How to Boost Immune System When Sick
I get this question asked a lot — what do you use for your kids when they get sick? And every-time I roll down my sleeves on this topic, my friends go – “really so many supplements?” But the thing we don’t use all of them every day and these supplements do help give their immune system that extra push to fight all those viruses, bacteria, and allergies. And it’s been working well for us.
In order to deal with common cold and flu or minor infections with just our immunity, we need to support our immune system with some supplements to give it the boost and push it needs to fight the viruses and bacterias.
We as a family are very big on Supplements and Vitamins, and are also big on trying to beat the cold and flu with our immunity; because it makes our body’s immune system stronger for long-term, particularly for kids, also saves us from autoimmune diseases.
In general, it is easier to go through supplements than the whole nine yards of getting sick, going to the doctor’s office to get medication or get turned down and then another 7 days of extreme sickness.
Not that you don’t have to go through the sickness symptoms with supplements, but they help make things more bearable, and keeps life functioning (albeit, slower).
Plus, kids barely eat food when they’re feeling unwell, forget about trying to get them eat their veggies, they get so picky I actually keep bunny crackers for sickness.
Disclaimer: I am not a healthcare professional, and this is not a medical advice. I am sharing with my readers what works for my family and I don’t intend to advise anyone on anything; including supplements and their doses.
These are the supplements I start giving to my kids at the first sight of Runny Nose or Sneezes or Coughs.
4 Supplements we take or give to kids only when signs of sickness show up.
1. Vitamin C
Yes, don’t underestimate the power of good old Vitamin C, you need high doses of Vit C to boost immunity to fight infections. Just oranges are not going to cut it.
You can get it in different forms if your kids don’t like to take chewable tablets, there are gummies, drink mixes, and probably more to choose from.
In our family, everyone takes Vitamin C if anyone in the house starts feeling unwell, it boosts everyone’s immunity so that we can save ourselves from catching that cold.
We use a Prescription Supplement for Vit C; but this is a very good Vit C we’ve used for everyone before: Pure synergy Vitamin C
2. Elderberry Syrup
We don’t use elderberry regularly at our house like a lot of families do, but I start using giving my kids about 5 ml of Elderberry syrup once or twice a day, as soon as I sense some sickness, or sometimes when I feel like it’s the season of virals being going around.
Elderberry syrup really works well for my baby too (well she’s a toddler now, but you know how it is…), we started giving her very little elderberry syrup around 10 months when she fell sick once, and since she’s been a yr old I give her a 3-4 ml doses a couple of times during a sickness episode, because she’s a little in size I don’t feel comfortable giving her 5 ml as recommended.
This is the Elderberry Syrup we use.
3. Immunity Boosting Concoction
I’ve shared the recipe to our immunity boosting concoction in the past, you can access it here. It’s a premade mixture of dry spices like Turmeric, ginger root powder, cinnamon, black pepper & honey, that we use in milk. It’s close to golden milk, but a much simpler recipe, that you just make once so you don’t have to go through the whole process again and again. All these spices have been used for ages to produce warmth in body and turmeric is very popular for it’s anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and immunity boosting properties.
When it’s summers and they’re showing symptoms of sickness I use this in cold milk while making smoothies, in the colder weather I use it more regularly because it helps keep them warm from within.
4. Bee Propolis
Bee Propolis is particularly good for cold, flu and sore throat symptoms. I get a bee propolis spray, that I give kids 2-4 times a day as soon as they show symptoms of cold. We don’t use this otherwise.
Only the person who’s feeling unwell gets bee propolis, and this is the one we get >> Bee Keeper’s Bee propolis Spray
These 4 supplements we take regularly and increase the dose for the person who’s feeling unwell, to give their immune system a boost.
5. Probiotics
We use Probiotics every day (well, almost every day) in our house, but when they’re sick we double the dose of Probiotics too. The healthy bacteria in Probiotics do an amazing job is fighting the bad bacteria and viruses. It’s such a miracle supplement, it keeps their appetite healthy and helps to keep sickness away when used regularly. It’s best to keep probiotics in the fridge to keep the probiotics more potent and alive.
If you don’t want to do probiotic supplement regularly, Yogurt has a lot of probiotics in it, although most of the kid’s yogurt has so much sugar, it nullifies the whole point. But, if you can get your kids to eat plain yogurt, it’s got a good dose of probiotics.
We use prescription Probiotics, but we’ve used this one it’s really good and affordable. >> Probiotics for kids.
And this is a good one for adults >> Probiotics for adults.
6. Bee Pollen
Bee pollen is known to inhibit allergic reactions; and also boosts immunity. Bee Pollen is actually food developed by the fees for themselves, it’s a mixture of pollen from flowers, honey, and bee wax.
We use bee pollen in smoothies regularly for kids and I use it too, but I increase its use during a sickness episode, and it really helps control a runny nose.
A little bit of science behind bee pollen: According to this study done in Japan, bee pollen inhibits the action of mast cells, which play a vital role in allergic reactions, thus bee pollen helps in controlling allergic reactions in our body.
This is the one we get >> Bee Pollen
7. Vitamin D
This is also almost a regular in our house with everyone. Apart from being beneficial for bone health, Vit D is very crucial for the immune system, for adults and kids alike.
In fact according to this research article – “Deficiency in vitamin D is associated with increased autoimmunity as well as an increased susceptibility to infection.”
#momtip: The vitamin D in the whole milk for kids is not even close to enough, you need to supplement it.
These here are good vitamin D Supplements: Vitamin D for Adults; Vitamin D for Kids
8. Multi-Vitamins
They get Multi-vitamins almost every day (if I remember), but when they’re sick I made sure to give them their vitamins.
#momtip: It is important to get Multivatims from natural sources like fruits and vegetables over synthetic multivitamins, and Garden of Life is a good brand for that.
These here are good Multivitamins >> Kids Multivitamins, Men’s Multivitamins, Women’s Multivitamins
Final Thoughts:
If you were to say -“ Kay, I can’t do 8 supplements when they’re sick”. And you’re only ready to do a couple – I would say this – Vit C and Elderberry give you a very quick immunity boost.
But if you can do 2 more – I would go for Vit D and Bee Propolis next especially since these both have proven to combat allergic reactions like runny noses, cough, and colds.
But really, we’re not a crazy “I don’t see a doc for illness” kinda family. In fact, I see one every day first thing in the morning.
We do all these supplements because they have helped us keep so many sickness episodes away. Especially considering we’re out and about every single day and we’re always visiting new places, our kids are exposed to a lot of stuff.
(Okay, I really hope I don’t jinx this…I have done this to myself a couple times before)
On a more serious note, these supplements do help give you boost the immune system when sick.
