If you’re new to using herbs and other natural remedies, but you want to start somewhere, now is the perfect time to get going.
School is back in session and cold and flu season are just around the corner. This is the time of the year to start focusing on making sure our kids immune systems are strong and healthy so they can withstand the increase in viral illnesses that come along with colder weather.
Today I want to talk about 5 things you can be doing that will help your child’s immune system to be strong and healthy… naturally of course. So if you’re looking for ideas on how to do this or if your child seems to be sick constantly throughout the year, this post is for you!
5 Ways To Naturally Boost Your Child’s Immune System
So where do you start when it comes to keeping your kid healthy so they have a properly functioning immune system?
You begin when your child is healthy! Yes, when they are NOT sick. Like now.
Below I’ll be discussing 5 areas to focus on to help your child have a healthy immune system as well as sharing resources that can help you do it.
Each of these areas are listed in order of priority. If you try to skip the harder parts and cut to the easier stuff, you may get some decent results, but not the results you’re looking for.
1. Nutrition
The first step, the very foundation, of having a strong immune system is nutrition, and most times a balanced, real food diet will do the trick at providing your child’s body with the nutrients it needs.
If you need some help in this area, I’d advise you to start now and slowly replace processed foods with real foods, eat out less often and cook from home more, try meal planning, and prep meals ahead of time if time is an issue for you.
2. Good Hygiene
The second step, which is another foundation to a strong immune system, is good hygiene. You need to teach kids when and how to wash their hands. Not only is it just plain clean and healthy to wash your hands at appropriate times, but it can really cut down on catching the crud that goes around this time of the year. Gross!
If washing hands isn’t an option, using an essential oil hand sanitizer when you’re in a pinch is the next best option.
3. Toxic-Free Environment
Okay, so I know it’s pretty difficult to avoid all toxins these days, but when it comes to keeping your kids body strong and healthy, cutting back on unnecessary toxins in the home environment can play a huge role in helping their immune system function as it was made to. This includes too many electromagnetic frequencies, toxins in skin care products and household cleaners, as well as toxins in their foods.
Make or buy your own skincare products and household cleaners, turn your wi-fi off at night and use a defender pad on your tablets and laptops, shop organic when it comes to the dirty dozen and cut WAY back on processed foods. These three simple things will go far when it comes to your health!
4. Internal Supplements
Okay, so if you’re at this point, you’re saying that your kid eats a nutritious diet, washes their hands correctly at all the right times, and isn’t overly exposed to lots of toxins in the home environment.
The next thing to consider when it comes to a properly functioning immune system is internal supplements.
My first recommendation would be my Ultimate Immune Boosting Elderberry Syrup. Not only does it contain herbs that have been shown to boost the immune system by increasing white blood cell production in the body, but it contains herbs that are stimulating and have a lot of vitamin c in them as well. Stimulating herbs help to warm the body up and get the blood moving, and when the blood gets moving, the immune system can fight faster. Plus, vitamin c is one of the best vitamins at boosting the immune system and can help to decrease the duration and severity of viral illnesses.
My second recommendation would be echinacea root tincture (alcohol-free version here). Echinacea has been shown in many studies to increase white blood cell production and is a great herbal remedy to take during the first 24 hours of a cold. It really helps to rev the body up and get the immune system moving to fight off whatever has hit you.
5. External Supplements
Now when it comes to external supplements, my go-to is diffusing essential oils.
Not only is diffusing essential oils the safest and most popular way to use essential oils, but it works to get the oil’s chemicals into the blood stream quickly which means they can stimulate the body into action fast.
My first recommendation when diffusing essential oils would be to use them to detox or clean the air, and this would be more as a preventative or to keep a sickness from spreading. I’d do this by using oil blends like Plant Therapy’s KidSafe Germ Destroyer synergy blend as it discourages pathogens that may be in the air of settling on the surfaces in your home.
My next recommendation would be to use an essential oil blend like Plant Therapy’s KidSafe Immune Boom if a cold or illness were going around in your community or if someone else in your family were sick. This would help to encourage the immune system to rev up so it could fight off whatever it’s exposed to quicker than if you didn’t use it.
Does This Mean My Kid Won’t Get Sick If I Boost Their Immune System
So you may be wondering… if you follow these 5 healthy steps that benefit your child’s immune system, will your child NOT get sick.
The answer is, “No… they could still get sick… but it’s less likely.”
These 5 steps are not “for sure” ways to keep your kid from getting a cold. They are natural options to help your child be and stay as healthy as possible.
Kid’s immune systems are growing… learning may be a better word… every day in ways that help them to better function in their surroundings. This growth helps their immune system to defend their bodies against outside invaders. It takes time and exposure to do it well which is why adults are sick less often than children.
I also think it’s important to know that the body’s immune system is a very intricate system and that it’s well-designed to keep the body from harm. Most times, it’s already working really well and doesn’t need much help from us at all. Our job as parents is to provide our children with environments that keep their bodies healthy so that they continue to work as they were created to. When we feed out kids good food, we provide environments they can thrive in, and we teach them how to minimize exposure to germs, we’re doing a lot to help them stay healthy with those simple actions.
You’re not always going to be able to keep your kids from becoming ill when you boost their immune system, but your efforts it can help to decrease the severity and duration of the illness.
Now it’s your turn. What do you do to boost your child’s immune system in preparation for back to school or cold and flu season. Let me know your tips in the comment section below!
This post was underwritten by Plant Therapy. All opinions are mine. Plant Therapy offers 100%, pure, undiluted essential oils sourced from some of the top essential oil suppliers in the world. They have single oils and synergy blends as well as a line of synergy blends specific to children. Not only do they offer high-quality essential oils, but they also offer carrier oils, hydrosols, and other essential oil accessories to help you keep yourself and your home naturally healthy.
Great tips Meagan! I strongly agree with number 1-Nutrition. You know when meals are nutritious if you have a colorful plate–greens, reds, orange foods are rich in Vit C; Milk–Vit D and maybe introduce yogurt to the kids for some probiotics–the immune booster!
Although I read somewhere that exposure to germs is also good. There is a theory called “”hygiene hypothesis.” It supports the notion that children who grew up in less clean environments (e.g. house with pets) has stronger immune systems than those who grew up in squeaky clean homes. Also hand sanitizers are said to cause asthma, but your DIY kid friendly sanitizer is a life saver. Kudos to you!
Anyway, children are children. They’ll have to live and will eventually get sick. Being cautious is not wrong, but sometimes our instincts is enough and I mean doing what is best for our family. We were kids too and I remember feeling so much better with just a kiss and a hug from mom. Don’t you agree?
I totally agree with you Adam! I believe in not having your child’s environment germ-free which is why I don’t stress over homemade cleaners not having the disinfecting qualities that store-bought cleaners have. I’m not looking to disinfect my home… this isn’t a hospital. I’m just looking to keep germs at a minimum… especially when they’re going around like crazy. And yes, I do think it’s wise for parents to work at boosting their kids immune system as it not only helps keep our kids in a healthier state overall, but it helps our child’s body to respond quicker and more efficiently when exposed to germs. Like I said in the post… boosting your kid’s immune system isn’t going to KEEP them from getting sick, but it can help to shorten the duration or severity of the illness. Thanks for your comment!
We love the elderberry, echinacea, cultured foods and fire cider for our immune systems!
Oh I love fire cider Jill! My kids… not so much. LOL!
We use elderberry, astragalus, carrot juice, essential oils, probiotics and bone broths to keep my kiddos healthy. We also eliminated grains, dairy and refined sugar. Seeing much more success this fall with the supplements and changes 🙂
Thanks for sharing Rachel! I love hearing what other natural mamas are doing!
Great post. another thing to add is to make sure to get plenty of sleep. This always is a must @ our house! :0
Definitely, Heidi! That’s a great addition. Thanks for your input!
Interesting post. One thing about environmental toxicity: you probably want to eliminate plastics as much as you can. This means that even the plastics that are marketed as BPA-free, and hence supposedly safe, are likely not — there just isn’t enough longitudinal data yet to suggest that they are for sure unsafe, but some evidence is now emerging suggesting that the BPA-free stuff might be even worse than the original. So before worrying about things like “wifi,” I would replace the plastic food containers, sippy cups, utensils and so forth with non-reactive materials like glass or ceramics.
Ugh! It’s never-ending, isn’t it, Tanya! Yes, you are definitely right! Plastics are no good. We’re in the process of getting rid of all plastics (especially those in the kitchen) this year. I still can’t help but be concerned about the wifi, but starting somewhere and working towards living a more non-toxic lifestyle is the goal. Thanks for your input! I really appreciate it!
Hello. Thank you for sharing this. I’ve seen only negative information regarding Echinacea for children under twelve. Can someone please share more? Thanks!
Hi Meagan Im a mom of a beautiful almost two year old girl. were from South Africa. do you have any home remedies to boost my little one iron? she gets sick allot becuase her iron drops fast. we are on ferramed and vitamin C everyday twice a day and we follow a strict diet for iron defiency children. but we seem not to break away from common sinusitis and a very wet cough that just cause us to doctor visits on a every three week basis back in a shopping bag full of medicine and physio therapy for a week. the the cough dries up all goes good for two weeks and then we start again. if you have any advice please or any home remedy for us. we just would lime to be without medicine for one month. Regards.
Hi, Liza. First of all, are you sure the low iron levels are associated with the constant cough and sinusitis? Low iron would affect her energy levels and color more so than causing her to get sick. Frequent sickness has more to do with your white blood cells and immune system. Vitamin c is a great thing to keep up with, but you want to make sure your taking a whole food version, not a synthetic version. You may also want to look into adaptagen and immunomodulating herbs that will help strengthen her immune system. These can be used long-term and along with herbs for cough. If you’re looking for a good herbal remedy for coughs, I have many on my blog. Just search for “cough” in the search bar on the right hand side of the screen, and they will show up. Hope this helps some!
Hi Megan how do you feel about vaccination I just had my 3rd baby an I’m thinking about its side effects
We don’t vaccinate, Arlene, but that’s definitely a personal decision that my husband and I made before we had our first baby. I would never tell someone to vaccinate or not vaccinate. I think that every family and lifestyle is different. For us, it wasn’t a fit, but that doesn’t mean that’s the right choice for everyone. I’d encourage you to read information on both sides. It’s hard to find unbiased info, and both sides can try to scare you into making a decision. However, knowing which illnesses are most likely, what they’re like, how to approach them naturally, and what kind of medical care may be needed are all things to look into. One of my favorite vaccine books is written by midwife, herbalist, and medical doctor, Aviva Romm. It’s called Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parents Guide. It gives you a good overview, but you’ll still want to look into some other things on your own. We also bought The Truth About Vaccines DVD series that Ty Bollinger did this past year. I haven’t watched all of it yet, but there’s some really interesting things in it! Anyway, I hope this helps. Again, let me encourage you to seek out high-quality information, assess your own families health and lifestyle (since you will be the ones dealing with an illness if it comes up) in order to know which path is a fit for you, and to pray about it and seek wise council.
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