Kids Immune Support To Prevent the Childcare Colds
Ahh the dreaded daycare sickness. They seem never ending, and it goes from runny nose, to potty issues, bad sleep, poor eating, fevers, non-stop. It seems like kids are always sick, and when fall hits, that runny nose may last until March! Unfortunately, it seems like there is no way to stop this.
Modern day diets for kids are juices, milk, tons of fruit, and packaged goods. While this isn’t all bad, and our kids definitely aren’t malnourished, they are vitamin deficient and as such their immune systems are significantly weaker. Some of this comes from out soil nutrients being depleted, some comes from our healthy foods, being loaded with sugar. For example, fruit is great, but fruit juice is just a pure form of sugar where all the other fiber and nutrition has been removed, and the only thing left for our bodies to digest is sugar. Gummy vitamins are dental nightmares - the sugar in them is a large cause of cavities in children and most of the vitamins they claim to have are actually not readily used by our bodies. I would truly save your money if you are debating on gummy vitamins for your kids.
In this house, when someone is sick or when they feel something coming on we focus on a couple different aspects.
Remove Unbeneficial Foods: First we remove dairy, wheat, and sugar to our best ability. That means most dairy products become goat based (goat milk yogurt, goat milk kefir, goat cheese). We try to use A2 milk or just not use it at all. This also means more meat, whole fruits, and vegetables. If you have a picky kids you can always do potatoes or something as well - just really try to use whole foods. Most of my recipes will naturally follow these standards - so feel free to explore and choose whatever sounds good for your family.
Help the Body Fight Infection: We focus on gut health and providing probiotics and prebiotics to help their body fight off any sickness. We don’t want anything sitting in their body. This typically means a Goats Milk Kefir and Fruit Smoothie in the morning. We do add Kids Greens from Organifi into this as well. I will add some gut health recipes below!
Up the Vitamin C and add Germ Fighting Food: We make a ginger (or garlic) lemonade, and add maple syrup (for 6+ to 1 yr old) and honey for all others. This is too taste, and the benefits of honey are big when it comes to fighting illness and respiratory health. I will add the instructions and recipe below for this lemonade!
Ease Symptoms: Whenever there is a runny nose or persistent cough, it can be hard to help a infant - even with the snot suckers. So we do ‘Saunas’ 1-2 times a day we turn the shower on super hot and let the bathroom steam up. Then once its steamed, we go into the bathroom, fill the tub with warm water and a couple drops of eucalyptus and lemon oil, then hang out as long as we can! It works miracles. We also add in a high humidifier at night. There is a company called Oilogic that creates a bubble bath for colds for babies that works great as well.
Supplement: When Fall hits and it seems like illness’s take off, we make sure to give a infant/toddler multivitamin that has Zinc in it to really support the immune system and fill in any nutritional gaps. Dr. Green Mom, and Mary Ruth have some great versions of this. My favorite is Dr. Green Mom Essential Immune Support.
Immune Supporting Smoothie Recipes for Infants and Toddlers:
*Kefir, Strawberries, and Pumpkin Seeds
Take 1 Take 1 Cup of Kefir, about 3 strawberries, and 1 tbsp of pumpkin seeds and blend together until smooth.
If you use frozen strawberries, I would heat them up first - or this smoothie may be a bit too cold for sick kiddos as warm foods are typically more comforting.
*Kefir, Blueberries, and Sunflower Butter
Take 1 cup of Kefir, about 1/4 cup of blueberries, and 1 tsp of sunflower butter. Blend until smooth.
Mango Green Juice
Take 1 /2 cup of Kefir, 1 scoop of Organifi Green Juice for Kids, and 1/2 cup of frozen mango. Blend until smooth.
This is my toddlers favorite smoothie!
*If you can’t find Kefir, Goats Milk or Coconut Yogurt will work - just make sure to get plain with no added flavor as those are typically loaded with sugar. Around 14g in one serving! We want to make our own fruit flavor with fresh fruit so we get the full benefits of immune supporting vitamins and minerals.
Play around with the fruit if you would like, berries will offer the most antioxidants and bananas and mangoes will be the sweetest if you are struggling getting your kids to drink!
Ginger Cold Destroyer Lemonade:
This is probably the better tasting of the 2 Lemonade Flavors - ginger has bit more sweetness, but also a lot more zing or as my daughter likes to say ‘it’s spiiicy!”
Ingredients:
2 inch piece of ginger
1-2 whole lemons
Honey (for over 1 year old) or Maple Syrup (for 6mo - 1 yr old)
How to:
Peel the ginger (if you have never done this before, ginger is very soft and can be peeled with a spoon). And dice it into small pieces.
Place it in a large jar (about 4 cups)
Boil water and pour it over the ginger and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.
Squeeze the juice from 1 whole lemon, and you can add more to taste if you really enjoy it.
Add honey or maple syrup, based on your child’s age - to sweetness preference. Try not to overdo it, but it will be ok. I would start with 1 tbsp and try it. If you like it see if you kid will like it as well. Serve warm (not hot or boiling) if you child is currently sick so it is a bit more comforting and soothing.
Garlic Lemonade:
Garlic has amazing antimicrobial properties. There is even garlic ear drops for a kids ear infection if you are limiting antibiotics that work great!
Ingredients:
4 cloves of garlic
1-2 whole lemons
Honey (for over 1 year old) or Maple Syrup (for 6mo - 1 yr old)
How to:
Dice garlic cloves. If you crush or smash it, it will be veryy strong tasting.
Place it in a large jar (about 4 cups)
Boil water and pour it over the garlic and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.
Squeeze the juice from 1 whole lemon, and you can add more to taste if you really enjoy it.
Add honey or maple syrup, based on your child’s age - to sweetness preference. Try not to overdo it, but it will be ok. I would start with 1 tbsp and try it. If you like it see if you kid will like it as well. Serve warm (not hot or boiling) if you child is currently sick so it is a bit more comforting and soothing.
Green Mango Smoothie
