How are you boosting yours & DCs immune system???!

[sotiredfornow]

I've already posted about colds this week. I'm at breaking point having never felt so ill in all my life (possible flu) and really need some advice, support & kind words. It is pure torture to have to get on with housework, cooking & looking after DD whilst feeling like this.

What have you tried that's worked to boost yours and DCs immune systems? I can't go through this again so once recovered I want to try EVERYTHING possible to get us healthier.

Vitamins? Supplements? Certain foods? Herbs?

DD is obsessed with soft toys. Am I mad to let her take them out of her cot, carry them round the house, take outside etc? Are they likely to carry a lot of germs?

Should I stop her 2 mornings a week at nursery until the summer? I'm a SAHM so this is an option.

Any other tips or ideas?

you can't do much beyond ensuring a healthy diet. There are some supplements recommended for young children but healthy adults don't need any. You just need to eat properly.

keep her going to nursery. She will catch cold after cold and give them all to you, that's the deal I'm afraid. 'never so ill in all my life' is a standard cry from parents of young children. That's how they build up their immunity and they MUST do it if they are in normal health.

did you have a flu jab? Have you seen a doctor to check your general health is ok?

if you have a partner, get him to take over as soon as he gets home. Stop all housework, none is necessary at the moment. Get any help you can and while she's at nursery, do NOTHING.

get well soon. It WILL get better.

Oh I so know how you feel. Lots of vitamin c, iron and b12 are my main tips but I'm about to start trying Manuka Honey as a friend thinks it works wonders.

Get well soon

OP - I never believed in vitamins until I went through a year of endless chest infections and antibiotics. After this, I started taking a multivitamin daily and it really did help. I got another bout of flu again but didn't feel knocked out and it didn't go into my chest.

Also good is plenty of sleep, lots of fluids, regular healthy eating and trying to keep stress levels down - by whatever works for you - lifestyle changes or relaxation techniques or music - whatever does it for you. Hope you feel better soon. And I second leaving the housework totally!

Specialsubject - it definitely is the most ill I've ever been :) I'd happily swap my drug-free labour and delivery for what I'm currently going through. It's grim.

Unfortunately DH is not a helper when he gets home. He has a very strenuous job along with the pressures of running his own business and rightly or wrongly doesn't expect to be doing more work when he's home.

How do you ladies just stop with the housework? You still have to cook, clean the high chair, sort dishes and keep on top of washing or else DC can't eat and have nothing to wear? I understand not getting the vacuum out and whatnot but DD eats 5 times a day so that's a lot of work in itself.

I don't currently take a multivitamin so will look into that, thanks for the reminder.

A healthy diet?

Specialsubject - Oh and no I haven't had a flu jab. I had tests done at the doctors last week and will have the results Tues.

Bellablot - on the diet front certainly improvements can and will be made but I know we're eating better than most. We eat at least 6 portions of fruit & veg every single day. I've read that 10 is actually the correct figure rather than 5 so will work towards it.

I read an article that claimed people living in birmingham suffered less colds than anywhere else in the country. Thought to be due to the amount of curries and spicy foods eaten there!

Must say if i'm ever suffering i make sure to eat the hottest curry I can (tomato and onion based ones are best). It totally clears your head and sinuses out.....the relief it awesome. Try it

We used specialsubject's method. It took two or three years of us all having minor illnesses / respiratory tract infections back to back, with very little break between them.

Now they are very rarely unwell. They would normally go through a winter with no tummy bugs and maybe one cold at most. I think they've had three days off school in the past five years, between the four of them.

Disclaimer: don't try this method for children with underlying medical conditions.

When you are ill your partner absolutely should be taking over any necessary cooking and cleaning. One who doesnt doesnt deserve the title of adult let alone partner. Seriously, i'm a single parent who works and as much as i'd like to not do anything when i get home it's just not an option, even when i'm ill, which i have been this last two weeks with a sinus infection. Your dh should be more than happy to only temporary have to pick up the slack.

I wonder at what point he would consider it his job to step in? How sick would you have to be before he'd Cook a meal or wipe the high chair?

Abidec is fab! Started giving it to dd when she came off of baby milk and she's never been ill/ had colds or anything.

OP - the multivitamin (in my experience) took about a month to take effect. After that, I felt a lot better when I picked up a bug (instead of knocked flat out).

Extended bf, a multivitamin each and accepting that colds do happen when a child starts mixing in groups so unless they're going to be in isolation for life resigning myself to getting out over with.

And ifi'm really bad dh will make everyone sandwiches e when he makes his own packed lunch and come home early to make dinner so I don't have to do them. So all I have to do is wipe the highchair and take clingfilm off plates. I know, i'm spoilt

I wish I knew OP! DD is 13 months and has been ill constantly with colds and tummy bugs (which I and DH have picked up too) since the end of bloody August.

She has vitamins daily and was BF till September, doesn't seem to have helped. She was 6 weeks prem (though you'd not know it to look at her) so maybe is a bit more susceptible.

And she doesn't even go to nursery! I guess she must pick the bugs up at playgroups but I can't keep her quarantined in the house all day.

I don't take vitamins though... will start tonight!

Dawn garlic is a good antibacterial agent so maybe that's what works? mmm garlic naan....

Regularly taking probiotics, vitamins, garlic, magnesium, lots of protein, lots of leafy greens, no inflammatory food, no sugars aside from those in fruit - that's for me, DH and 13 month old DS.

I also think it's less about how much they catch - because they're like little germ incubators - and more about recovery time. If they or you are taking ages to shake something off, that would be more of an issue than regularly catching something but bouncing back quickly.