Are You Sick of Sick Kids?

Image by Pexel

Does it seem like your kids are always getting sick? Are you tired of missed school and work days interrupting your schedule and plans? While younger children can have 6-9 illnesses per year and teens can have 4-6 illnesses a year, the goal is for your child to have a resilient immune system. Aiming to decrease the number of illnesses, duration of illnesses, and severity of illnesses is what we desire.

Did you know the microbiome is responsible for 70-80% of the immune system? What is the microbiome? It is the trillions of microorganisms that make up a symbiotic relationship with their host. The majority of these living microorganisms reside in the gastrointestinal tract and help to digest food, aid in manufacturing certain vitamins, and very importantly help moderate and support the immune system. 

The microbiome should consist primarily of healthy bacteria and microorganisms. However, many times due to diet, medications, and stress, the microbiome can become dysbiotic. Which means there is an imbalance of bad bacteria, fungi, and yeasts and not enough good healthy bacteria. This can lead to a poorly functioning immune system. The study of the microbiome's implications on health and its impact on the immune system, digestive health, autoimmune diseases, cancer, ADHD, and mental health is currently one of the fastest growing areas of medical research. 

What does this mean for your child? The microbiome needs healthy foods including a variety of fruits and vegetables that provide the prefiber that feed the healthy bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. A diet low in vegetables and fruits and high in ultra processed foods and refined sugar, starve the healthy bacteria and instead feed the harmful bacteria, yeast, and fungi leading to a dysbiotic gut microbiome.
In addition, medications (while sometimes very necessary) can destroy or harm a healthy microbiome. Common medications that harm a microbiome include antibiotics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories drugs, antacids, and steroids.

How can you promote a healthy microbiome for your child? By encouraging adequate sleep, minimizing stress, and very importantly providing a healthy diet of whole foods:

• Diverse variety of fruits and vegetables from the rainbow of colors
• Fermented foods
• Limiting refined sugars and ultra processed foods

​In addition, it can be helpful to supplement with a viable researched children’s probiotic supplement. 

Two of my favorite general children’s wellness probiotic supplements are NutriDyn’s Kids Chewable Probiotic for children of safe chewing age and Kids Liquid Probiotic for younger children or those who prefer a liquid.  These probiotics are scientifically formulated and designed to support the digestive and immune systems. These specific probiotic supplements contain clinically validated viable probiotics. The chewable probiotic also contains a highly absorbable prebiotic. They should be kept in the refrigerator to maintain viability. They can be purchased directly from NutriDyn in the Children’s Health Section at this link. NutriDyn​

Are you interested in less sick days, missed school days, and missed work days for your family? Wellness 4 KIDS specializes in working with children to address and support the needs of a healthy microbiome and addressing pediatric health challenges. For children with special health challenges, Wellness 4 KIDS individualizes probiotic strain recommendations to meet the specific needs of the individual child.

​If you would like more information on helping your child develop a healthy microbiome and supporting a healthy immune system, please Contact Wellness 4 KIDS for a FREE Pediatric Wellness Discovery Call.