Review: Camilia by Boiron

05/26/2015

Written by: @michaelkwan

I’ll be reviewing the Camilia product for teething. The care package I received from Boiron Canada (which seems to have different packaging than its American counterpart) did include several other items too. I’ve highlighted these in this quick unboxing video.

Just when you think you might be starting to get the whole “sleep through the night” thing figured out, it happens. Your precious little one starts crying in uncontrollable pain in the middle of the night, because she’s teething. Most parents will know that there are innumerable baby teething products on the market. You’ve got your hard plastic rings, you’ve got those gel-filled soft teethers and you’ve got the old trick of putting a damp cloth in the fridge for her to gum on.

When the teething pain gets to be too much and her irritability becomes absolutely inconsolable, none of those teething toys are going to work. At least they stopped working for us. In an effort to provide some relief while avoiding the heavy pharmaceuticals, we decided to give the Camilia product from Boiron Canada a try. Camilia is a homeopathic medicine for babies aged 1-30 months, meant to provide relief from the painful gums, restlessness and diarrhea caused by teething.

As I mentioned, the medicine contains no sugar, no dye and no preservatives. Instead, it is formulated with sterile water and has a neutral taste. Each unit-dose is individually packaged in a drinkable form, not unlike the frozen pops you’d find at the supermarket, but obviously in a much smaller size. They are one millilitre each and you simply break off the end and squeeze the tube, administering the liquid medicine orally, directly into your baby’s mouth.

Because it’s neutral in taste, Camilia is supposed to be easy to administer. In our experience, this was only partly the case. You have to realize that the only reason why you’d be giving Camilia to your little one in the first place is because she is clearly in discomfort and desires some relief. She’s going to be extra fussy, so trying to hold her in a regular seated position while you squirt some liquid in her mouth could be a challenge. For us, she shook her head and arched her back repeatedly, so we could only get some of the medicine in there at a time.

I should also mention that she clearly was not a fan of the orally-administered immunization at the local clinic either. Given that, she may have associated the two experiences. Your mileage may vary.

Now, I can’t say for sure whether it was because of our (clearly exceptional) parenting skills, the simple passage of time, or the administration of the Camilia medicine. What I can say is that after about an hour of fussing, she really did calm down and was able to get back to sleep. Seeing how you can give up to three unit-doses at 15-minute intervals (to a maximum of 12 doses per day), that should give you enough flexibility to provide some relief.

Is Camilia easy to administer? Compared to the usual oral syringe, I’d say so. Is it safe for the baby? It still has cryptic and esoteric-sounding active ingredients, like ferrum phosphoricum and belladonna. I am neither a scientist nor a doctor, so I’ll defer that question to the medical professionals. But does it work? For us, I’d give it an optimistic maybe. It certainly didn’t make the situation any worse. And for parents, sometimes that’s good enough.

Boiron Camilia can be found online, as well as though many pharmacies and natural food stores.