Herbal Dosage Guidelines for Children

The following are suggested herbal dosage guidelines for children to help you know how much herbs, teas, and tinctures to give children. Please take note that these are general guidelines. The quality of the herbs, the child's weight and the child's overall health should be taken into consideration when figuring how much herbal tea or tincture is right for your child. 

The Herbal Toad states child safety in the 'more details' section of each product listing. The following guidelines as stated below, are for administering herbs that do not give specific amounts per child's age.

Breastfed Child Guidelines: To give herbs to an infant under four months of age, it is best for the breastfeeding mother to take full dose of the herb in order to deliver the remedy to the infant via mother's milk. 

Bottle Fed Child Guidelines: For babies who are bottle fed, a small amount of tincture or tea can be added to the bottle, or diluted in water, formula, breastmilk, or juice and given via a medicine dropper or spoon. Use a separate dropper to administer diluted tinctures as to not contaminate the tincture bottle.  Do not put tincture directly into a baby's mouth without first diluting.

A typical adult dose is 1 cup (8 oz.) for tea, and two squeezes of the dropper (about 60 drops)  for each tincture dose.  The following guidelines are based on this common dose. Please refer to the dosage recommendations on the product label. 

Child Guidelines for Herbal Tea and/or Tisane Dose

Unless otherwise stated, when the adult (age 12 and over) dose is one 8 oz. cup of tea, the following is recommended for children:

Age -- Dose
Younger than 2 years -- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon
2 to 4 years -- 2 teaspoons
4 to 7 years -- 1 tablespoon
7 to 11 years -- 2 tablespoons

For example, if an adult dose is 8 ounces of tea, the recommended dose for a 2 year old would be 2 teaspoons of tea.

Child Guidelines for Herbal Tincture Dose

Unless otherwise stated, when the adult dose is 2 squeezes of the dropper (60 drops), the following is recommended for children:

Age -- Dose
Younger than 3 months -- 2 drops
3 to 6 months -- 3 drops
6 to 9 months -- 4 drops
9 to 12 months -- 5 drops
12 to 18 months -- 7 drops
18 to 24 months -- 8 drops
2 to 3 years -- 10 drops
3 to 4 years -- 12 drops
4 to 6 years -- 15 drops
6 to 9 years -- 24 drops
9 to 12 years -- 30 drops

For example, if an adult dose is 2 squeezed of the dropper (60 drops) of tincture, 3 times a day; the recommended dose for a 2 year old would be 10 drops of tincture 3 times a day.

Alternate Ways to Determine a Child's Herb Dose:

Young's Rule - Add 12 to the child's age. Divide the child's age by this total. Example: dosage for a 4 year old: 4 divided by 16 (4+12) = .25, or 1/4 of the adult dosage.

Cowling's Rule - Divide the number of the child's next birthday by 24. Example: dosage for a child who is 3, turning 4 would be: 4 divided by 24 = .16, or 1/6 of the adult dosage.

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