Turbo-charging your child’s defenses
Despite the fact that your child is bound to get ill sometimes, you can adopt the following healthy habits to give your child’s immune system a boost.
- Breastfeed your baby. Breast milk contains turbo-charged immunity enhancing antibodies and white blood cells. It guards against myriad health hazards, including ear infections, allergies, diarrhoea, pneumonia, meningitis, urinary tract infections, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Studies show that breastfeeding may also enhance your baby’s brainpower and protect her against insulin-dependent diabetes, Crohn’s disease, colitis, and certain forms of cancer later in life. Colostrum, the thin yellow pre-milk that flows from the breast during the first few days after birth, is especially rich in disease-fighting antibodies. For maximum benefit, experts recommend breastfeeding for a year and exclusively for the first 6 months.
Even if you manage to breastfeed for only a short while, every single bout of breastfeeding makes a difference to your child. Many mums give up breastfeeding because they find it difficult or painful. But breastfeeding should be neither: The key is to get as much support as possible, so ask your midwife, health visitor, or breastfeeding counsellor for help. - Serve more fruit and veg. All fruit and vegetables contain immunity-boosting phytonutrients such as vitamin C and carotenoids. Phytonutrients are believed to increase the body’s production of infection-fighting white blood cells and interferon, an antibody that coats cell surfaces to block out viruses. Studies show that a diet rich in phytonutrients can also protect against diseases such as cancer and heart disease in adulthood. Try to get your child to eat five servings of fruit and veg a day: A serving’s about two tablespoons for toddlers, or a piece of medium fruit (apple, orange), or two pieces of smaller fruit (plums, satsumas), or a 4-ounce portion of berries or veg for older children.
- Boost sleep time. Studies of adults show that sleep deprivation can make you more susceptible to illness by reducing natural killer cells, immune-system weapons that attack microbes and cancer cells. The same holds true for children.
- Exercise as a family. Research shows that exercise increases the number of natural disease-fighting cells in adults – and regular activity can benefit children in the same way. The lymphatic system is dependent on exercise to circulate efficiently, and so movement and exercise really are crucial to health. To get your children into a lifelong fitness habit, be a good role model.
- Guard against germ spread. Fighting germs doesn’t technically boost immunity, but is a great way to reduce stress on your child’s immune system. Make sure that your child washes her hands frequently – with soap. Pay particular attention to your child’s hygiene before and after meals and after playing outside, handling pets, blowing her nose, using the toilet, and arriving home after being at school, in the garden, and on public transport. When you’re out, carry disposable wipes for quick cleanups.
Here’s another key germ-busting strategy: If your child gets ill, throw out her toothbrush straight away. Your child can’t catch the same virus twice, but the virus can hop from toothbrush to toothbrush, infecting other family members. If your child has a bacterial infection, such as tonsillitis, then she can actually re-infect herself with the same germs that made her sick in the first place. - Banish second-hand smoke. If you or your partner smokes, quit. Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 toxins, most of which can irritate or kill cells in the body. Your child’s more susceptible than you to the harmful effects of second-hand smoke because she breathes at a faster rate and her natural detoxification system is less well developed. Breathing second-hand smoke increases your child’s risk of SIDS, bronchitis, ear infections, and asthma. It may also affect intelligence and neurological development. If you absolutely can’t stop smoking, then reduce your child’s health risks considerably by smoking only outside the house.
- Don’t overdo antibiotics. Urging your doctor for a prescription for antibiotics whenever your child has a cold or sore throat is a bad idea. Antibiotics treat only illnesses caused by bacteria, but the majority of childhood illnesses are caused by viruses.
Tags: boost child's immue system, improving your child's defenses, Turbo-charging your child’s defenses
Posted in Children's Health
