When I was a brand new mom eons ago, I bravely brought my 9-month old daughter shopping. While trying on items in a changing room, I noticed her chewing something. Upon reaching into her mouth to retrieve it, I pulled out a used band-aid – hazardous waste that another customer had recklessly discarded.

Naiveté and inexperience were justification for lack of prudent action. We drove home and hoped for the best. The next morning my baby was suffering a high fever, and I phoned our family doctor.

Thirty-seven years ago, I’d never heard of a pediatrician or an obstetrician. The family doctor delivered babies and performed both mother and baby’s routine check-up shortly after birth. Our sum total of baby-doctor visits, until now, was one. The obligatory babyhood visit schedule – 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, unending intervals – didn’t exist then.

Our doctor prescribed penicillin for my baby’s ear/throat infection, and I diligently administered the recommended dose. By nightfall the fever was subsiding, to my great relief, and I assumed we were en route to wellness again – until my baby awoke the following morning. Panic registered off the chart upon finding her entire tiny body covered in pastel pink dots.

Like any new mother urgently needing advice, I phoned a close friend who’d given birth to her first child twelve days before I did. She phoned a more experienced friend, who initiated two courses of action: Marge started a phone-prayer chain and phoned me personally with information about a remedy for infections.

The prayer influenced healing, in that it opened my mind to hear the universe whisper it was okay to disregard doctor’s orders and heed this wise woman’s advice. I wasn’t a fan of MDs anyway, after they’d failed me on a personal health issue, but this was my baby! Good mothers don’t take risks with their babies’ health.

Marge advised me that my daughter’s dots were an allergic reaction to penicillin. She also informed me that antibiotics are very detrimental because, not only do they attack invading bacteria, they also murder the body’s healthy bacteria, which are vital to warding off illness and for proper digestive function. Killing healthy bacteria often results in internal fungal infections, like oral thrush and candidiasis.

Marge recommended Liqui-Lea, Shaklee Corporation’s liquid multi-vitamin with high Vitamin A content. Vitamin A vanquishes infections, and Liqui-Lea is ideal for infants (or adults who can’t swallow pills). After receiving assurance the product could not harm my daughter, I began administering an adult dose of the liquid vitamin, and continued the course for four days.

Endure while I pause here to interject crucial tidbits. Not all Vitamin A is the same, and to prevent adverse outcomes, it’s critical to know the difference. When I address Vitamin A remedies, I’m referring to the food-derived, beta-carotene form – the type found in raw carrots.

The difference between natural Vitamin A and lab-fabricated Vitamin A is both subtle and immense. Fabricated Vitamin A, contained in cheap supplements, isn’t food, but rather a chemical concoction with a molecular design identical to that of the natural nutrient. Medical science claims there’s no difference, but unlike food-derived nutrients, Lab-A is incapable of nourishing a human body. Non-food vitamins merely tickle cells a bit, and in higher than recommended doses, are as toxic to humans as eating lawn fertilizer. You can’t overdose on carrots, but excess artificial Vitamin A ingestion can lead to serious health issues, including bone pain, pressure on the brain, and liver damage. People seeking better health via food supplements must select genuine products. Avoid Walmart and drug stores: they don’t stock what you want.

Time-traveling back again 37 years, beta-carotene super-doses killed my daughter’s infection within hours. But we continued the recommended child’s dose of Liqui-Lea for good measure. Immediately I observed a notable difference in my baby’s alertness, compared to the pre-vitamin era. She averaged three full hours more awake time each day, and her appetite improved. I never reported back to the MD.

Unlike thousands of children who undergo repeated courses of prescription antibiotics for chronic ear infections, and eventually end up having surgery to insert tubes in their ears, my daughter never suffered a second infection throughout her entire childhood. Neither did my boys.

Beta-carotene isn’t the only warrior that conquers microscopic enemies. Nature gave us equally effective ammunition in silver. Colloidal silver will kill streptococci on contact. High potency manuka honey (type of flower) eradicates most bacterial strains. All products are widely available, and unlike prescription antibiotics, have no adverse side effects. (A probiotic supplement must be taken to replenish healthy bacteria after internal use of colloidal silver). I keep colloidal silver on hand for cuts, eye or throat infections, etc.

Even life threatening infections are no match for natural remedies. A year ago in February, a friend ended up on oxygen when a bronchitis infection settled in her lungs. Meg drowned at age 3, and after resuscitation, never regained greater than 40% normal lung function. Despite nine months of treatment with powerful antibiotics and steroids, her pulmonary doctor informed my friend that she’d be under hospice care within a year. Her body’s oxygen levels were falling, her brain and heart were swelling, and the doc was out of ideas. Meg was handed a death sentence at age 62.

I’d pestered Meg since the infection’s onset to try specific naturopathic remedies, instead of the drugs that were stealing her life. She’d made a lukewarm effort (to appease me), but wasn’t convinced – until hearing the doctor’s verdict. Meg stocked up on colloidal silver, an oxygen supplement, mixed carotenes, and a probiotic (good bacteria).

After a few months of diligent compliance, even this stubborn, very dangerous infection cleared. Meg continued probiotic and oxygen supplements, and by March, she was hopping happy – her blood oxygen level registered 98% for the first time in her adult life. Meg hopes to soon be rid of her oxygen tank.

Anyone intent on attaining optimum health will make greater progress upon realizing that it isn’t necessary to consult MDs to quash bacterial infections.