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Lindsay Pavkovich

October 25, 2013

Keeping the DramaBaby Healthy

Now that the Fall/Winter season is here, it is also the season of germs.  Sneezing, snotty noses, coughing, fussing, fevers all around! Kids are gross.  I don't care if your kid poops glitter and is the next Einstein--he/she is still a nasty little kid who wipes their nose and then sticks their finger in their friends eyeball.  Because that's just what toddlers do and they don't care or know about germs.  It's the parents job to make sure that our floor licking, booger picking, obnoxious sneezing kid stays healthy as much as we can.
 
 We've been lucky in the fact that Presley has a great immune system and very, very rarely is sick.  Like, I am trying to think of the last time I had to keep her home from pre-school and I can't even remotely come up with anything.  Actually, probably the last time we kept her home was when she was a few months old and had a double ear infection.  But, after she had tubes put in we've never had another issue with her ears.  




I have my own personal beliefs about why I think Presley's immune system is so healthy, but since it's a can of worms that I'm not really interested in opening, I won't go there.  We make sure we give Presley healty vitamins and supplements.  We give her fresh juices.  We don't feed her junk food for every snack/meal. And we use natural remedies for as many things as we can.  And so far, this has worked for us 100%. 
 

I can recall a time a few months ago where almost every child in Presleys class had some sort of fever/stomach virus and Presley was the only child that didn't get it.  Maybe it's just luck that she has a great immune system, but I'd like to think that the precautions we take are a big part of it, too.  So, I am going to tell you about a few of the things we give her!

I just recently bought this at Whole Foods. It was sort of a spur of the moment buy, and I think I just grabbed it because it made it clear that it was Dairy Free which saved me some time off of label reading.  I've given Presley other forms of probiotics before, but thought I'd switch it up.  Probiotics are a great immune booster!



 
 
2- Essential Oils-
We've had amazing results with essential oils.  We mainly use Oil of Oregano for everything (on the rare occasion that Presley gets a cold/cough/fever) and it's worked instantly for us.  I've heard great things about Theives oil and will be picking some up next time I hit up Whole Foods.  If you don't know the story behind Thieves Oil then you should read it HERE! We use Avacado Oil as our carrier oil.
 
3- Vitamins-
Vitamins are a very important part of keeping your kiddo healthy.  Now, I'm not familiar with what the differences are between a common vitamin (like Flinstones) and the kind we give Presley.  I should probably do some research on that.  I give her the VegLife Vegan Kids Multiple vitamin...just because.  When things say they're vegan I usually always go for that because I don't have to worry about any type of milk substance being in the ingredients.  Just makes it a little easier for me. 

4- Diet-
We try (keyword: try) very hard to keep Presley away from junk food.  You'll never catch Presley eating Little Debbie snacks, gummies, Pop Tarts, mounds and mounds of Oreo's or regular chips while drinking Hawaiian Punch or Sunny D.  At least, not when she is under our watch.  I can't vouch for what goes on at Nana & Papa's house when I'm not around, but I try to not think about that.  We mainly keep healthy foods in our pantry, and we do have some stuff that some wouldn't consider "healthy" but it's still nothing like I listed above.  For snack Presley eats plain popcorn, organic/natural applesause, healthy cereals, tons and tons and tons of fruits, yogurt (dairy free, of course), certain crackers, and so on.  I do have to say that since Presley has to be dairy free it cuts out a bunch of stuff that she can't have anyways.  Even if we got a wild hair and said she could eat a a Twinkie, Oatmeal Cream Pie, or Dorito's--she couldn't have it anyway because of the dairy. 



None of this!
 
Well, that's all I have for now.  There are so many other healthy ways to keep your child well without having to give them antibiotics or other OTC medicines.  This doesn't go to say that we won't ever have to give Presley medicine, because obviously if she became ill with something that could only be cured from something a doctor perscribed, we'd give it to her.  But, we would explore and try every other option beforehand!  And I do understand that we may just be lucky in that Presley is never sick and has responded so well to other remedies.  Our next child could be sick as a dog year round even with the things we do for Presley to stay healthy.  Every child is different and reacts differently to all kinds of remedies.  So, I hope this post doesn't come off as me being all Judgy McJudgerson regarding your kids health. If OTC meds are your thang, AWESOME! If you also go for the natural remedies, THAT'S AWESOME, TOO! No parent likes their kiddo to not feel well.  These are just the things that work for us.  Love, Peace & Chicken Grease. 


2 comments:

  1. I will definitely be looking into the oils. Sam hasn't really been sick, and it has been a very long time for Gabe too.

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  2. I'm on board with trying things the natural way before needing to resort to anything else. Great advice. I like to think of it as starting with the simplest blocks and working up. Healthy kid, happy kid!

    I nominated you for a liebster award, check out today's post on Sweet Turtle Soup if you are interested!

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