1. Reduce or eliminate white sugar from your child's diet.
Here's the thing that no one told me when my son was a baby. Sugar can lower your child's (and your own) immune system function almost immediately. If your child is ingesting sugar continuously throughout the day, even in small quantities, his or her immune system may be in a constant state of depressed function.
2. Wash hands, and wash hands again.
The single best way to avoid exposure this way is to have your child wash their hands frequently - and with soap. Worried about their thoroughness? Have them sing the "happy birthday" song through in its entirety, while they rub their hands and fingers with the soap. When they're finished singing, it's time to rinse the soap off.
3. Give your Child Vitamin C -- and more Vitamin C.
Vitamin C is found in predominantly in fruits and vegetables. Oranges have the most well-known reputation, but other fruits and veggies have as much vitamin C as oranges or more: kiwis, mangoes, papayas, red bell peppers are all high in vitamin C. Try also goji berries - we mix it into our son's oatmeal, it can even be eaten as a snack on its own, or even baked into bread...
4. Consider Other Beneficial Supplements.
Probiotics, whether from yogurt, or in supplement form, can also play an important role in bolstering your child's digestive health and immunity.
Astragalus has long been used by Chinese medicine (and also is grown here in the U.S.) as one of the most effective ingredients in any immune tonic. Astragalus can often be purchased as a tincture from your local health food store as well, and is a particularly good choice if your child has swollen glands.
5. Become an expert on your child's poop (and general digestive health).
One important way to assess your children's health can be by observing their bowel movements. Some variation in stools is normal. Examples of problems would be a tendency toward constipation, loose stools, undigested food in the stool, pain in the belly or when passing a stool, lots of gas, or alternating diarrhea and constipation, consistent foul smell to your child's poop. Any of these as longstanding patterns warrant a trip to your primary health provider.
6. Try gentle massage and acupressure.
To strengthen your children's health, I also recommend doing basic acupressure and massage techniques daily. Parents can use the digestive massage techniques of spinal rolling, tummy circles, belly massage and acupressure.
For video demonstration of these techniques, check out http://www.mommyser.com.
7. Eliminate Environmental Irritants
Here's a list of some things you can ask yourself, or start to notice as you look at your child's different environments - home, school, out-of-doors.
o Do we have pets? Do my child's symptoms get better or worse when they spend time on the floor in our house or playing with the pets?
o How does my child's daycare smell when I first walk in? Is it a new building? An old building?
o Do we have scented candles, room deodorizers, incense sticks in our house?
o Do we clean infrequently? How often are things dusted?
o Do we use a lot of chemicals, bleach, etc to clean our house? How's my child's energy, behavior, sleep, on days when its just been cleaned?
o Does anyone smoke in our house?
8. Maintain a healthy diet for your child.
A well-balanced diet, may be, above all, the most important gift that you can give your children's health.
9. Help your children get their ZZZs.
This may seem basic, but one of my great struggles as a parent was to understand that the amount of sleep my son Aidan needed, and the amount of sleep he thought he needed were two different things. And while his enthusiasm for playing and reading books and exploring has always trumped his desire to sleep, without his beauty sleep his health and immune system suffers.
10. Provide a Loving and Low Stress Home for your Child.
My best suggestions for a typical 21st century household? Number One: be sure that you are taking care of yourself - like the favorite airplane analogy: put on your mask first, then assist your child. Make sure that you, as a parent, are following the preceding nine suggestions as best you can, getting adequate sleep, exercise, nutrients and rest. Its easiest for our children to get on board the behaviors that we are modeling to them.
The suggestions I give here are not remedies for swine flu, they are not meant to be. However, one old Chinese proverb says, "a man is not sick because he has an illness. He has an illness because he is sick." If your child's immune system is healthy, it can tackle invaders that they will never even know have been there. We may not be able to control our children's exposure to swine flu, but we can help them to be ready and healthy in the face of any exposure. As always, a healthy immune system is the universal remedy.
Mommy's ER is dedicated to natural children's health. We are licensed health professionals and parents who have dedicated ourselves to increasing the awareness and availability of natural health solutions for children. Jennifer Crain is the founder and owner of Mommy's ER and an eastern health clinic in Austin, TX - the Goji Seed. For more information, visit http://www.mommyser.com
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