Sneezy Does It! How We Can Reduce Allergies In Our Kids
Allergies are a much bigger thing now than it has ever been before. There are so many variations of food intolerance doing the rounds that schools are imposing a ban on food items like nuts. Are allergies that big a problem? It can be a major concern for many parents, because they don’t know exactly what to feed their children, but also this issue can be more widespread than we realize. So what can we do in our limited capacity as a parent to minimize allergies in our children?
Prevention… In pregnancy
This is the first place, of course. You need to be healthy, and as is the cliché now, breast is best. Yes, it is full of essential minerals that your child needs to fight infection, to grow, and to be generally healthy. Unfortunately, lots of women cannot cope with breastfeeding, but it is being pushed a lot by health authorities, so it is best to try and do it for as long as possible. A lot of babies get issues like baby eczema, and this could be a sign of something like an intolerance or allergy, that babies who are breastfed are a lot healthier and have fewer colds, and generally seem to be happier and perkier children. If you can start as soon as your baby is fully formed in the womb, you have got a great head start.
Preventing Allergies In The Home
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, so look at your home environment, how clean is it? There are hidden allergens, like dust, which is a primary cause of asthma in children. If you have a look at your home and see that there are specific triggers that you didn’t realize, it’s time to make some positive changes to remove these allergens. So, remove the carpets, clean your air conditioner, or even invest in a new HVAC system. In addition to this, look at your most commonly used household items, how dusty are they? Your television is a great example, have a look at it right now, and see how dusty it is. There may be a lot of chemicals in the home. Items such as your washing powder, to your floor cleaner, these all may have things that your child is not built to handle.
Do You Have Pets?
This can be the big allergy issue in your home. If your children sleep with their pets, this can be a big cause of allergies. You could get pets with short hair, but the proper allergy is actually pet saliva, and it’s important to remember this. A lot of people have allergies to things like cat hair, but these can be prevented with an antihistamine. However, this is just treating the symptoms, as opposed to the cause. Your pets can be friends for life, but if they are the reason your child is constantly sniffling and miserable, you may have a dilemma on your hands.
How Is Your Child’s Immune System?
The thing to remember with allergies is that it is usually down to an imbalance in the immune system. There are various reasons why your child may have an imbalance in their immune system, and it can barely be noticeable. There are common concerns now with food intolerance, such as gluten, nuts, dairy, or hidden additives in food. These can all be big problems now. It can be concerning as a family member, as you may not be sure what your child can eat now. But to make sure that it is an intolerance to a food item, the best approach is to eradicate a specific food from their diet for at least one month, and see if there are any differences in their well-being. You can then introduce this food back into the diet slowly, and if it causes symptoms again, you have found the culprit! The overall trick is to be healthier with your diet choices. With something like gluten, that people don’t realize is used as a thickener in sauces, as well as being commonplace in items like bread, there are gluten-free options now. With something like dairy, there are plenty of kinds of milk like coconut milk, almond milk, rice milk, and soy milk. These sorts of lifestyle choices can be a difficult thing to swallow, but it’s the same as if your child said they were going vegetarian, you’ve got to just make some more allowances and think more laterally in how you prepare your food.
The Gut Bacteria
Now, this is a big cause behind allergies. And we eat a lot of foods that contain additives that erode the gut bacteria, which leads to more intolerances, and has an effect on the immune system. If people had more probiotics in their diets, this would help to replenish that gut bacteria. You can have probiotics in supplements, but there are probiotics in certain foods, such as fermented food like sauerkraut. The gut is a vital part of your body, but it can also show if you are allergic to something, and with a lot of people that have allergies, the common approach is to go down the medication route. But, does this treat the symptoms instead of the cause? So if you look at your child’s diet, from what you prepare for them, as well as what they eat in school, it could be completely full of things they are allergic to. So, this is a great reason to start eating clean and avoiding additives or processed foods.
Encouraging Immune Boosting Activities
It doesn’t need to be spelt out, but exercise is not just a benefit for your children, but it helps to bolster their immune system. A lot of children don’t exercise now, and as a result, we see our children getting sicker and sicker by the year. So it’s important to find ways to expose them to more exercise, and in addition to the benefits on the body and the immune system, it is also great for their mind. When you are looking for immune boosting tools, you need to look at things that may suppress their immune system. Antibiotics are one such thing, and doctors don’t like to hand them out now because it can knock your immune system for six. Antibiotics are now in lots of wipes, so it’s important for you to read the packet. Another big suppressor of the immune system is sugar, and if your children have a diet high in sugar, this could be a big reason why their immune system is not up to code, and they are getting sick all the time. There are some things you can do to help replace the sugar in a diet, such as natural sweeteners, or even honey, which is a natural remedy…
Creating Natural Remedies
As honey is a very good antiseptic, it can help with combating immune problems, but there are also other methods. If you are buying honey, try to buy local honey, as this does help to reduce allergies come hay fever season. Apple cider vinegar has been shown to be a useful asset to the immune system, so put a tiny bit in some water and drink it, or make your own apple cider vinegar. Also, the old-fashioned methods of cooking your meat with the bones intact, and making juice from the bones is showing to be a great way to improve your immune system, and this bone broth is very popular at the moment as a natural healer of the gut.
Is It Personal?
Yes they may display symptoms of an allergy, or they may feel run down or tired, but is this actually more to do with anxiety or mood swings? Anxiety releases the stress hormone cortisol, and this suppresses your immune system. So you need to check that it’s not something related to your child’s state of mind, as opposed to the diet. Or, in fact, it could be combinations of both, a lot of people complain about feeling low after eating a lot of wheat, and this could be a simple reason.
Are We Too Protective As Parents?
A lot of children’s seldom play in the mud now, or if there is a tiny bit of dirt, we apply the wet wipe right away. Children need to get dirty and muddy, not just because it’s fun for them, but it’s great for them to build up their immune system so they can fight infection. And the simple way for them to do this is to hang around with other children who are, in essence, sick all the time! Yes, this may mean that if you have a young baby, there will be a few sleepless nights, but their immune system in the future will be fantastic as a result.
It’s a big issue to get the balance right in terms of looking after your children and their immune system. Suffering from colds and flu-like symptoms throughout your whole life is not fun, and it has an overall impact on your mood. You know how you feel when you have a bad cold, so imagine how it feels for your child. So try a few of these methods, and never underestimate the importance of vitamin D in your child’s diet. This has been shown to be a big reason why people get colds and feel sick a lot. So try a few of these methods, and see if they make a positive impact on your child’s life.
