My girls go back to school next week and that means germs and virus season. They have been so healthy this summer it’s been great! When school starts back up, they hug their friends, they wipe their noses and they share everything, it’s inevitable. There are some things that you can do to help your child’s immune system work at their full potential. Here are some things I do to try and give my girls bodies their best shot!

1. Gut Health (probiotics)

Gut health is important because about 80% of our immune system lives in there. You know how when your toddler eats something off the floor and people say “oh, it’s fine, it helps build a strong immune system!”, they are totally right! Introducing your body to a multitude of different bacteria at an early age will teach your immune system that not everything is bad. It teaches your body balance which is great because a balanced gut flora will keep your body in line. If it gets out of balance, something called a “leaky gut” will occur and your body will respond with inflammation (ie disease). The goal here is to prevent this from happening. We all know probiotics are good for you and are recommended by doctors, however did you know that it can seriously help your child’s immune system? Your child needs to take a probiotic daily in order to build and maintain a good gut flora. This can be achieved through foods such as yogurt. I do not like to give my girls high sugar filled yogurts. Instead I buy a plain yogurt and put raw local honey in it with some granola or berries. They love it! I use raw local honey because it helps with their allergies, it has antibacterial/ anti-fungal power and also boots their immune system. Double whammy in their snack! I also give them a daily oral probiotic just in case they skip their yogurt that day. The key is to have probiotics in your body daily to keep their gut flora healthy. The one I love for my toddler is SmartyPants Probiotic. My older girls take swallow pills so they take Lovebug Probiotics. I love both of these products! My youngest drinks kombucha with me daily as well which has a lot of health benefits and she loves the taste! When it doubt, try to get your probiotics from whole foods, but if you can’t, supplementing is just fine!

2. Whole Foods

It’s important to give your kids as much whole clean foods as you can. However I’m a mom of 3 and with my experience, I have learned that all my original thinking of how I will feed my kids, went straight out the window haha. I was only going to give my kids whole, unprocessed foods. I was going to have them eat the rainbow and because they grew up that way, they will always love it right?! Wrong! I laugh at my old way of thinking now. My oldest is the pickiest eater. It’s a running joke that if she could, she would live the rest of her life eating nothing but bread and steak and be happy. My middle loves most veggies and will pretty much try anything, she is my best eater by far. My youngest just wants snacks. You can sell her on dinner only if you call it a snack. She also doesn’t really like meat and likes most veggies but will take 3 bites of her meal and want to take off. So, feeding kids isn’t what I thought it would be. They all ate wonderful until age 2 and then one day they decided they hated everything and the bribery began haha. The thing that has saved me is letting them dip veggies in whatever gets them to eat them and smoothies! A green smoothie is the easiest way for me to get some veggies and micro-nutrients into my kids. Here’s what I put in it:

• Large handful of spinach
• 1 cup frozen fruit (I did half pineapple half mango)
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 mandarin orange
• 2 tbsp collagen

*Blend!*

I don’t use juice because of the added sugar. The point of this smoothie is to get them as many vitamins as possible without turning it into a dessert or milkshake. Trust me though, it’s still sweet and delicious! Adding a few fruits will give it the natural sweet with all the micro-nutrients needed. Spinach is best absorbed when it is combined with an acid and a fat. I added the mandarin for acid and also vitamin c. The coconut milk has the fat needed in it to help absorption. For my oldest, I put 1 tsp of MCT oil in her smoothie to up her calories since she is underweight and needs the extra calories per her doctor. Also, MCT (medium chain triglycerides) act as brain food which is great to assist with memory and function. The collagen is for their joints, added gut health, muscles, hair and skin. It’s just an amazing booster to add to a daily drink for the kiddos and you! I usually split this smoothie between two of them, sometimes all 3 depending how much there is since I kind of eyeball the measurements. It equals to about a cup per kid. This is their favorite after school snack every day!

3. Hydration:

This can be hard with some kids. We know how important it is to keep us healthy but we also know it can be hard to convince your kids to actually drink their water. I bought these Simple Modern Water Bottles for my girls and they love them! They are 14 ounces so if they drink 2-3 per day, they are good to go for their body weight. I have an adult size one that I put decals on and something as simple as stickers got my girls excited. I mean who wouldn’t want to drink out of a fun decorated bottle. Personalized touches are the best! I add some fruit such as lemon and make “lemonade” according to my toddler and she is happy as can be. The Detox Water that Steph posted would be great for your kiddos! Anything to make water taste even better!

4. Backpack Hand Sanitizers:

When it comes to school, they can’t always wash their hands. Washing with regular soap and water is best and my girls know that. As soon as they get home from school they wash their hands in the bathroom. However, at school this isn’t practical. That’s why I send them with cute mini hand sanitizers. I get them these cute ones from Bath and Body because they are themed and fun! No they are not all natural and I know for sure there are better hand sanitizers out there. With my girls though, they actually use these vs. the others because of the design and smell. Pick and choose your battles and in this case, these work great for us!

5. Diffusing Oils:

I always diffuse oils. I love the smell whether it be to wake us up, inspire, or calm us down. They are also great to clean the air of impurities. There are a lot of oils out there, some brands claiming they are better than others. I do not sell them so I will not get into which are my favorites because I have a little of everything haha. I do try to make sure mine are as pure as possible but if they are being diffused, you do not have to be as careful. Citrus oils and herbs are some of the best ones to diffuse to purify your home. There are so many blends out there that are user friendly. DoTERRA and Now essential oils are two that I currently have for this purpose and I love them!

These are all pretty simple things you can do daily to up your child’s immune system. Hopefully this will lessen the amount of sick days your family has this fall and winter. It is inevitable of course but fingers crossed this will help shorten the colds or skip a couple altogether!