Feeling like your child is always coming down with some new bug or infection? You’re not imagining it. Kids get sick more than adults because their immune systems are still developing.
“Infants are born with a certain degree of immunity they received from their mothers in utero,” explains Gemma Furman, a registered nurse and mom of two who has worked in as a school nurse at Greenbriar Elementary and Burnley-Moran Elementary (now Sunrise Elementary), as well as at Acute Care Pediatrics for UVA Health. “As babies begin to age, the antibodies from mom go away, and they are left with a ‘naïve’ immune system.”
As children interact with their world, their bodies are exposed to viruses, bacteria, microorganisms and other pathogens. This teaches their immune systems to build antibodies to fight future infections. Boosting immunity can be easy with these simple tips from an expert.
How to Boost Your Child’s Immunity
Exposure to things that can make us sick is the primary way the immune system grows. However, parents can encourage a healthy lifestyle to strengthen a child’s immune response. There are several important ways to do this. Luckily, many of them are common sense and can be incorporated into your everyday life.
Getting Plenty of Sleep
When babies are little, many exhausted parents obsess about how much sleep their child is getting. But as kids get older and their schedules get busier, it’s easy to lose track. Yet many children need much more sleep than they’re getting, and often more than their parents realize they need.
Each day, your child should be sleeping:
- 0-12 months: 12–16 hours, including naps
- 1-5 years old: 11–14 hours, including any naps
- 6-12 years old: 9–12 hours
- Teenagers: 8–10 hours
If your child has trouble waking up in the morning, that may be a sign that they’re not going to bed early enough. Count backward from when they need to be up in the morning to determine when they need to be going to bed.
If your child has a phone, tablet, or smartwatch, make sure it’s not in their room at nighttime. Devices are a temptation that children’s brains aren’t mature enough to resist (even adults struggle with this!). Your child will get more and better sleep if the device isn’t an option at bedtime at all.
Eating a Balanced, Colorful Diet
The nutrients in a balanced diet are essential building blocks of a healthy immune system. “Vitamins can be helpful if your child struggles with picky eating, but they don’t replace a healthy diet,” Furman says.
Encourage your child to eat filling meals with protein and complex carbohydrates, such as fruits and vegetables. This will help them fill up on healthy food, rather than snacks that have less nutrition. To ensure plenty of vitamins and minerals, try to “eat the rainbow” by serving produce of different colors.
Remember: what you model matters. If your kids see you snacking on apples slices and cheese, rather than potato chips, they’re more likely to snack on apples and cheese too. And if trying to get your kids to eat broccoli and fish at family dinner is too stressful, it’s okay to make your life easier and skip it.
Many kids are too tired and grumpy by the end of the day to eat much. (Parents too!) Trying to get everyone to eat a big, healthy dinner can lead to arguing and frustration. Instead, focus on other meals. If you serve fruit with eggs at breakfast and carrot sticks with a turkey sandwich at lunch, then a bowl of pasta with red sauce or a serving of rice and beans is just fine for dinner.
Prioritizing Gut Health
Though we’re often encouraged to think about bacteria as a bad thing that causes illness, recent research has found that the balance of bacteria in our intestines is essential to health. These organisms, called microflora, don’t just help digest food. They also produce vitamins and make up a key part of our immune systems. This means that prioritizing gut health is a key part of battling illness.
A healthy diet supports these bacteria, helping them grow and keeping a balance between bacteria and other microflora, such as yeast. Probiotic and fiber-rich foods can also support gut health, including yogurt, kefir, kimchi, and leafy vegetables. Taking oral probiotics can also promote gut health if your child needs to take antibiotics, which can kill gut bacteria along with the bacteria causing an illness. Your child’s doctor can help you decide if a probiotic will be helpful.
Keeping Up With Childhood Vaccines
Vaccines allow your child to build immunity to serious diseases, such as whooping cough or measles, without the risk that comes with actually contracting these infections. With diseases like the flu that have multiple strains, a vaccine teaches the immune system to fight that specific type of virus, making the infection less severe even if your child is exposed to a different strain.
Learn more about the measles outbreak in Virginia, including how doctors evaluate the risks of vaccines compared to the risks of infection.
Keeping up with childhood vaccines also protects other members of your community by creating herd immunity. This protection is essential for children who have compromised immune systems due to chronic conditions or illnesses like cancer and cannot be vaccinated.
Do Essential Oils Help the Immune System?
Alternative treatments such as essential oils or herbal medicine may offer some benefits in boosting immunity or helping your child navigate an illness. However, many of these products affect children differently than they do adults. The body of research about their use in young people and babies is limited.
“It’s easy to assume that because a product is labeled ‘natural’ or ‘pure’ that it is safe and helpful.”
“It’s easy to assume that because a product is labeled ‘natural’ or ‘pure’ that it is safe and helpful,” Furman cautions. But these products aren’t regulated, and companies often don’t disclose ingredients or provide evidence to support claims about their benefits. “Many loopholes exist allowing companies to market products to make them appeal to parents as a ‘natural’ alternative to a more traditional medical treatment.”
If you are considering alternative medical treatments for your child, discuss them with your child’s doctor first.
When to Take a Child to the Doctor
In general, the many small germs of childhood aren’t something parents should be worried about. However, there are instances when exposure to new illnesses can be dangerous.
If your child has a compromised immune system, this level of normal childhood exposure can be life-threatening. And even if your child is otherwise healthy, some diseases, such as RSV, can quickly become serious. Don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s pediatrician if you notice:
- Symptoms that go beyond a common childhood illness
- Symptoms are persisting for several days
- High fever
- Trouble breathing
- Anything else that seems irregular or makes you concerned
“I always tell parents, when it comes to your kids, trust your gut,” Furman advises. “Never be afraid to ask questions, and always be their loudest advocate.”
Find inspiration in our blogs about healthy meal recipes for Cville kids, after-school activities, finding a pediatrician, and family wellness tips.
Stay connected to even more resources by signing up for our free CharlottesvilleFamily newsletter. And be sure to get to know the terrific local businesses we feature and support them whenever you can.
KATHARINE PALJUG is a freelance writer and novelist who lives in Charlottesville with two busy kids. She is a big fan of public libraries, homemade muffins, and inclusive spaces for queer families.