Immunity power in children

Hi Kavya .
If your son is older then 3 years you can try unfiltered honey for boosting his immune system .
One of the doctor who is our family friend said this unfilterd honey is accute on any kind of allergies.
or you can google it.
check some homeopathic medicine for cold and flu season or can get from India.

 

including garlic in diet could help ...since it has antibiotic effect.
honey would also help

 

Hi Kavya,

Our friends stayed with us for 4 days. I'm giving their diet based on my observation. They have switched over to this diet since the last 6 months or so. And when she says 'organic' it does not mean she buys her stuff from organic shop. There are certain things like brown rice,quinoa that is not available in normal supermarkets (atleast here) so only those stuff she buys from bio/organic shops. This will be a long reply so bear with me please...

No's: milk products, eggs, polished rice, fermented food (yeast and also naturally fermented food), wheat and oats (gluten), sugar, jaggery, processed honey, fruit juice (store-bought), dried red chillies, vinegar, coffee, tea, cocoa, no heating of oil (no seasoning),spices roasted and powdered (like our sambar powder etc.,), coconut (i hope i've covered everything).

Breakfast drink: lemon/lime juice in hot water with unprocessed honey/palm sugar (karupatti vellam) and or ginger (with peel)
Breakfast: raw vege salad with sprouts, garlic, raw onions, green chillies, nuts and dried fruits
(always drinks are herb teas preferably from fresh herbs, lime/orange juice, boiled and cooled water)
Snack: fruits, dried fruits
Lunch: something like kichdi. She soaks brown rice (wild rice too when available), a mixture of dals like channa dal, tuvar dal, couple of legumes like channa, rajma over-night. She does not use microwave or pressure cooker. Instead cooks like how we steam conventionally. She adds veges chopped huge, pepper, jeera, sea salt, coriander seeds and cooks them all together. Finally adds cold-pressed olive oil. Wherever possible no peeling of veges.
Rasam/soup: tomatoes in hot water seasoned with crushed pepper, jeera and salt, lime juice (no cooking of the ingredients)

It's the same pattern... if dosai is needed she grinds freshly like for adai, pesarattu and does it like oothappam. again no oil used for making them. Rotis with jowar, bajra etc.,

Chutneys: fresh coriander, mint chutney (like we make for chaats)

Contrary to the usage of soy-based products for such diets they rarely use tofu or soy-milk. For fat they eat more avocado etc.,

Latha

 

Dear Kavya
The bast way of improving a child's immunity is by exposing them to as many infections as possible.The immune system has a way of remembering the infective agents.So when when are infected the first time our immune system doesnt have much time to fight the infective agent and before it produces antibodies the infective agent wins the battle.But it remembers the infective agent.The next time if the same infective agent attacks our body it knows very well to fight against it.There are some infections which can be prevented by giving vaccinations which are nothing but the infective agents ,which cause the disease ,but their virulence(means their harmful properties)are reduced and it then stimulates our body to produce antibodies which can kill those infective agents, when they attack us.But vaccinations dont help always as some infective agents are very smart and they change themselves everytime they attack to confuse our immune system.The point is dont try to act against the nature.These infections are definitely not genetic.i mean the cold ear infections and things like that.Please do not try any ayurvedic stuff .You should not be worried if you are providing your child a healthy diet.Vitamin supplements can help because most children are fussy about fruits and vegetables.My child used to also get sick very often and I used to feel guilty as she was not on breastmilk exclusively but you say you did it and your child gets infections inspite of that.So we have to understand that every child has to go thro these infections sometime or the other till their immune system is strong enough .
Sorry for the long lecture.Immune system is a very complex system you will be amazed to know how it works.Hope this info helps.Lets just hope the viruses out there spare our kids this winter.
Chitra

 

Only one point Chitra. I dont think anyone is saying that the infections are genetic - only that the ability of our immune system to overcome the infection is partly determined by our genes. Because its not true that every child has to go through every infection symptomatically - many seem to be able to fight it without displaying any overt symptoms!

Vanathi.

 

Dear Vanathi
I agree with you that certain factors are genetic like IgA deficiencies which are responsible for frequent respiratory infections.Here in these countries the environment is soooo clean unlike India where we are constantly exposed to subclinical infections and our immune system is constantly at work.The infections these kids get are obviously due to seasonal bugs which are passed on from one kid to the other and what I mean to say is that we cannot to do much about that.But certainly allergies ,eczema and other autoimmnune conditions have a genetic component.
Thanks
Chitra

 

Yes i do agree with you in that many infections in India are probably subclinical and pass unnoticed. The rate of allergies in the West makes you think the "hygiene hypothesis" must be true. Allergies/autoimmune diseases probably occur more commonly as the immune system has no bugs left to fight and so fights itself! I too think that there's very little - if anything - we can do about our kids getting sick beyond the usual precautions.

Vanathi.

 

Dear Vanathi
Before I came here I used to think I am going to a place which is sooo environment friendly and my kid will fall sick less often but on the contrary after coming here I was sooooo mad at the bugs here and used to think why do these bugs find my child so attractive.The worst fear of our child catching the bug is that soon we the parents will get it from them and then it becomes soo difficult managing the house ,the kid and work all by our ourselves without any family support like we are sooo used to in India.
Regards
Chitra

 

Kavya, I stumbled upon your post trying to find a cure, LOL, to my son's eczema. I am very curious about the homoeopathic cure for eczema. You also talked about food allergies. Have you done a RAST on him or is it an elimination diet kind of scenario. I am at wits' end. Our paed, as much as we love her, will not do any kind of allergy testing before Kiran turns 2. I still have no diagnosis for allergy and the LO is gaining weight very poorly... Ok rant over. Do tell me a little more about how you manage your son's eczema.