by Aimee Keenan-Greene

The Food and Drug Administration is warning against giving infants teas and botanical supplements because these products have not been medically evaluated to treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says 9 percent of infants were given dietary botanical supplements and teas in their first year to help with fussiness, digestion, colic and relaxation. 

Many of the supplements and teas were marketed and sold specifically for infants.

The study complied surveys surveys of 2,653 healthy mothers with term or near-term infants between 2005 and 2007 and found mothers who fed their infants dietary botanical supplements and teas were more likely to have used such products themselves, and were more likely to breastfeed. Mothers may be unknowingly passing products along to their children through their milk.

Hispanic mothers were more likely to give infants these products than white mothers.

A number of national and international surveys show herbal use in children is on the rise.  It is estimated 28 to 40 percent of children may be exposed to herbal preparations for the management of asthma, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, insomnia, and respiratory infections.

Source: “Feeding of Dietary Botanical Supplements and Teas to Infants in the United States,” published in the June 2011 issue of Pediatrics 

Learn more about botanical drugs and  dietary supplements.