Welcome to our weekend post! We’ve just started to do reader questions as part of our round up posts. You can submit a question on Facebook, or email it to us if you’d like it to be considered as a featured question. (Please know we receive 50 – 75 questions per week, though, so we may not be able to get to it!)
Network News
Have you heard about our new Featured Book? Each month we’ll be featuring a different book — something seasonal or just something awesome. The deal is this: our books usually cost $7.95 – $8.95, but the Featured Book will cost just $5. That’s all month long, no coupon code needed!
This month’s Featured Book is Wholesome Comfort. It’s cold outside right now and who doesn’t love a warm, creamy, comforting meal? Most comfort food is filled with canned soups, boxed spice mixes, and other not-so-healthy ingredients. Wholesome Comfort walks you through creating favorite comfort foods at home — from scratch. It doesn’t use any boxes or cans, but it also doesn’t use anything weird or exotic. Just good, old-fashioned, real food. Snag it now for just $5!
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Finally, today is the last day that you can sign up for the 31 Days to Better Health and Wellness Challenge. We’ll catch you up if you’re just joining us. Hop over and register, then come back to buy the Challenge Guide so you can write down your goals and have access to our wonderful sponsor offers. We already have over 260 participants, which is excellent! Join us today!
Reader Question: Why Does My Child Keep Getting Sick?
This week’s question comes from reader Jennifer, although I’ve had a lot of questions very similar to this lately (hence why I chose it!).
Needing some advice. My 19 month old is sick YET again. Runny nose and water eyes. No fever but his fever usually comes on on day 3. I have two kids with the 19 month old being the younger of the two. He is sick in the winter every 5 weeks. Usually the same thing. Runny eyes and nose with green mucus. I give him VitC, D3, probiotics and multi vit daily. He gets Sambucus when I see that he may be getting ill. I use EO’s and I’m really just at a loss here….not sure what to do to keep this guy healthy. We also started to do monthly chiro visits. Any advice? Is this normal?
A lot of kids have been getting sick this winter…over and over again. As soon as they’re healthy, they catch something else. Many of the parents are newer to the natural lifestyle and many are giving their children supplements to try to avoid illness…and it’s not working. What now?
First, I’d look at what kinds of supplements the children are receiving. What brands and types? I am not a fan of most supplement brands out there, because they’re made with synthetic vitamins and minerals and they have a lot of added binders and fillers. The absorption rate for these supplements is very low, which means the children may not be receiving much benefit from them.
I recommend:
- Fermented cod liver oil
- Liquid herbal multivitamin
- Pure acerola powder (during times of illness)
These are all 100% natural and easily absorbed. They will help to raise vitamin D and A levels, which help to boost the immune system. I don’t recommend chewables or vitamin D drops (which are based on synthetic D3). Most children have low vitamin D levels (and so do most adults) because either they don’t supplement with the “good” stuff, or they don’t take enough. Some say that doses of 10,000 – 50,000 IU per day may be necessary for those whose levels are very low! (If you think you fall into this category, see a doctor to get your levels checked and only supplement at this level under the care of a doctor.) Many do require 4000 – 5000 IU per day as a maintenance dose, which is about ten times as much as most are usually told.
Probiotics may also play a role. We, as a culture, don’t get enough probiotics. There are supplements in various strengths (from around 1 billion live cultures up to 100 billion live cultures) as well as probiotic foods. A supplement is an “easy” way to get probiotics, but for many it’s not as effective as consuming probiotic foods regularly. Try plain yogurt (add your own fruit and honey if needed), kombucha, water or milk kefir, or fermented fruits and veggies (think pickles, sauerkraut). If your child is pickier, try mixing yogurt or kefir into a smoothie, or making fermented fruit spreads or lemonade.
Finally, medication use. When our kids are sick, we want to do something. Nobody wants to see their child suffer! However, using antibiotics too quickly (when they may not be warranted, such as for ear infections or sinus infections) leaves the child vulnerable to repeat infections. (Nobody is saying not to use them in a truly serious case — but they’re over-prescribed. Don’t ever fill a prescription if a doctor says “This is probably viral and will go away in a day or so, but just in case….” WAIT! See what happens, get a test done, confirm that the infection is truly bacterial before giving a child antibiotics.)
In addition to antibiotics, OTC drugs may cause a problem. Tylenol depletes an important amino acid, glutathione, which helps the body heal. It also suppresses fevers, which are one of the body’s important healing mechanisms. If at all possible, don’t use any OTC drugs; offer other comfort measures instead. Try warm baths, cuddling, herbal tea, etc. If the child is truly miserable and unable to rest, you’ll have to make a judgment call. But don’t give Tylenol at the first sign of fever because “it’s what you do.” It is probably more harmful than helpful.
It takes time for the body to build up immunity and also to shed the “junk” if you are newer to the real-food lifestyle, and that may mean getting sick more often at first. Getting sick is one way the body detoxes itself. Keep working with healthy food and healthy supplements to boost the body and soon enough, the child will become more resistant to illness. 
Sister Site Posts
We have three sister sites in our network, and each did some great posts this week! Pop over to check them all out.
Modern Alternative Kitchen
Modern Alternative Pregnancy
Modern Alternative Health
Contributors’ Posts
We also have several amazing contributors in our network, and some of them have excellent posts to share with you as well.
What were your favorite posts this week? What helps your family to keep from getting sick?
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TESTING!
ok..so My lil ones eat a very clean diet and take FCLO, elderberry, probiotics and ferments. We are now on GAPS (the the 3yo’s eczema.) The oldest has been sick with runny nose/cough for about 4.5 weeks. the youngest has had a runny nose on and off for about 2.5 weeks. What gives. They are not vaccinated, they dont receive otc anything. Lots of herbal teas and detox baths. I am starting to feel like a failure.
Leah G, how long have you guys been on GAPS? My 4 year old used to be like that, turns out it was candida overgrowth causing his symptoms. GAPS and ferments should help, but you want to start with small amounts of probiotics/ferments and work up. Too much at once can cause problems.
Leah, I could have written almost exactly the same. thing , except we are on GAPS for my 3 year olds respiratory issues (she was a. 25 week micro preemie). The last. 2 days she has developed a strange. scaly rash on her lower abdomen. I am hoping it is just detox, but am truly at a loss . She daily has. FCLO, fish oil, flax oil, butter oil, homemade elderberry syrup and a homemade herbal. Tincture for respiratory support. Can I ask how long you have been doing gaps? It has been only 6 weeks for us, and I think I should do intro. Have you done intro with your children?
Sarah, my daughter developed the same rash when she was last on GAPS and her ped. (who is familiar with the diet) agreed it was just detox. It takes time to work these issues out of the system and strengthen the immune system. When the body is dealing with all of this “extra” stuff it does not deal well with “extra” stuff like illness. My husband has been undergoing detox for three years now and the first couple, he got sick all.the.time. because his body couldn’t handle fighting stuff off at that time. This is finally different this year, he has not gotten sick much at all, especially compared to last year! So expect it to change in time, but not overnight. GAPS is needed, but it’s a lot for the body to go through.