selecting Homoeopathic medicine for the child as those changes are because of the fetus within and depict some symptoms of the child to be born. Symptoms of the child are manifested in the mother during pregnancy. It’s a mutual phenomenon and hence, both histories are important while treating children. 

E.g.: A 1-year-old kid was brought to me for a recurrent upper respiratory tract infection. The mother in her history mentioned that she had craving for oranges which she did not have before pregnancy and she was very irritable during pregnancy. After pregnancy, both these symptoms disappeared. Asking about her observations about her child, her child had the same craving and also child used to cry on trifles. The child was very sensitive. 

Not only the points mentioned above but the history of nutrition, drugs are taken during pregnancy, radiological scans performed, obstetric history of the mother, family history of mother’s and father’s side are also very important.

How can you help your Homoeopath in treating your child?

Make a pregnancy diary: 

Maintain a diary of your pregnancy and you can write day to day incidences, your feelings, intense emotional states, your cravings if any, dislikes, appetite, thirst, your dreams, any physical symptoms, discomfort, sleep patterns, any change in sensitivity to heat or cold, etc. 

This not only will help your Homoeopath understand your child better and treat them well but also will make you understand your child better from his/her womb days. To solve one more query of many parents, we can even treat a child as young as a newborn with Homoeopathy. It is a very safe and gentle mode of treatment that you can choose for your child.

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Have a healthy and happy childhood for your kid with Homoeopathy!

By.

Dr Kruti Trivedi Abhyankar

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