Winter is a season full of cozy moments and hot chocolate, but it also brings cold and flu season. While cold weather doesn’t directly cause illnesses, pathogens spread more easily in the winter. There are a lot of reasons for that. People spend more time indoors in close quarters with other people, making it easier for viruses and bacteria to pass from one person to another. Meanwhile, cold, dry air can lower your immune response, so microbes can sneak in. As a result, colds, flus, and other respiratory illnesses are more common in the wintertime.
As a parent, keeping your child healthy can feel like a constant balancing act. While most of us can expect to experience a couple of illnesses each year, kids get sick more often because their immune systems are still developing, building up their defenses. Avoiding illness entirely during winter probably isn’t possible, but there are things you can do to lower your child’s risk of infection and give their immune system a boost.
Children’s Cold and Flu Prevention
Colds and flus are caused by viruses and have no known cures. Once an infection has settled in, you just have to ride it out, but there are things you can do to reduce the risk of getting infected in the first place.
Get vaccinated: Flu shots are updated each year to target the most common strains during flu season. Getting flu vaccinations for the entire family reduces the likelihood that the flu will find its way into your home. Stay up to date with the latest COVID-19 booster and talk to your pediatrician about RSV immunization for babies and young children. Vaccination not only reduces the odds of infection, but it also reduces the risk of complications and flu-related hospitalization.
Wash your hands: Germs can be passed from person to person through touch. Washing your hands with soap and water is one of the best ways to reduce the spread of germs.
Cover your sneeze or cough: Illness comes with symptoms like coughing and sneezing, which spreads illness from person to person through droplets in the air. Sneezing and coughing into a tissue or into your elbow helps prevent the spread.
Clean contaminated surfaces: In addition to aerial transmission, illnesses spread through contaminated surfaces, toys, and other objects. Teach children not to share drinks or eating utensils, and to disinfect frequently touched surfaces.
Take a sick day: Keep kids home when they’re sick to prevent the spread of illness among their peers. If kids can’t stay home when they’re sick, encourage them to wear a mask when around other people. Likewise, avoid visits with friends or family when they’re sick.
Take basic prevention measures: Other ways to help reduce the risk of illness include getting enough sleep, staying hydrated, eating a healthy diet, and circulating fresh air throughout your home.
Signs Your Child Has a Strong Immune System
The immune system is the way your child’s body protects itself from illness. Often, that means pathogens get captured and wiped out before they ever get a chance to cause symptoms. Other times, that means fighting back an invading infection, resulting in fever, body aches, and a generally crummy time.
Even if your child has a healthy immune system, that doesn’t mean they’ll never get sick. An immune system that isn’t active enough will let germs slip through, while one that’s too active might accidentally attack the body, causing autoimmune disorders. The ideal immune system sits in the sweet spot between those two extremes. Unless you’ve seen signs of immune deficiency, it’s likely that your child’s immune system is working exactly how it’s supposed to. Look for signs like:
- Do wounds heal quickly or linger?
- Does your child have joint pain?
- Does your child have multiple allergies or hypersensitivities?
- Is your child sick more often than expected? (Bear in mind that children typically get between 6 and 10 colds each year)
Daily Habits That Support Your Child’s Immune System
There’s no such thing as a magic immunity booster, but there are everyday habits that help to support your child’s immune system. And most of them are the same habits that support your child’s overall health.
Vitamin C: Vitamin C can help your body fight a cold, but popular options like orange juice aren’t necessarily the best option. Whole foods such as kiwifruit, strawberries, and bell peppers are rich in vitamin C, offering the same boost but with more fiber.
Healthy diet: Offer a variety of fruits and veggies, rich in immunity-boosting vitamins A, C, and E. Popular options include citrus fruits, beans, and nuts. Eat those along with whole grains for zinc and yogurt for a probiotic boost. And make sure to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.
Proper sleep: Make sure your child gets enough sleep. Their body heals and strengthens the immune response while they’re sleeping. Kids need a lot of sleep, and they’ll need even more when they’re not feeling well. Keeping up on good sleep habits is a surefire way to give your child’s immune system a leg up.
Exercise: Add some movement to your child’s day. Developmentally appropriate exercise helps boost circulation and support immune function. Exercise can be more difficult during winter but finding ways to move around inside or outside (with the right winter clothes) can help keep illness away.
Foods That Naturally Support Immunity
It has been said that you are what you eat, and healthy eating habits are one of the most accessible everyday ways to positively impact your child’s immune system.
Foods That Increase Immunity
A healthy diet protects your child from long-term health impacts like diabetes and heart disease. It can also boost their immune system to protect them from colds, the flu, and other common winter illnesses. Variety and balance are important, so try a mixture of these foods.
- Berries
- Fish
- Leafy greens
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Citrus fruits
- Yogurt
When in doubt, chicken soup has been a favorite for generations and for good reason. The common ingredients in chicken soup have properties that fight inflammation, provide vitamins, and help to keep kids hydrated. Not to mention the soothing effect of warm broth on congestion and sore throats.
Natural Cold Remedies
There’s no cure for the common cold, but there are things you can do to manage your child’s symptoms and make things a little more comfortable while they heal.
Fluids: Staying hydrated is important all the time, but especially when you’re sick. For young children, that might mean nursing or feeding more regularly. For older kids, that means drinking plenty of water, juice, or clear broth. Adding a little bit of honey (for kids one year and older) can also help soothe a sore throat.
Humidifier: Home furnaces and space heaters add dry heat to your home, potentially drying out your child’s already sensitive nose. A humidifier adds moisture to the air and can make your child a little more comfortable.
Salt water: Put half a teaspoon of salt in an eight-ounce glass of water. Swish the salt and gargle at the back of the throat. Make sure your child is old enough to reliably gargle and spit without swallowing.
Immunity Boosters
Vitamin C can reduce the duration and severity of illness but can’t prevent or cure it. Vitamin C is commonly found in citrus fruits, berries, bell peppers, melons, and more.
Beta-carotene is found in fruits and vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, mangoes, broccoli, and tomatoes.
Vitamin D is naturally produced by your body when you’re exposed to sunlight. Kids commonly spend more time indoors during winter, but they can get Vitamin D from foods like fish and eggs, or fortified milks or juices.
Zinc can be found in common foods such as red meat, seafood, beans, nuts, and tofu.
When to Call Your Pediatrician
Kids get sick all the time and even more often in winter. Most of the time, a cold or flu is nothing to worry about and will resolve on its own. But sometimes your child’s body might need a little help. Contact your child’s pediatrician if you see any of these symptoms:
- Poor feeding: missing two or more feedings in a row or eating/drinking significantly less than normal
- Breathing problems
- High fever: For kids younger than six months, that’s a fever of 100.4 F or higher. For older kids, that’s a fever of 102 F or above.
- Ear pain, tugging at the ears or drainage from the ears
- Potty problems: diarrhea or constipation
- Vomiting
- Rash or blisters
- Eye discharge or redness
- No improvement after seven days
- “Double sickening”, worsening symptoms after initial improvement
- Behavioral changes: irritability, lethargy, difficulty consoling, difficulty sleeping or waking
- Signs of dehydration: dry mouth, minimal tears when crying, no wet diaper for more then 6 hours or less than three wet diapers/voids in 24 hours
- Your child is under three months old
- If you’re worried
Sources
- Johns Hopkins Medicine, Winter Illness Guide
- CDC, Influenza (Flu)
- Indiana University Health, A guide to help keep kids healthy during cold and flu season
- PennState Health, The Medical Minute: 10 health tips for parents during cold and flu season
- Mayo Clinic, Aging and the immune system: Strengthening your body’s defenses
- Brown Health, Foods to Boost Your Immunte System
- Mayo Clinic, Fight off the flu with immune-boosting nutrients
- Mayo Clinic, Sick baby? When to seek medical attention
