Guarding our children against infection and illness is our top priority, but there’s no need to worry. You can boost your little one’s natural defenses by following these simple steps!
Raise your child on a healthy diet
A nutrient-rich diet full of vegetables and fruit is essential to keeping our immune systems functioning optimally.1 Choose foods such as carrots, broccoli, spinach, red bell peppers, apricots, citrus fruits and strawberries, which are all great sources of vitamins A and C. Don’t forget seeds and nuts, which provide vitamin E and zinc. Here are a variety of nutrient-rich foods that you can stock in your kitchen to ensure that your little one is getting all the right nutrients!
If your little one is fussy, try cutting these foods into fun shapes and mixing them with your child’s favourite foods.
For toddlers on formula milk, you can consider one like Friso Gold Stage 3 and 4 which contain Vitamins A, C and D as well as Iron and Zinc which support your child’s natural defences.
Encourage good mental health
Your little one’s mental health has a great impact on his or her immune system. Good mental wellbeing results in an increased immune response while poor mental health decreases immune response. That means, your child is less likely to fall sick if he is happy and in good mental health.2 A happy child is a healthy child, indeed! One way of improving children’s mental health is through pretend play, which encourages empathy and helps them process their emotions better.
Make sure that your little one is getting enough sleep
During sleep, the body produces chemical and cells like cytokines and T cells that will defend your body against harmful invaders.3 This is why adequate sleep is essential to cultivating a healthy immune response.
Children aged 3 to 5 need 10 to 13 hours and toddlers 2 and below need 11 to 14 hours.4 You can make sleeping early easier by limiting your child’s device usage and TV viewing before bedtime, as blue light emitted from these screens can impede sleep.5
Follow these simple steps to help your child develop greater resistance to illness. Best of all, you'll be doing it the natural way.
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