The winter months bring in the holidays and good times but they also tend to welcome the cold and flu viruses. This is also the time that kids are most susceptible to catching infections. While vaccines and medicines help, they also happen to weaken your child’s immunity system by rendering them dependent on these medicines to make them better.
However, there’s a way to boost your child’s immune system naturally and that is through naturopathy. With naturopathy, natural treatments and medicines are used to encourage the body’s inherent ability to restore and maintain optimal health and vitality. Let’s take a look at a few ways to improve your child’s immunity through this holistic approach.
An all-inclusive diet
Before you resort to external medicines and healing of any kind, it is important to ensure your child’s internal system is well taken care of. And that is done naturally through their food intake. So making sure your kid is eating a well balanced and healthy diet is key to staying healthy and protecting their internal systems. This means completely staying away from including preservatives, sugar, additives and food intolerances in their daily diet. Naturopathy healing relies mainly on consuming naturally occurring foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables that are high in antioxidants and help protect your child’s immunity. Besides these, the addition of nuts, legumes, eggs and meat also helps ensure your child is eating an all-round and well-balanced diet.
Maintaining your child’s gut
Probiotics are the naturally occurring bacteria in our gut that protect our digestive tracts and shield our bodies from invading viruses. So introducing a probiotic at an early age for your child can help your child fend off infections. However, ensure you do this only after consulting your child’s physician.
Help deal with their anxiety and stress
In today’s fast-paced world, parents and kids are equally overstressed and overworked. And stress is not your immune system’s friend. In fact, an increase in stress automatically lowers your kid’s immunity response. Hence, making sure your child has enough downtime or creative time to play, paint or stay mentally and physically active in other forms is extremely essential for their health.
A good night’s sleep
This one’s a no-brainer. Sleep is essential for every human and even more for kids. Depending on their age, kids require anywhere between 10-14 hours of sleep every day. And it’s not just the quantity that matters here but also the quality of their sleep to ensure the production of melatonin (the sleep hormone) in their body. A good night’s sleep is one of the basic steps of naturopathy healing.
Nutritional supplements
Although a healthy and balanced diet will take care of your child’s immunity, nutritional supplements can be beneficial as well, especially in the case of fussy eaters. Along with probiotics, supplements of Zinc, Vitamin C and Vitamin D3 are essential in keeping your child’s immune system healthy.
Herbs
One of the best naturopathic healing techniques is incorporating herbs in your kid’s daily diet. Although these might not be quite up to their taste (literally), it is one of the fastest ways to ensure your kid’s gut stays healthy and clean. A few relevant ones to introduce into your kid’s diet are elderberry, olive leaf extract and cinnamon.
Since naturopathy is a holistic form of treatment, doctors usually view all the aspects of an individual before tailor making a treatment that works for them. So ensure you first consult with your child’s physician for a personalized treatment plan best suited to your child’s needs.
