Although parents need to know which alternative therapies are good for their children and which should be avoided, doctors increasingly believe there is no reason to exclude children from their benefits.

Alternative medicine has been shown to be effective when OTC medications were not. For example, illnesses such as cold and coughs have been successfully treated with honey in children over the age of one.

“There is a huge place for complementary and alternative medicine in pediatrics,” says Dr Dolores Mendelow, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School.

She adds that CAM therapies are becoming increasingly popular and are safe and effective if conducted under the supervision of a physician.

In particular, she singles out acupuncture, nutritional supplements and herbal or botanical therapies as holding the greatest promise for common childhood illnesses.

Other therapies include yoga, which may benefit asthmatic patients by teaching deep breathing techniques and reduce reduce stress in teens and adolescents, as well as tai chi and probiotics.

According to a joint survey by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , almost 40 percent of adults and over 10 percent of children sought alternative medicine help for a range of health problems in 2007.