Building up Immunity

[MrsK]

My little girl had a chest infection last year and ever since has been prone to heavy mucus producing colds which always go straight to her chest. Recently she had a nasty virus which has left her particularly low.

Does anyone have any suggestions to help build her immunity and also to help fight off colds & coughs.

My dd has an immune deficiency and I was looking for immune boosting foods etc for her. I did a search on line and apparently the best foods for boosting your immune system are beef, mushrooms, yoghurt, orange veg and tea. I was pretty surprised at the list and my dd only has the yoghurts and veg mentioned.

I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone knows of any wonder cures.

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I've tried to order that book recently from Amazon but unfortunately they haven't got it at the moment. Is it helpful because I'll try and get one from somewhere else if it is?

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buckwheat pancakes- mix buckwheat with rice four- delicious. (DS is gluten free and buckwheat pancakes are one of our staples)

If your child has a mucus problem try reducing dairy for a while.

Sorry MrsK - hope I am not hijacking your thread. How is your dd at the moment?

LisaLisa - My dd has low levels of IgA and IgM. She had suffered repeated chest infections that failed to respond to antibiotics. They thought that she was suffering from asthma but a blood test showed she had the immune problems.

Sorry to hear that your son had so many problems when he was so young, glad he's better now though. My dd started getting ill after a really bad case of chicken pox at 6 months, I'm sure that this is what brought her down but no one else seems to think there is a link. Hopefully the problem will correct itself as she gets older but we will be having her levels checked again soon.

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don't know anything about immunity improving foods but there was a feature on buckwheat pancakes (galettes) in the Independent a few weeks ago:

galettes

which should work - I've been to the restaurant and they were delicious!

A book I've found really useful, and with advice which I'm sure helped kick dd's ear infection is "What really works for kids" by Susan Clark - there's a website with advice - here . My own 'invention' was risotto with ginger, garlic and shiitake mushrooms - tasty enough for mum too ! HTH

lisalisa- you've probably read my post on the circumcision thread explaining the diet so I won;t go into detail again here- but gluten free for his autism. DS2 is gluten free as well- just precautionary following advice from the autism research unit in sunderland.

Removing gluten made a very rapid and very obvious change to ds1. We know immediately he's had some - even a tiny tiny amount.

Glad the buckwheat is healthy as ds1's dietis pretty limited!

Angiel, your not hijacking my thread at all. My dd is better (desparately touching wood) at the moment although she is taking Pencillin currently.

Does anyone have any thoughts on Junior Echinacea, Holland & Barrett only had their version of which you had to take several drops twice a day.

After reading a similiar thread I bought Kindervital for her, but, I am reluctant to give it to her at the moment as it should be taken before meals like the pencillin which is difficult enough to get her take.

My dd starts pre-school at the end of April, I am dreading the thought of her picking up yet more things

Mrs K,

I'm not sure of the reason (possibly age) but our homeopath advised us not to use echinacea on DS but something called immunokids (which is alcohol-free) from health food shop. He is currently not easy to get things into but was on this stuff throughout the summer.

Mrs K - it's a really goo didea to use a probiotic when taking antibiotics - helps restore good bacteria in the gut, which again help boost immune system. I used Solgar's ABC Dophilus from health food shop - it's a powder you just mix into a favourite food. Or alternatively a bio-yoghurt every day. Hope she's much better soon.