It’s Monsoon season and the weather is changing. This is bringing in sniffles, cough, colds and flu to our little ones. Besides this if we have children starting their first year of school (playgroup / mother toddler) they are getting exposed to other children and this is also bringing about a bout of the viruses. As moms we surely want to boost the immune system of our little ones – We can’t see them fall ill.
Sonali Shivlani who is an Internationally Certified Pregnancy and Post Partum Counselor and founder of www.baby360degrees.com, shares some food related suggestions to help boost your little one’s immune system in the long term.
- Take equal portions of linseeds, sunflower seeds and almonds and powder them in a grinder. This can be mixed with rotis, sprinkled on vegetables or even in the dal. Aim that your child takes one or 2 table spoons daily.
- Include fish in your child’s diet at least twice a week. You can also one one teaspoon of cod liver oil every day.
- Freshly squeezed orange juice and raw vegetable juices provide vitamin C and bioflavonoids which are essential for good immunity.
- Make home made cookies and cakes with whole meal flour, oats, cold pressed oils, honey, dried fruits, and the powdered linseed, sunflower seed, sesame seeds and almonds. These are much healthier than packaged cookies and cakes which contain sugar, salt and artificial chemicals and, although convenient, will not boost the nutritional status.
- Garlic is a wonderful antibiotic and is most effective if taken fresh and raw. To do this, pass 2 raw garlic cloves through a press or crusher to express their juice and mix this juice in fresh sweet fruit juices or steamed vegetables, or any mealtime foods that your child will enjoy.
After 2 to 3 months of this subtle form of nutritional warfare, you will find that your child will have far fewer infections, enjoy better sleep and be much less irritable.
Here is also a list of some immunity booster power foods, which you can add in your kid’s daily diet to improve his/her immunity.